Electro-plating or vacuum metalizing onto resin?

[pnag]

Hi guys,

Hope someone here can help me - basically, I'm looking to get a Dredd movie helmet badge gold plated, in whatever way looks best? I've tried 4 different companies here in Ireland, and they've all told me it's impossible

Any one got any tips?

As it stands, I've a bunch of older resin kits (lightsabres, T-800 head) that would benefit from electroplating too...

 

[CustomPropSculptorGuy]

Hmm... I know Smooth-On resins you can plate, paint and chrome...

 

[Baron]

I know Volpin had his daft punk helmet metalized, and it was a resin copy. Granted the companies he dealt with were US based, but I would think you would have an equivalent shop over on your side of the pond. You might want to see if he can give you any further details...or at least the exact process you need to look for.

 

[E-Wan]

Shipping from Ireland might be a pain, but these guys are awesome: Creations n' Chrome .... Experience The Possibilities!

 

[pnag]

It's a very small piece!

Cheers for the tips, guys! If you think of anything else, I'd love to hear it!

 

[Rbotbikeboy]

Hi Pnag -

Was wondering, what were the companies that you contacted here in ROI?

Btw, if you CNC a badge out of perspex, you can totally vac metalise it, I used to do it with light reflectors for cars all the time!

 

[MadMike]

Hmm... I know Smooth-On resins you can plate, paint and chrome...

I know Volpin had his daft punk helmet metalized, and it was a resin copy.

Resins can be plated, yes, but IIRC, Volpin made a new copy of his Thomas with some stuff called Smooth-On ONYX because it can stand higher temperatures (which I guess can occur during plating), so it depends on the kind of resin you are using

 

[Murdoch]

Hey man i'm not sure but you may have to have a powder coat then copper plate and then gold plate on top. I am a chrome plater but am unfamiliar with plating pieces other than metal. Good luck to you though...GM

 

[Propsjonnyb]

I've probably had more experience than most electroplating most materials , resin is not easy , there are a couple of electroplating kits that are available via the internet, Caswell is one company that is fairly well known , they do offer a number of kits to the hobbyist , however they do come with a warning most of the chemicals used are highly toxic so care and safety are extremely important !!
The trick with resin is to apply a bonding agent to the resin prior to electroplating in base copper, once the copper is fixed , you can then over plate in almost any other metal including silver and gold 9,18 & 24 carrat. and it's a relatively easy process , a home hobby kit will run you appx £100 ($150 US) but you can spend a fortune investing in very specialised equipment almost all of my hot metal builds are plated in some form or another , especially SCI-FI replica guns etc so I can 'parkerise' or 'gunmetal blue' them this makes for extremely realistic replicas with good metal polished surfaces . Nickel , Chrome, Bronze , Brass etc can be produced . You can also powder coast resin but it does run to cost and mostly it's not cheap or cost effective doing small runs. So I would suggest sticking to hobby electroplating , unless you are close to a commercial electroplater and you can get them to do it for you .It will not be cheap as it has to be prep'ed , then plated copper than in the finish you want- hope that helps.

 

[moonwalk]

thanks for the info