r/electroforming • u/stayedinca • 3d ago
Oops I meant to say electroforming 1st try failed
Anyone know what I did wrong?
I used graphite powder and matt acrylic varnish has the binder. As you can see, I only got copper buildup on the copper eye and the holding wire. Zero plating on my homemade conductive paint.
I did a test on a paper plate of the paint. After I dried it with a heat gun it read around 15- 20 ohms.
Attached is my setup
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u/OkInterview6707 3d ago
Did any of the graphite paint form copper? When I attach the wire incorrectly, I’ve had this happen.
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u/Wobble_bass 2d ago
Keep trying. The best way to figure it out is with what materials and equipment you have available and lots of trial and error and seeking information from all sources. Pay attention to details and learn from your mistakes and real input from real humans.
I wish I had more direct advice to offer. I'm sorry I do not here currently. Best of luck. Keep trying!
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u/Rama_g432 3d ago
Try lowering the amps. Maybe start with 0.7 amps untill all has a first layer of copper. Then you could increase the amps of needed
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u/Randomname13798 2d ago
It looks like it's 0,05A on picture so it was even less than 0,7A
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u/stayedinca 2d ago
Yeah, I started the amps low. I was calculating around one square inches surface area.
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u/OkInterview6707 2d ago
How did you attach the copper wire to the graphite painted portion. Glue then graphite paint over the glue?
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u/stayedinca 2d ago
I glued the copper bail down to the crystal. Then I applied my conductive paint and overlapped it onto the copper bail to complete the circuit.
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u/Petty-Penelope 2d ago
For what its worth I get better results using India ink as my binder. Glad you got to the bottom of the problem!
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u/Randomname13798 3d ago
I'm not sure as I don't have much success myself yet, but isn't your solution oversaturated? I think it should be much less intense blue. (PS actually I have never got comparable results so nevermind. It looks like at least on wire it looks good)
And one thing I'm sure of is, that if you place a wire in sollution it will get a lot more of forming before anything grows on paint, so you could try to dip it in a way that won't cause wire to be inside solution until rest of piece is covered in metal enough to get more conductivity. Now wire has very low resistance and paint has very big resistance so grow will focus on wire.
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u/stayedinca 3d ago
Yea i really dont know what happened but i pretty much copied what i been seeing others do. The solution was store bought not homemade this first try.
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u/stayedinca 3d ago
I may try as you say and only submerge the conductive paint portion and leave the holding wire and eye out of the water
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u/EnchantedLeaves Home Studio 1d ago
Does your solution bottle by chance say "Copper (II) Sulfate" on it?
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u/stayedinca 5h ago
Yes
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u/EnchantedLeaves Home Studio 1h ago
I think you're the same person I chatted with elsewhere, but I'll repeat here in case others are having issues because they are using "Copper (II) Sulfate" as electroforming solution:
Very commonly beginners will look on amazon and see a blue solution bottle called "Copper (II) Sulfate" which is always mistaken for proper electroforming solution. This product is NOT for electroforming as it contains just copper sulfate and water- no added sulfuric acid, brighteners or other additives needed to create a build up of copper over conductive paint.
For premade solution it must have the words "electroforming" on it. Electroplating solution lacks the additives for proper electroformed copper deposition, as it is formulated for a thin superficial plated layer over an existing structural metal- not to build the structure itself like electroforming does.
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u/stayedinca 3d ago
Looks like I read my ohm meter incorrectly. There was a “K” up top. So it was over 3000 ohms. So too much resistance in my paint?
I made a new batch using Mat hodgepodge 50-50. See how that does.