Jim,

What you are asking is pretty common in plating plastic parts that will be
finished with decorative chrome - auto hubcaps, door handles, grilles, plumbing
parts, etc.  There used to be a whole technology and trade association for
that - American Society of Electroplated plastics - it may still exist.  Building
thickness is usually done with electroplate after a thin electroless - say 20
to 50 microinches of electroless copper.  the trick is to get enough
thickness in electroless to not burn the electrical contact points when the DC current
is applied.  We do not worry about that in PWB boards as the surface copper
foil carries the required electroplate current immediately.

How uniform does the plating have to be?   Full electroless will be fairly
expensive compared to electroplate - say 5 to 10X as chemicals supply the copper
reduction, compared to DC current.  However, electroless full build will be
very uniform.

Electroplate copper for mechanical parts is designed to level surfaces to a
very smooth finish - shiney for high gloss chrome.  That is a bit different
from throwing power for high aspect ratio vias through a circuit board.  We need
to know a bit more about your "three dimensional fiberglass housing", but it
should not be difficult as plated shielding of TV housings was common in the
1980's when electrical interference regulations were first enforced.

I will contact you off line about more specifics.

Denny Fritz
MacDermid, Inc
Waterbury, CT.

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