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Letter 934
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Tom Pullizzi |
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David,
We have tried a number of different conductive paints and have mainly used Electrodag from Acheson Colloids. I believe they have a nickel based paint which would be cheaper than the usual silver base. Your problem will be in using cyanide copper as the alkaline cyanide solution is a good paint stripper. We have always used acid copper or silver over these products.
Regards
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Bob Lynch |
Some 15 years ago we did plating over items like flower buds , insects, and leaves. We made the surfaces conductive by "painting" on a carbon colloidal suspension which was marketed under the name of "Aquadag"
I believe the supplier , whose name I cannot recall is now defunct.
It was necessary to plate an undercoat of copper, and only acid copper was suitable. We intended to try a sulphamate bath as alternative, but the customer passed away before we could. (He was a retired professor of botany)
Maybe you could source an equivalent to Aquadag. It worked really well.
Raymond Sebba
- Capetown, South Africa
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The name 'Aquadag' isn't defunct. Acheson Colloids offers the Electrodag series, and claims ownership of the names Electrodag, Aquadag, and the rest of the dags. As Bob Lynch says, they are indeed in Port Huron, MI.
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This type of coating is widely used to "bronze" baby shoes by coating with a conductive paint such as Aquadag then electroplating.
Indium - tin- oxide (ITO) (mixture of In2O3 and SnO2) is a transparent (colorless) conductive oxide. It is deposited on surfaces by PVD techniques but would also be useful as a conductive powder.
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If you're attempting Cu - Ni - Au for thin film processes, then PVD (sputtering), vacuum evap., or a combination of either w/ Au up-plate is the only way to go for adhesion under high temperature. If you're attempting this coating on an organic such as a plastic, you may want to look into what the PCB industry uses for plated thru holes. Specifically, palladium catalyst activation processes with following plate-up. For this latter technology, contact your plating chemical supplier (I use Technic for their good customer support and competitive prices). Good luck
Jeff A 
does anyone know where I can find information on the exact ins and out of gold plating organic materials? I already do gold plating on chrome objects, is the process similar or do you need copper baths or nickel baths?
Wayne haraga
- HONOLULU, HAWAII
Ed. note: For a start, try our FAQs on the subject, Wayne. Aloha.
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Like many of the letters you have already received , when plating non - metallics I have found that you must use an Acid Copper system . The Copper paint can be made by using a nitro cellulose based lacquer and filling it with very fine copper powder which you can buy from a Lab supplier ( for small quantities at exorbitant prices ) or in larger quantities from any reasonable Metal supplier .
One of the secrets that has not been mentioned is that once the non - metallic surface has been coated with the "conductive paint" it must be left to "cure" and the "Cure" time depends on how thick the "conductive paint" is . My experience is minimum cure time is 24 hours but the longer the better ( up to 7 days is sometimes needed)
John Tenison - Woods
- Victoria Australia
Dave,
As Don mentioned earlier, this process is used in the bronzing of "baby shoes." However, the applications are limitless.
Todd Miller
Oceanside, California
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-- Anybody who wants to electroplate nonmetallics should find a copy of How to Electroplate for Fun and Profit [link is to info about book on Amazon] by Warner Electric Co. 1950. It describes the following process.
Donald Warner |
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in my attempts to electroplate nonconductive materials i have tried to make nitrocellulose lacquers conductive by adding carbon black. Contacts in the conductive polymer industry have provided me with samples of highly conductive carbon structures in powder form, but my recipes have not yet yielded usable results. this method of creating surface conductivity would be extremely economical. any advice is welcome.
rob anzellotti
I'm very interested to learn about gold and silver plating organic materiels like leaves, nuts and even so big things like apples and oranges. Can anyone give me a tip of books and a company where I can buy the products to an affordable price and also get information and support? Can I use a cheaper transformer or I have to buy the more expensive ones? Is it difficult and costly to learn? I have worked in silver before, but not too much. Thank you very much.
