Anyone know about copper electroforming?

Not sure if I am in the right section as I am asking about something a bit off of mainstream. I am looking into electroforming copper onto glass and ceramic beads and the like and am trying to get a kit together for experimentaion and small production if I can get good results. I know little about electrics and want a foolproof bit of kit to deliver the power. Some of the tutorials I have found say 3Amp is the maximum requirement for small item electroforming but I have found this http://www.circuitspecialists.eu/adj...02x-p-169.html which is only 2Amp. Can anyone tell me if this will be adequate for what I want. It does have the required foolproof controls! and is within my budget! Any advice by anyone who knows about the subject would be much appreciated.
Al.

I haven't done any electroforming myself, but Kate Fowle is famous for her electroformed beads, and she has a tip sheet on her website that states the figures 0.3 volts and 0.1 amps to ensure a slow deposit of copper. Even if you want to experiment with quicker build-up I imagine the power supply you mention is more than powerful enough. :)

There's a pretty detailed book on the subject - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electroformi.../dp/0713652969
I've got it, although I've not had time to tackle any; the two issues of using commercial electroforming mixes for copper (when I have rather a lot of copper sulphate on hand) and the extensive use of cyanides for precious-metal forming have been a touch offputting.

Without having the book on hand at the moment, the main issue is current density - Voltage is one part of the equation, but Amps per unit area are critical. Many of the lab bench supplies around tend not to be able to put out enough current to satisfy larger electroforming projects.

Thanks for your reply Julie. That was pretty much the way I read it. I just wanted someone else to agree with me! I have read all through Kate's site and many others and they do say a digital rectifier 3-10 amps is needed. But as I only want to do small scale work I can't see why I should need all that extra power.

Thanks for your more technical reply Peter. I will get that book as I think I have read all the stuff online now. I only want to do electroplating on small stuff, glass and ceramic beads. But now I realise I can do polymer clay and practically anything that can withstand suspension in fluid it opens up a whole new field of ideas! So do you agree then that all I need is something that will supply a small but accurately measured current (as in milliamps) rather than be worried that 2A will be enough?
As for chemicals I was looking at this site as he supplies bright acid copper electrolyte chemicals by the vat load but seems to be willing to tailor make orders so I must make contact with him and see if he will supply smaller amounts. Do you know of any other suppliers?

Anyway thanks for your replies guys.
Al.

http://www.caswelleurope.co.uk/ are the only other people who spring to mind for the small stuff; I've not used them directly, but I've heard good things about them.

I'll check what the recommendations are in the book, but I'm pretty sure that current is specific to the solution used (and bath temperature for some of them). Caswell's system uses

Quote:

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0.07-0.3 Amps per square inch at approx 2-4 volts

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for forming copper. It's probably not a bad price for that setup, although all I need is the paint & solution.