Electropolishing Copper the End of Brightner in electroforming 

holy crap, i got sick of playing the brightener game in my first week, and now i've been putting up with dirty looking copper for like... the last 10 years! bro, you've sent my career in a new direction with this vid. THANKS A MILLION!

This is awesome! Love your channel. You were my favorite professor and you're still a channel to come to. Great job brother.

In Electroforming by Leslie Curtis she adds 3 drops of dishwasher soap to the eletroforming bath and say it stops bubbles from forming and pieces come out smooth and shiny.

Use lead flashing sheets used on roofs about 3/16 thick you could wrap the whole inside of the bowl

Am addicted to your videos .. love them !! thank you for sharing!! xxx

Fantastic! I'm not electroforming yet,..but I'm learning so much from watching your videos. Thank you for sharing!😊

This is a game changer! Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge!

So glad I found you... I am gonna have a great start thanks to you

Are you freaking kidding me???? That's the most awesome idea you could have provided!!!! Gosh, I'm so thankful... Hmmmm, gotta go shopping tomorrow :D

Beautiful works, thank you for the information!

Hey Jason great stuff. I just finished my first electroplating project. I used your solution formula you sell on your site. (purchased other videos too, worth every penny). Despite your advice I started with a very large piece (needed for an art project I was working on). It was relatively low surface area 8 inches for it’s size 10 inches in diameter, but it was a large piece. I added

Awesome! Brightner is a pain in the ass. It's so expensive! Thank you, Jason!

This works great at removing firescale too!

Thank you for sharing Jason. I’ve got a couple of pieces that got slightly rough and bumpy thanks to a minor contamination- I’ve used the flash bath to remove the worst of the damage ready to pop them back in the bath now it’s been filtered.

WOW, a bit late for a comment but this is definately needed in the arsenal of processes. Thanks for that video and demo.

Great Video and information. Thanks

this is a life changer, thanks

Man O man im glad im finding you before ive really bought anything yet! You seem like me - there has to be an easier and cheaper way! Thanks so much and i still have so much to learn.

I'm definitely going to have to try that. I started watching your videos a year ago and have since gone from making rings to electroplating leaves and other plant things, to electroplating feathers to make dreamcatchers with them and leaves etc. I could never get my rings to seal good enough. Well good enough to me anyways. I used protectaclear according to instructions. Wash thouroughly, rinse in distilled water, denatured alcohol rinse, then seal and let dry. I do work on a farm though so there's always wrenches and metal cranks going around my hands. The finish would just chip off in a couple days and then start turning my fingers green :( Anyways back to the point. I've never used brightener in my electroplating. I just take the finished things out to the wire wheel on my grinder and polish them up that way. Trying to get into all the little nooks and crannies though proves to be a challenge and i end up finishing things off with a little dremel wheel. This method would be perfect for feathers and electroformed flowers and stuff like that.

That's awesome! Thank you.

Super impressive!!!!

Hi Jason, could you share with us the ingredients and percentages that you use in your copper plating solution? I bought your recipe for conducive ink and would happy to do the same with a recipe for your copper plating solution

Jason this make me happy too LOL!!!! its so shinny!!! :)

Oh how I wish I had found your channel when I was first beginning with electroforming. You’re a life saver for everyone who asks me “what’s electroforming and how can I do it?” I’ve always just answered “it’s science magic,” and they pretend to understand as I try to explain the process but... yikes. What you’re doing is amazing for so many artists out there!

Hey Jason great stuff! …question follows I just finished my first electroplating project. I PURCHASED and used your electroplating solution formula that you sell on your site. (I purchased other videos too, worth every penny). Despite your advice I started with a very large organic piece (needed for an art project I was working on). After I sealed it (dipped) with multiple coats of very watered down water-based lacquer, I used a very watered down version of your Modpoge conductive paint (1 part Modpoge, 2 parts graphite, 3 parts distilled water) as a two coat dip. Even though it was very large (10 inches in diameter) it was relatively low surface area 8 square inches) . I added extra anodes, and extra connecting wires to the piece. I hade to make a tank out of plastic animal feed pan. Otherwise I followed your instructions to the letter (one exception which I’ll get to below). It was a UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS! It worked even better than expected. Thank you so much for your great instructions! Now I’ll get to my question. I used the commercial brightener solution, and it turned out very shiny. But what if I didn’t used brightener at all? Frankly, for some of things I will be doing, I would prefer a matte finish. Would I be okay leaving out the brightener completely? And would I end up with a more matte finish? BTW… the only modification I made from your formula was replacing the battery acid with full strength Sulfuric Acid Rooto Drain cleaner. I discovered I had reduce the acid content by about almost a factor of 10 to reach a PH level of .7 or above. Thanks again for your great instruction. I recommend everyone purchase your instructions. They were worth every penny. I had the desired results on my first attempt at copper plating.

