Resilience of gold plating on 3d print?

[GlynG]

Once my friend makes some final tweaks to the file I’m going to order my first ever 3d print soon, an icon for a personalised laptop, which be giving as a (rather late) Christmas present. I’m probably going to use i.materialise as I saw something suggesting their metal prints have a smoother surface than Shapeways.

It will be a thin stylized lotus flower, around 60mm across by 0.5-1mm thick. The idea is it will be epoxy glued onto the laptop to cover the manufacturer’s logo.

I’m probably either going to make it out of brass or gold plated brass. It's costing crazy amounts already and pure precious metal is out of my price range. I guess the laptop will probably mainly be used at home but might go into and out of a soft laptop case a few times a week.

Would gold plating likely last a few years under this sort of usage or would it probably rub off? I’m not asking for a guarantee, but an estimate of whether the gold plating would probably last and be safe to use or not from people more familiar with it.
Lotus brass.jpg

[LambdaFF]

Hi, I had this printed in Shapeways about a 20 months ago. Gold plated brass. Don't know if this helps.
IMG_20151216_141825.jpg
PS : I'm on the newsletter mail lists of shapeways and sculpteo to receive their promotion codes and I order products only during sales. Happens at least 4 times a year. Too bad you're in a hurry.

[awerby]

Gold plating isn't very durable; if your piece is going to be handled frequently, or slid in and out of a case fairly often, the gold will rub off fairly quickly from any high spots. There isn't actually much gold involved; the plated-on layer is only molecules thick, and once it's gone you'll see the nickel underplating, which is a silver color (most gold platers use a layer of nickel under the gold to keep base metals from bleeding through). But the gold will linger in the low spots, so it might be an effect you like.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[GlynG]

Thanks for the feedback and photo!

Plating wouldn't be a good idea so I've printed it in brass.