The Basic Principles of Plastic Electroplating Part Design(Water Plating)

Electroplated parts have many special design requirements in the design process,which can be summarized as follows:

• The substrate is best made of ABS material,as ABS has good adhesion of the coating after electroplating,and it is also relatively inexpensive.
• The surface quality of the plastic part must be very good,as electroplating cannot cover up some of the defects from injection molding,and it often makes these defects more apparent.

When designing the structure,there are several points to pay attention to in terms of appearance suitability for electroplating treatment:

• Surface protrusions should be controlled between 0.1 to 0.15mm/cm,and sharp edges should be avoided as much as possible.
• If there is a design with blind holes,the depth of the blind hole should not exceed half of the hole's diameter,and do not make demands on the color of the bottom of the hole.
• Appropriate wall thickness should be used to prevent deformation,preferably between 1.5mm and 4mm.If it is necessary to make it thinner,reinforcement structures should be added in corresponding positions to ensure that the deformation during electroplating is within a controllable range.
• In the design,the needs of the electroplating process should be considered.Since the working conditions of electroplating are generally at temperatures between 60 to 70 degrees Celsius,under hanging conditions,it is difficult to avoid deformation if the structure is not reasonable.Therefore,attention should be paid to the position of the water mouth in the design of the plastic part,and there should be appropriate hanging positions to prevent damage to the required surface when hanging,as shown in the following figure,the square hole in the middle is specifically designed for hanging.
• Additionally,it is best not to have metal inserts in the plastic part,as the coefficients of thermal expansion are different between the two materials.When the temperature rises,the electroplating solution can seep into the gaps,causing certain impacts on the structure of the plastic part.