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Electroplating inside of a tank

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Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Tue Oct 27 2009, 08:06AM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

If you already have a vacuum pump and are planning on using it as a vacuum vessel, I would say set it up as your finished chamber and IVD your protective layer on.

I don't know how hard it would be to boil the copper into an ion stream, but with tungsten rods, high current low voltage sources and high voltage sources, you may be able to do it in several passes.

MinorityCarrier

Tue Oct 27 2009, 04:58PM

Registered Member #2123 Joined: Sat May 16 2009, 03:10AM
Location: Bend, Oregon
Posts: 312

If you are still pursuing Cu electroplating of your stainless tank, google "Woods Nickle Strike".

Turkey9

Thu Oct 29 2009, 01:24AM

Registered Member #1451 Joined: Wed Apr 23 2008, 03:48AM
Location: Boulder, Co
Posts: 661

I don't know if it would matter, but the tank isn't stainless, just plain carbon steel.

Hazmatt, sorry for my ignorance but I can't seem to find what IVD is. Is it similar to the process used to coat telescope mirrors? I was considering that in the first place but thought it was less likely to work than electroplating.

And just for clarification, the vacuum i would like to reach is 1x10^-6 torr or .001millitorr. I will try to get as low as I can, however, thus the plating of the tank. I have a 4.5 inch diameter diffusion pump, so we'll see where that gets me.

Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Thu Oct 29 2009, 01:48AM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

Ion Vapor Deposition

klugesmith

Fri Oct 30 2009, 12:50AM

Registered Member #2099 Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1716

Another serious possibility is metal vapor deposition by plain evaporation.
Here is an informative page from a man with a long-running garage business
coating amateur telescope mirrors with evaporated aluminum (and SiO overcoat).

See his home page for index, price list, etc.

From my own experience in college, the evaporator part is easy: heavy tungsten filament with vacuum feedthroughs to low-voltage high-current PS. A twist of AL wire melts and wets the filament before it's up to evaporating temperature. Metal atoms travel straight from filament to substrate, so step coverage is poor. To vary the angle of incidence (and get more uniform thickness), Bob has filament off-center and rotates the target. If goal is to coat the chamber wall itself, you could have multiple filaments in different places.

Your technical challenge could be getting a chemically clean chamber wall. Maybe electroless copper would be a good starting coat: just slosh some copper sulfate solution inside the chamber.
Maybe Bob Fies would be happy to offer advice by email.

-Rich

[edit] here's another article that addresses thermal evaporation of nichrome, and has lots of detail about laboratory high-vacuum equipment and procedures.

Proud Mary

Fri Oct 30 2009, 12:48PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

why not use a plain old bell jar surrounded by a blastproof screen - others have been able to pull deep vacuums with this kind of set-up, a much lower vacuum than is required for the degassing of a xfromer. The picture has become too complicated for my liking.

klugesmith

Fri Oct 30 2009, 08:21PM

Registered Member #2099 Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1716

Harry wrote ...
why not use a plain old bell jar surrounded by a blastproof screen - others have been able to pull deep vacuums with this kind of set-up, a much lower vacuum than is required for the degassing of a xfromer. The picture has become too complicated for my liking.

This is not the vacuum potting thread. Remember, Turkey9 / Jesse is making a pulsed ion thruster. Last I heard, it was going to be tested in an industrial vacuum chamber at a local AFB or satellite company.

Proud Mary

Fri Oct 30 2009, 08:32PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Klugesmith wrote ...

Yes, perhaps I have misunderstood the author's intentions, and will best frop out now.

Harry

Turkey9

Sat Oct 31 2009, 05:12AM

Registered Member #1451 Joined: Wed Apr 23 2008, 03:48AM
Location: Boulder, Co
Posts: 661

Thanks! I like the idea of coating it with that IVD process... oh and yeah I was going to test it at an industrial institution but decided that they wouldn't be likely to let by put my custom electronics into their chamber... and plus no modifying and testing a second time if it didn't work. I'm building my own chamber now.

I'll do some research based on what you linked to, klugesmith and let you guys know what I decide. I'll keep you updated! Oh and the suggestion box is still wide open!

Thanks!

IntraWinding

Sun Nov 01 2009, 01:04PM

Registered Member #2261 Joined: Mon Aug 03 2009, 01:19AM
Location: London, UK
Posts: 581

I think you should try the tank cleaned but unplated first. It might work fine.

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