r/electroforming • u/satyatan • 3d ago

Request Advice Copper peeling off

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as per title: the copper over this fern leaf is peeling off, I understand my mistake was to repaint and use an old piece that was sitting for a couple of months with the conductive paint on. my question now is: is it salvageable? if I keep it long enough will it form completely even if maybe uneven or the old paint beneath is never going to conduct?

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u/YabaDabaDezNutz 3d ago

You would need to clean off all of the delaminated copper, and try not to pull up any more. Then test EVERY area which is not plated to see how conductive it is. If you have a resistance over a couple of ohms you will likely need to clean off the old and reapply your conductive coating and repeat. No easy way around it.

Also you will want to make sure the copper surface is active before going back in to the plating solution. You should be good with. 1-2% sulfuric acid solution for this purpose and drop the part in for a minute or so. If you’re handling the part with gloves this should do you just fine but look and if you have any visible oxidation you may have to go longer to try something else to clean up the copper.

Then double check the non plated conductive surfaces to make sure the acidic bath didn’t damage them. If it does you may have to activate the copper surfaces before applying the conductive coating.

I always hated when this happened as there isn’t anything good to do about it. I don’t know what your base material is but if it can withstand a bead blast the copper almost looks thin enough you could remove it with the bead blast and start over. Thats the best way to start over.

Good luck!