I posted a link to this as a response to another post and got a lot of interest. So I thought I’d post it out here a little closer to the surface.
I’ve been electroplating (electroforming) PLA with some very interesting results. I have a bit of an obsession with metal. For years I’ve been using electrolysis as a method of creating metal sculpture. Originally I wanted to sculpt in metal but simply didn’t have access to a foundry. So, I would build things up in various materials (fiberglass, polymer clay, regular clay, etc.) and then give them a nice shiny coat of metal in the plating bath. This kind of turned into a 15+ year pursuit. Then, along came 3D printing. The leap was kind of a no-brainer. My obsession with creating things in metal persists, and as it does I’ll be sharing my various adventures as I document them on my website. The item pictured has a heavy layer of copper. ~.005 inch.
More to come here: http://www.thevirtualfoundry.com/3d-printing
Thanks. I’ll be watching.
Your last name is woods but your obsessed with metal and such
If you have a maker or hacker space near you, might be able to cast your 3D printed parts in metal. I found a guy that will help me do just that. It’s a technique informally called lost PLA casting. So I don’t have to own the furnace, the guy has a way to melt metal and cast small parts.
Lost PLA: Over the course of my adventure I wound up building a forge, foundry, kilns, casting equipment, etc. As hobbies sometimes go, I started doing paid work to support my habit. Today I’m building a model for an 8lb brass sand cast for a window fixture in a 100 year old building restoration. I’ve found that I keep going back to electro forming because it’s clean and simple. I love the heat and flames, but they have their own bit of overhead that I’m not always up for.
Here’s a series of photos from a lost-wax gold ring. I do waxes and PLA for others pretty regularly these days.
http://www.thevirtualfoundry.com/the-gallery?view=album&album=6085400344164770097&page=1