Citrasurf (soap water citric acid )works well if you want a satin finish we use it in a passivation process

Great Video. How many drops of dawn would you use for one galon of solution (based on the 50%-50% recipe). thanks a lot.

Hi Jason, could u guide me what should be current and volt used in silver electroforming on wax?

Nice!

Hey - great video. I just want to double check the ratio is 50/50 for this bath? And how do you store the solution?

One more question, why does it have to be Lead on the negative leads? This process is basically electroplating in reverse, as its removing the oxidation layer on the copper and depositing it on the lead, right? So couldn't other materials be used instead of lead? Or does the lead have some type of chemical reaction or "exchange" with the acid in the bath??

Wow, that's like magic. You got me to try electroforming a year ago, with limited success. Lots of ugly pieces (a few good ones)...maybe this warrants a second attempt for me.

Thanks a lot for sharing. Got some doubts, whats proportion of comercial phosphoric acid and destilled water we use for a e liters container, and I got that the negative pole goes to lead , and the positive goes to the piece we want to clean__ Merry xmas!!!!

Great process, could this replace tumbling? And it looks like a fractal at 17:25

Thanks for sharing, ... I'm pretty knew to this but have been doing my homework but I can't get the results you are getting on a freshly copper plated object. I can bring up copper coins to a mirror finish by dipping like you are doing in the video but my copper plated parts are making no difference at all, can you please advise where I might be going wrong here? ... I have been trying to make a shiny garden leaf, I put the conductive ink on it (dipped like you do) then coppered it, and it went on fine, coppered it at roughly 0.5 volts, all was good apart from trying to make it shine in this solution. I can't put a wire brush to it as it's to delicate. Look forward to your reply, keep up the good work ;-)

Awesome video thank you! Out of curiosity does the other material HAVE to be lead or are there other anode materials that can be used. Or is lead just the best performing? Holding off on my next eBay purchase for a response 😅

A great technique, Jason! I going to try this out tomorrow! Just a slight correction which has nothing to do with this process. The word "cathode" is pronounced "cath"- "ode" not "cath"-"rode". You pronounced it this way, twice. It doesn't get the job done any better but while we are emphasizing this particular word...

I'm really interested in the chemistry of what's happening here. I know Cu is being oxidized into Cu 2+ ions, and I'm assuming the H+ ions from the phosphoric acid are reduced and produce hydrogen gas that forms on the surface of the part. I'm trying to figure out what part the lead has to play in the reaction as well as why you use phosphoric acid rather than hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid that produces more hydrogen ions.

If I electroplate a 3D printed mold in copper, would this process help remove the lines making a smoother surface? My guess it would but at the expense of detail you want as well. Let me know what you observed when you have a chance, please. Great video. Thanks for sharing.

Jason, is it just the Phosphoric Acid in that combination or do you think it has a hidden "brightener" contained inside? I know it says brightener on the bottle but what is that "Brightener", is it just the Acid? I'm trying to find an alternative because I can't seem to locate the DMB in Fairbanks Alaska. My only choice is to find an alternative with as much Phosphoric Acid in it as I can.Thanks for your time,Chris

Are the lead cathodes consumed at all during use? Do they need to be replaced. My metal supply house has lead sheeting which would have a large surface area.

COULD you tell me what electrolyte to use or how can I get the liquid solution to do this process (EP) on titanium´s pieces? Thank you very much! I wait your response...!!!!

File down your "junk drawer" and flash em again for polished pieces with character

Could you use parts from an old lead acid battery?

can phosphoric acid use for gold and silver polishing too?