Bo Erlandsson
- Cape Coral, FL
I am trying to restart an operation I dropped in the 60's. I bought an outfit for plating baby shoes from Warner Electric in the Midwest I think. I believe they are out of business today. I too am looking for supplies similar to those I used from Warner. The item to be plated was dipped in a rather viscous liquid that dried hard and allowed much detail to come though. The metallic coating was a copper dust propelled from an aerosol can had contained a solvent which allowed the particles of copper to embed and attach themselves to the surface of the impregnated item having an copper suspension wire attached for the plating process.
The item, after proper coating with the copper dust was hung from a bar which agitated via motor driven cam, in a copper sulfate bath. They sold copper anodes and a complete line of grinding and polishing compounds, also a great degreasing powder. I successfully plated many natural items such as apples, acorns and plastic statuary as well . I lost all records of bath formulae and will try the suggested Root Killer [link is to product info at Amazon]. If anyone and suggest more on this I'd appreciate it. I still have the power supply which is rated at 6 volts and 10 amps adjustable.
Thanks,
Frank Galea
Sculpture - Olyphant, Pennsylvania
I am interested in finding out more about electroplating a non-metallic object such as a flower. I was thinking of copper dusting my flower first before electroplating it. I was wondering what methods are there to copper dust my flower. or just any way of making my flower a conductor so that it can be electroplated.
Renee Goh
student - Singapore
Hi, Renee. Please don't ignore the effort involved in the 14 previous postings on this page, and start over. Please try to express your question in terms of what has already been said so we can keep moving forward. Thanks!
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 Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
Hello,
I've tried to use Aquadag on non-conductors like ceramic items to
make them plateable. Unfortunately the graphite layer remains water
soluble and rinses off very easily regardless temperature and the,
mentioned a few posts earlier, curing time. It also seems to be quite
poorly adherent to surfaces I've applied it onto, even though they
were thoroughly degreased.
There are surely platers familiar with Aquadag usage here, could
anyone give any hint how to use it properly for plating purposes?
Would it, for instance, need to be mixed with some kind of varnish
for water resistance and adhesion improvement? Any suggestion will be
greatly appreciated.
regards,
Adam Wittmann
- Poznan, Poland
I found a Sherwin Williams about 40 miles from me that sold
Electrodag SP-017. It is listed as a "highly conductive coating".
I've seen posts that say that Electrodag works, but not this one [for
me]. The pigment is listed as a silver coated copper, so I figured it
would work. I spent a little under $300/gal, which is a lot cheaper
than silver spray, especially since it is to be thinned 2:1 with MEK.
I figured I'd say a prayer and give it a shot, but no luck for me. If
anyone has used this successfully, or knows exactly which Electrodag
they've used successfully, please let us know.
Thanks,
David Gomez
- Joliet, Illinois
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March 17, 2009 What was the problem that you encountered with the Electrodag sp017? It has been recommended to me for use in electroplating organics such as leaves and flowers. And the company that manufactures electrodag suggested that it may be used as a dip coating. I am interested to know how it worked out for you. Thank you, Aaron Fisher
March 17, 2009 I use a carbon graphite paint to electroplate nonconductives. It seems to keep more detail than any other paint or powder i have used. And it is very good for dipping because carbon has a low density it seems less inclined separate, therefore a more uniform coating is achieved. But the problem is that the carbon is not very conductive so it takes an hour longer to plate. Aaron Fisher
March 17, 2009 Hi, Aaron. If preserving fine really fine detail is essential you might think of two-part silvering rather than conductive paint. You will lose no definition at all. This is what is used to metallize vinyl record masters, and was used in the early days of videodisks (today PVD vacuum processes are used to metallize CD and DVD masters). Regards,
March 20, 2009 Do you think that it would be possible to achieve a conductive coating of silver on a leaf by spraying the silvering solution and reducer at the same time using an ordinary household spray bottles? This would be instead of using the dual nozzle spray gun and compressor. Aaron Fisher
March 21, 2009 Hi, Aaron. 2-part silvering has been around for a long time, certainly before dual nozzle spray guns, so I think it is possible. The highest resolution, however, is obtained by spraying while the object is on a spin table, so any compromises you make will limit the resolution somewhat. Good luck. Regards,
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