Cosmichrome - Coating Your 3D Prints in Chrome

[Brian_Krassenstein]

As the 3D printing industry is experiencing enormous and constant growth, so are the products and accessories that accompany it, offering a wide variety of options for finishing 3D printed projects and prototypes. In a fun Instructable, Gold Touch Inc. provides a tutorial for taking your latest 3D printed object and coating it, in this example, with their Cosmichrome. Gold Touch offers a variety of other coatings as well. Check out the how-to for this fun chrome coating in the full article: http://3dprint.com/38746/cosmichrome-coat-instructable/


Below is a photo of two 3D printed skulls coated with Cosmichrome. Let us know if you have tried this method to coat your prints with chrome. Post some pictures of your work below.

[Feign]

Pretty cool, but from the video it seems like he hoses the thing down with each component, most of which just runs off the piece and onto the floor. I mean sure it's a good idea to get every crevice painted, but sometimes he's not even hitting the skull in the spray.

[goldtouchinc]

The process in the video is not paint. It is an electroless plating process. We are simulating dipping it in a series of electroplating tanks but there is not electrostatic charge. The metal is depleted out of the solution and sticks the the base coat. We have the liquid runoff refined for the silver in it. Nothing runs on the floor. This process is similar to vacuum plating but there is no vacuum chamber needed. It is more durable and much less expensive than starting a vacuum plating shop. Theoretically just about any size object can be plated with our process. Here is a video of a 50 ft tall statue being plated for a famous professional sports team's new stadium.

[Cameron]

That is really awesome!

How much does it cost to get started? How much does it cost to actually to plate an object?

[jimc]

here is the detonator fan blade i did for one of the ww2 bomb models i did. its not the same brand as above. the blade was printed, primed, sanded smooth then coated. this isnt a new product or technique by any means but the technology has evolved and gotten better over the years. i really dont like doing it. its such a ton of work for the effect. i always talk my customers out of it simply by telling them the cost of doing it. i only use it on my own projects really

[soofle616]

Looks cool and I could definitely see some applications for it but given the lack of easily accessible pricing on the website I've already lost interest. Far as I'm concerned if the price is hidden or not published then it's out of my budget so it's not worth my time to research further.

[goldtouchinc]

Looks cool and I could definitely see some applications for it but given the lack of easily accessible pricing on the website I've already lost interest. Far as I'm concerned if the price is hidden or not published then it's out of my budget so it's not worth my time to research further.

The prices are on the web site. All of the coating packages and the machines. Take a better, closer look. http://goldtouchinc.com/cosmichrome-systems/
http://goldtouchinc.com/cosmichrome-...ome-chemicals/

[goldtouchinc]

here is the detonator fan blade i did for one of the ww2 bomb models i did. its not the same brand as above. the blade was printed, primed, sanded smooth then coated. this isnt a new product or technique by any means but the technology has evolved and gotten better over the years. i really dont like doing it. its such a ton of work for the effect. i always talk my customers out of it simply by telling them the cost of doing it. i only use it on my own projects really

It seems that the finish you get is somewhat hazy looking. Our product does not look like that. Ours is much crisper and cleaner. Also because our chemicals don't spoil at the end of the day our product is much more economical. Our plating chemicals last 90 days after mixing. Ours is much easier to use. If I can bake a part in my oven to dry the base coat for an hour I finish the part in less than four hours. 2 hours of that is flash off, bake and cool off.

[jimc]

the part in the pic is a little dusty from lying around my shop but yes this is different tech than what you guys are doing BUT with either product or even real chrome for instance, its not the application of the chrome that is difficult or time consuming, its the prep work to get your part super smooth before you do the application. thats the real work. your chrome will only be a mirror representation of the part you are coating. if that isnt perfect then neither will your final finish. have you guys fixed the yellowing of the coating as it ages? i havent checked up on this stuff in a real long time. it used to have yellowing issues and turn gold looking.

[goldtouchinc]

the part in the pic is a little dusty from lying around my shop but yes this is different tech than what you guys are doing BUT with either product or even real chrome for instance, its not the application of the chrome that is difficult or time consuming, its the prep work to get your part super smooth before you do the application. thats the real work. your chrome will only be a mirror representation of the part you are coating. if that isnt perfect then neither will your final finish. have you guys fixed the yellowing of the coating as it ages? i havent checked up on this stuff in a real long time. it used to have yellowing issues and turn gold looking.

Our product does not turn yellow as it ages. Disney is doing accelerated UV tests on it and it is already past the 4 year mark. The other product failed. Twice. In a few weeks you will be able to sand, cut and buff our base coat. If you touch it accidentally you just wipe the fingerprints off with distilled water and a paper towel. Cosmichrome is really in a class of its own.