I'm having trouble finding Hillyard DMB HIL0047406 in my little town. Ospho "rust remover with 45% orthophosphoric acid by weight according to msds" is available near by. will this work? Thank you for all your vids. They're awesome!

Does it work with other metals like silver or zinc?

Jason can I use Aqua mix phosphoric acid cleaner substitute? Duda energy does not deliver to Hawaii.

Greetings!

may i know dc power supply details .its how many dc output volt ?thanks sir

A DC to DC buck converter would allow you to continue using the 24v power supply but adjust the voltage down and consequently the amperage according to the resistance of your electrolyte and plated parts and plates, and the applied voltage.

@Jason Welsh Great Video!! Thanks for Sharing! Question, How about using the same setup, but with Citric Acid? Would it work?? I know people use citric acid, usually lemon juice, to clean copper cookware and etc. And its much cheaper than phosphoric acid. I have some powdered pure citric acid, i think I'll try it and see if and/or how good it works.

Oh no! I see another build in my future!!

Hey Jason, awesome video. Question for you though? You said the cathode is the lead. In standard electrolysis, a cathode is negative. Is this the case here? All clips used that I can see are black so I just want to be sure.

Well I can say it works for sure Although I didn’t notice I needed to add water oops Straight 85% acid with some soap Hell it worked just fine lol

Does it work on silver?

Don't keep your junk, make it the sacrificial as long as the base material doesn't contaminate it. Leaves are fine, nothing happens to the graphite paint. You could redo them (I don't) if they are not what you want.

Does it work on Silver ??

Hi Jason, would this work with nickel plating?

Computer power source, buy cheap at goodwill, 12v, can take all yellow wires, bundle them in a lug, all black wires and bundle in a lug, and get 12v out. Theres a 5v source in them, too, red wires? They come 145w to 500+w. Thank You for this, too 🙏⚒️⚕️🎵🎶 ~C< 3)>>-Z->}

I like to see you electropolishing aluminum. I couldn’t get my aluminum to go extremely polished. In fact, they actually became cloudy looking polished if that makes sense. I’m trying to go beyond the next level of polishing aluminum, in terms of I already super polished the parts by hand and want to polished beyond that. However, I used Phosphoric Acid 75%, no water mixed. Voltage ranges from 12v to 20v, 1a to 5a. I was only able to super shine silver and chrome. Mild steel and aluminum didn’t turn out good, they turned out flatter, not shinier. What am I doing wrong? I’m trying to electroploish aluminum.

Is this adding or removing copper ?

Why the all but non conductive lead weight? My first guess is, it reacts with the acid mix less than would other cathodes. Too, I'm guessing a positive side effect, when using your high voltage computer power supply, it would act as a crude dropping resistor, to reduce the voltage. All that aside, thanks for a great tip. As an aside, I've rescued a few of my oops projects by tossing them back in the plating/forming bath and cranking up the voltage to let the current and bath have its way. I've ended up with prized projects.

Has anyone had a problem with fumes?

Can you use this to polish nickel plating ?

What is the Voltage and current settings?

Does this deposits lead into the water?

“It’s DC voltage so it doesn’t hurt but it is painful” enough with the chemistry, show us how you grow your weed!

"What's a 'cath-road' Walter?"

All it’s doing is removing a thin layer….just immersing in white vinegar for a couple of hours will do the same…then it polishes very easily..with a soft brush.. Using your method is faster, but more expensive and quite dangerous using 10amps….but it will soon tarnish back to the dull colour

could you use coke ? ?

There's nothing dangerous about a 24 volt supply, regardless of it's current rating.

Ps it does make a bit of hydrogen gas so don’t put a flame to the soap bubbles They go BOOOM lol Ask me how I know

CATHODE not cathode. There is no “R” in CATHODE! 😊

So KFC style...'extra tasty crispy' to be more exact?!

Should try it with diet coke and detergent

Very cool stuff, my partner is a long time follower and we have learned a bunch from you sir. Legit question. The lead. If a peice is going to be worn, next to or near skin. Will that cause problems or not, and why? Also, what can be done to mitigate any possible issues?