Room Temperature Gold Electroforming: Smart, Practical Advice

Summary for room temperature gold electroforming Discussion

room temperature gold electroforming is the core question here: Aaed Mohhy asked whether a gold electroforming bath could run below 35 °C so wax mandrels would not melt, and requested formulas, operating conditions, pH, and anode type for building 800-1000 micron deposits. No detailed gold bath recipe was provided in the thread. Instead, Guillermo Marrufo noted that wax is not limited to 35 °C and that some waxes can withstand 50 °C or more, so the temperature concern may be less severe than assumed. A later reply added that conventional waxes used in electroplating often melt around 75-80 °C, implying the electroforming solution does not necessarily need to be at room temperature. The practical takeaway is that the mandrel material and its true softening/melting range should be checked before redesigning the bath.

Q. My best regards to all plating colleagues. I am using wax as a mandrel material to produce different products from silver electroforming bath which work at room temperature and I am succeeding. Now I want to prepare a gold electroforming bath which will work at temperature less than melting point of wax mandrel, i.e., 35 &C. I would like to be able to electroform to (800-1000) microns; bright finish is not necessary. Can any one help me? What formulas, what are the operating conditions, pH value, and the type of anodes? No problem if the formula is for application of alloy or pure gold plating.
Thanks

Aaed Mohhy
Plating shop employee – Baghdad , Iraq
January 24, 2009


“Gold Plating Technology”
by Reid & Goldie

— hard to find & expensive; if you
see a copy cheap, act fast!

goldie

on Amazon

or

eBay

or

AbeBooks


(affil link)

A. I know very little about gold electroforming and am not going into details and formulas, but I must inform you the melting temperature of wax is not limited to 35° C. There are several waxes that go up to 50 °C and more. So, don’t worry much about operating temperature.

Guillermo Marrufo
Monterrey, NL, Mexico
January 28, 2009

A. Conventional waxes used in electroplating have a melting point of 75-80 °C so electroforming solution does not need to operate at room temperature.

dayton dailey
Dayton Dailey
supplier
– Lake Zurich, Illinois USA

January 30, 2009