Copper Electroforming Setup by Susanne from Switzerland
/Welcome to the new series all about sharing how others in the electroforming community have created their copper electroforming setup!
Today, Susanne from Switzerland who runs The Double Helix Design gives us a guided tour through her copper electroforming jewelry studio to share her cool setup. She also shares where you can purchase some of the equipment if you’re also in Switzerland.
Thank you, Susanne, for contributing to the community! We all know how difficult it can be to get your setup in place so I can speak for everyone here that we appreciate your time!
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“The setup with the rectifier, the cables, and the metal frame is purchased from www.tifoo.de, a German company.”
This power supply looks a lot like the 3-Amp TekPower power supply in case you’re looking for a US supplier.
“The cables from the rectifier are plugged into the metal frame. This frame has an L-shaped inlay separated with plastic to have the anode and cathode separated. On this frame, the metal sticks are mounted simply with a magnet.”
This is a really clean, no-fuss setup. I like how the metal plate keeps your anode and cathode separated. This would eliminate any chance that your wires are touching. These are stainless steel rods in case you’re wondering. I believe the metal plat is stainless steel as well, the company website doesn’t specify.
“The bath itself with the anodes is combined by myself with copper tubes from a DIY store.”
This is a really cool anode setup. Placing these copper tubes in all 4 corners prevents you from having to turn your piece to plate evenly.
I’m also noticing that the colorful clamps are being used to help tie together the copper tube anodes using some thin copper wire that she wrapped around each copper tube. This is basically making all 4 copper tubes a single anode.
“And then you can add some crocodile clamps to fix your piece with the wire. The advantage is that you can precisely move your pieces within the solution. And you don't have a mess with your cables.”
This is such a unique electroforming setup than what we are typically used to seeing. The use of the metal plate isn’t really necessary but it does make your setup pretty clean. You can purchase the metal plate with suspension magnets and stainless steel rods on the Tifoo site, I can not find a US supplier for these things. I’m sure a lot of you can rig up your own similar setup, and if you figure it out I would love to see it!
If you have any questions about this setup please leave them below and either myself or Susanne will answer you! Please visit Susanne’s jewelry shop, The Double Helix Design to see all the beautiful creations she’s been able to make using the copper electroforming setup!
Here are just a few of Sussane’s lovely jewelry pieces!