Plating on 3D printed ABS resins?
  • Tinus Stander
    0
    Hi everyone

    Anyone here have any experience with plating 3D printed ABS resins? We have a little Form3 downstairs we'd like to print some waveguide parts on, but we need a way to deposit a conductive seed layer prior to copper electroplating.

    We tried going the conventional ABS plating route, but the process fails at the first bath (chrome sulfuric) because of significant ingress in the 3D printed part... apparently injection molding gives you a much smoother finish, so this isn't a problem.

    Anyone else had this experience? Any ideas on electroless metal deposition that'll stick to rather porous ABS?

    t
    Tinus Stander Options
  • KerwoodDerby
    0
    I have seen printed horns coated with the spray-on conductive paint (e.g. MG Chemicals 843AR) whose gain is only a dB below a metal one, but it was a one-off and I never saw any follow-up. That said, it might be enough for the initial strike plate needed.

    As far as smoothness and surface sealing, you should look up what people are doing to ABS with acetone vapor. I've tried it a bit and can attest that, by paying careful attention to temperature and duration, you can get quite nice finishes.
    KerwoodDerby Options
  • Tinus Stander
    0
    ↪KerwoodDerby
    Thanks for the suggestions! Spraypainting might be bit tricky inside the waveguide, but we'll certainly try the acetone vapor!

    t
    Tinus Stander Options
  • UnknownEditor
    4
    I know that plating plastic is possible, and some companies do it well. But the devil is in the details. Not just in the plating but in holding tolerances on the plastic part. I am considering adding an entry on this on our career killer page... good luck!

    Steve
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  • Tinus Stander
    0
    So, quick update on this:

    After almost a year of trial and error, we finally figured out that a few rounds of Tollens' reagent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollens%27_reagent) works like a charm... much more even finish than trying to electroplate copper, and IL (@ K-band) only marginally below metrology grade waveguide.

    Paper will be submitted to IEEE CPMT soon; will keep everyone posted.
    Tinus Stander Options
  • UnknownEditor
    4
    That will be a useful paper to many people, thanks!

    Steve
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  • Tinus Stander
    0
    So, after the usual trials and tribulations, the paper is now *finally* out, where we describe the process.

    Downloadable version here:

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368909379_SLA_Printed_K-Band_Waveguide_Components_using_Tollens_Reaction_Silver_Plating

    What we found is that slowing down the reaction by cooling it gives you a much better finish, and using multiple plating rounds really helps.

    It's still a frail metallization approach, however, and easily rubs off with a few not-so-vigorous thumb swipes; fine for lab prototyping, but you'll need plating or some other coating to use it industrially.
    Tinus Stander Options
  • Desert Sage
    0
    I have had good experience using a plater familiar with the Enthone process. The process roughens the surface so the plating can stick better than smooth surface. I have investigated all sorts of methods; vacuum deposition, conductive paint, plasma torch, conductive additive in plastic pellets, etc.

    Here is my combline diplexer design (in plastic). Plating kind of sucks inside the resonators but this was the first one and design improvements improved the process. https://www.epner.com/capabilities/plating-on-plastics/
    Desert Sage Options
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