Easy Airbrush Graphite Paint for Electroplating 3d Prints 

That’s awesome to hear! So glad it worked for you! Just out of curiosity what kind of stuff are you planning on plating?

@@DIYCOOLSTUFF I am going to plate fantasy based resin 3D prints. I have the Halot Mage 8K like you.

Glad it was able to help! Hope you have great results!

I hope it works out great for you! make sure you've got a respirator on or some good ventilation when spraying the graphite, it really is nasty stuff to breath in! If your airbrush stops up try mixing it a little thinner with more ink and you can also try turning down the psi on your airbrush. It takes a decent bit of airflow to spray it but if it's to high I've found it can cause the graphite to dry in the tip of your air brush. It's a pain to clean out the airbrush but it won't do any damage to the airbrush if it does stop it up just FYI.

@@DIYCOOLSTUFF That is great info. I have seen other formulas that I did not try. I decided to follow this one because of all of the testing you did and explained before presenting your ultimate formula. That was a great help. One thing: I was unsure of how much ink to add to the powder. At first, I missed the 1:1 ratio that you said before mixing. I am sure that is volume because I doubt the ink and powder weigh the same. Please keep making more videos and I am sure more people will subscribe. You rock!

@@TroyCLE I appreciate it! and yes, I would start with 1:1 ratio, I just eyeball it, by volume and not weight would probably yield the most ideal solution. However, it's a good idea to see how it reacts with your airbrush and adjust accordingly. the paint plates very well even if less graphite is used, make sure to shake it well before adding to your air brush as the graphite tends to settle as the paint sits. Finally, I have a lot of videos in the makes, and quite a few already scheduled, I've just gotten to a place in life where I have time to undertake this RU-vid journey and I underestimated the time and effort it takes to get videos done in a quality I'm proud enough to put out there, so I appreciate you saying that, I've got so much great information to share, it's just a slow process to share through this route!

@@DIYCOOLSTUFF I took everything you said and demonstrated to heart. I even bought the beakers and magnetic stirrer. You should get the commission. I have a TON a glass bottles with caps for my business to I had an 8 ounce bottle that I put a magnetic stirrer in, upon your suggestion. Dude, you have so MUCH great info and i and many more will be here for it. Everyone on here giving info is great, but you seem to be the most relatable, which is demonstrated by the continued info offered in comments. Thanks again! And i will be continuously bugging you with questions. LOL

I would start with 1:1 ratio, I just eyeball it, by volume and not weight would probably yield the most ideal solution. However, it's a good idea to see how it reacts with your airbrush and adjust accordingly. the paint plates very well even if less graphite is used, make sure to shake it well before adding to your air brush as the graphite tends to settle as the paint sits.

@DIYCOOLSTUFF Thanks!. Managed to get 2 small models coated but then had a nasty jam, so had to strip the air brush. New to all this, wondering how it would turn out to just dip the part and the use the air from the brush to remove excess. Have also just ordered some eono conductive pla.l to see how that goes.

Quick update. Don't bother with conductive pla filament. 9v drops to 3v in a few cm,and when trying to plate I couldn't get any current through (even tried up to 30v) with the filament about 1cm from copper electrode.

Dipping the part works just fine, in fact if your having trouble with the air brush that would be my go to. If your having clogging issues I would use very high psi on my airbrush, and mix it much thinner and just add multiple coats.

Hey sorry I'm just getting back to you, but I typically try to only spray each piece once. With that said when airbrushing the graphite paint usually dries fast enough that once you finish one area you can go back to previous areas and apply a thicker coat, I try to make sure each area is covered with a decently thick layer of graphite paint with no gaps in coverage. I've found that if I spray parts multiple times the following coats of graphite don't stick great to previous applications and this can lead to poor plating results. So basically if at all possible try to spray each item only once, sometimes this isn't possible on larger items or funny shaped items and that's ok I just recommend letting the item dry for a full 24-48 hours after the last coat before submerging in the plating solution for best results. Also if multiple coats are applied I like to let the part plate long enough to develop a thick copper shell before removing from the plating solution. This way even if the paint doesn't stick well the copper shell is thick enough to retain its own rigidity. Hope that makes sense and helps.

Also if you plan on adding a second coat (I don't recommend if at all possible) let the graphite paint dry completely for at least 24 hours before applying a second coat and also use some either fine grit sand paper or even just a lint free rag to rough up the surface of the prior layer. Use a respirator when doing this because it's hard on your lungs to breath graphite dust. Ask me how I know :( anyhow good luck and let me know if you have any more questions. I'll try and make a video on this topic in the future because I think it might help a lot of folks.

@DIYCOOLSTUFF Hello. Nice and simple, thank you. But, about the graphite dust, using the mask during use doesn’t do much. The dust is flying everywhere in the room, and doesn’t disapear, you breath it all day long, since the first time you used it, it’s on your clothes, you bring it home for everybody to breath it in, ect... Do you know about asbestos? The wifes of asbestos workers were as much affected by silicosis than their husbands, because while doing the work clothes laundry, the ladies were exposed to asbestos. Nobody though about that at this time. Think. Cheers.

@@hommerdalor6301 Hi, just wanted to take a second to respond to your comment, I take safety probably as serious as anyone I know. Here is what I know on the subject. Asbestos differs from graphite in that our bodies natural processes cannot remove asbestos particles from our lungs. Graphite on the other hand can be removed from our lungs through multiple bodily processes. I've actually read and re read a few studies on this prior to responding just to make sure my information was as accurate as possible. However just because it can be removed doesn't make it perfectly safe, but I also don't want it to be misconstrued as being as dangerous as asbestos. Any foreign particle in our lungs can cause inflammation and pulmonary inflammation can cause all sorts of problems. Some are worse than others. Silicosis specifically is caused by inhalation of silica dust. While natural graphite powder does contain silicates, the MSDS of most synthetic graphite powders like recommended in my videos show minimal to trace amounts of silicates. We breath in all sorts of contaminates every day and our bodies are well suited to remove those irritants. Woodworking for instance creates large amounts of saw dust. Being exposed to saw dust once in a while is going to do mostly zero overall harm to your body, however a woodworker who worked in a poorly ventilated shop is very likely to develop lung disease at an early age according to studies simply due to chronic inflammation from being exposed to sawdust (some types of woods are very irritating as much or more so than silicates). From my research pure graphite (and most contaminates) is similar, small exposures will be handled by your body with minimal concern and a high-quality respirator appropriate for the particle size plus decent ventilation should be more than adequate. However, if you plan on being exposed more frequently, then a dedicated ventilation hood and more advanced ppe and dust collection system should be used. Some irritants like asbestos that the body has poor defenses against should likely be avoided altogether especially since primary and secondhand exposure can have such tragic consequences. However as with most things erring on the side of safety is usually good practice, so I agree that graphite powder should be treated with respect and caution. Thanks for taking the time to post a comment on safety always a great topic to discuss!

Lots of good stuff scheduled to come out, thanks for the support!