The Electroforming Process

Our Electroforming Process

Optiforms partners with you to craft precision optical and mechanical components. Together we solve your operational and design challenges, delivering exceptional quality and performance. When you partner with us, you’ll discover why ingenuity reflects.

Our process is focused on making you happy. We strive to be your most reliable supplier and we’re committed to your success.

Our Component Manufacturing Process – From Concept to Completion

Together we assess your needs and design to your requirements

• Upon receiving a sales inquiry, our sales team consults engineering and production teams for design input
  • (see Electroforming Design Guidelines [link])
• You receive a quote and proposal drawing, and a business agreement is established

Designing the tooling to meet your requirements

• Mechanical Engineers design all the necessary tooling, processing jigs, and fixtures
• Our production team meets to approve and finalize the design and manufacturing approach 

Building the tooling to do the job

• Supply chain management acquires all necessary materials
• In-house fabrication and CNC machine shop produce the required tooling
• Polishing technicians prepare the final surface finish to customer specifications
• Quality Assurance (QA) inspects tooling for dimensional accuracy to ensure customer requirements are met

Controlling the electroforming parameters for reliability, repeatability, and quality

• Electroforming technicians follow proprietary formulas and methods to develop an electrodeposition process tailored to each job
• Once the plating parameters have been perfected, a production schedule is established
• After electroforming, each component is cleaned and inspected prior to further processing

Refining the product

• Parts may undergo a number of processes such as:
  • CNC or conventional machining
  • Sanding
  • Deburring
  • Drilling
  • Electrical discharge machining (EDM)
  • Aluminum dissolving (for sacrificial mandrels) [link]
• Components receive laser engraved identification and serialization 
• QA inspects the final product to ensure all customer specifications are satisfied

Optimizing the surface quality to satisfy the desired spectral and environmental performance requirements

• Thin film vacuum coating: In addition to the many standard coatings available, our engineers can design various custom coatings tailored to your particular specifications. Each coating is tested and verified using in-house spectrophotometry. For a listing of our standard coatings, please visit [link].
• Electrodeposited plating: Utilizing either rhodium or gold, electrodeposition can be used to uniformly plate components of various complex geometries to improve the spectral properties and durability of the surface. Performance of gold and rhodium platings can also be tested and verified using in-house spectrophotometry.
• Chemical treatments/ black oxide: Components may undergo a proprietary blackening process to reduce stray light through absorption of MWIR wavelengths, thus increasing the signal-to-noise ratio in an infrared system.

Targeting safe delivery, on time, every time

• Each product is hand packaged in-house using a streamlined custom packaging line
• Products are distributed by freight carriers directly from Optiforms to your location
• Custom packaging solutions available