I've had good luck with the laser toner method but even better success using vinyl stencils cut on a Silhouette or Circut machine. Also, the ideal place to do your etching is on top of a running clothes dryer. It's nicely warm, and the vibration helps keep the etchant aggitated.
That, my man, is a very thorough and professional presentation. You answered questions that I didn’t know enough to ask. This one is going into storage.
Great video. Perfect level of detail. Thank you so much. I've had my laser for 8 years and thought a CNC mill was my only solution for working metal. This opened all new doors
Thanks Daniel! That Craftsman DP badge gave me an idea using your technique to restore the number plate for my 1950 King Seeley that I messed up during cleanup...the trick is matching the original font. Great that you gave a fun shout out to Chris. An amazing man...like you!
How bad is it messed up? Maybe you can take a good quality photo of it and trace what you can't match through fonts? There are also good services like WhatTheFont and Identifont that can help you identify fonts, but oftentimes for these old vintage stuff the fonts were simply not standardized how they are now, and many of those old fonts may never even have been digitized.
Very. I used a 10:1 cleaner solution (10 H2O) in my ultrasonic to remove a decade worth of being in a horse stall on the ground. It was fine until I pulled it out and touched it...all the enamel came off but the Stamped numbers are fine. Luckily I got it's sister Band Saw with it which is pristine (well covered) and its plate is identical & pristine. The originals are .050 AL but for all the time and energy I've put into restoring it been kicking around a brass one with the OEM detail and numbers that I can put a nice Restored by and date for whom ever gets it next...likely my son. They don't build them like these anymore and hopefully never sees a horse stall again. Your etching gave me the idea to hi res scan the one from the Band Saw and the stamped numbers from the dead one (again archaic font) and trace them if necessary in AI or ACAD to get it as original as possible. Thanks much for the Font links, I'll check them out and if none match, on to the tedious tracing. Thanks again! Always enjoy your work and videos!
Using the closed-cell foam as a float is very clever. Another thing that will speed up etching is agitation - either mechanically (stirring or tilting) or with an aquarium bubbler. Parts that sit still etch slower because the etchant in contact with a given surface becomes saturated and thus etches slower, so you want to give it a swish to make sure that "stale" etchant is getting replaced frequently. Another option for exposing photoresist, used by some who make PCBs, is to use a dry-film photoresist that gets ironed or laminated on, and then exposing it with an MSLA 3d resin printer.
Beautiful work! The toner transfer method produces an amazing result. With such a high resolution, I bet you could do simple gradients and patterns using dithering. If it works well, it might be possible to do a dithered photograph.
Indeed, though I wouldn't do so high resolution. You can look at etched printing plates which were commonly used in letterpress printing up until the '80s for inspiration. I would recommend checking out the short movie "The Collection" on Vimeo, by Adam Roffman about a collection of old printing plates with some beautiful shots of plates displaying this halftone patterning. I think that quality is about the highest you can expect working.
One method more is to do as in making a PCB. You spray the positive or negative etch resist on to your part and let it dry. Then have the design printed on a transparent sheet as black as you can get. Put the print against the etch resistant surface, shine UVA light on it enough (experimenting needed, usually 5-10 mins), remove the transparent sheet, develope the etch resist in sodium hydroxide solution (lye) and finally etch away :) Works always, doesn't creep under the resist much.
Yes, this is the traditional way of doing it, however the method I showcase doesn't require any special materials or tools. You can even forgo the laminator and use a clothes iron instead.
Most of the UV/photo resist materials will expose in simple sunlight. No special light exposure setup needed. And if spraying stuff isn't your thing, photoresist film is available. This also has the benefit of being able to reuse your printout. You can use inkjet or laser printer to print on transparency film. You could even use dot-matrix if you still have one of those. This method is less specialty tool intensive since you don't need a heat source other than the sun. This may be difficult for cave dwellers though.
Awesome video, I also saw a video where they uses a type of plastic foil designed to use for etching. It uses UV light to transfer the protective layer. This method was very easy to use.
Yeah, it's called a UV resist, and does offer a little better result, but it requires the film and a source of UV light. The sun works, but is not reliable.
This is perfect for my needs. I have many sign plates that would have cost an arm and a leg to have made in order to comply with boat safety regs. I will get a laser printer and make them myself. (May also look at the cost of a small vinyl letter cutter as one of the responses mentions good results.)
Toner held up good the other two broke down. If you have the money you can use Kodak photo resist. Ferric Chloride will permanently stain most everything it touches, clothing, concrete, etc.
Haha i love the Clickspring reference!:) I noticed at 10:32 you said that you could sprinkle baking soda on there too neutralize the acid, wich is correct. But well im swedish too so i recognized the can you were pouring from, that looked a lot like a bakpulver can and that's a mix of bikarbonat (baking soda) and citric acid! So it will foam and fizz in contact with water not acid! Because there is already acid in powdered form in there!!
You are correct about the baking powder, and what was in the can once. These days I'm just using it as a canister for baking soda so I don't have to use the big 1kg box of it. It's a bit more practical :)
Awesome video by the way! Few simple questions if you don't mind. 1. What is the thickness of the brass plate you used? 2. Where did you obtain it? 3. I noticed your vice had some sort of padding between the claws, mind sharing where you found those?
1. No clue, 1-2mm? Not important as long as it's not so thin you etch through. 2. Local metal supplier, but many hobby stores carry stuff like that too. 3. Hardware store. Just look for soft vise jaws. You can also make yourself by gluing rubber or leather.
I tried this project out with the laser and spray paint method but the burnt away spray paint left a residue that I couldn't undo. Even after acetone the spray paint removed but the residue from the burnt spray paint didn't and the residue is resisting the acid! Have you had that problem?
You could use NaOH to precipitate the aqueous copper to copper (II) hydroxide and then neutralise the remaining liquor with HCl. Alternatively, you could remove it by electrowinning.
Yep, you could, but generally that's less accessible for most people. You could definitely buy drain cleaners or other household chemicals which contain those compounds, but as far as evaporation go it doesn't really get much easier than that. You could also speed up the evaporation by pouring it into a glass flask, or ceramic pot, and heating it, if you so desire.
Great project! I'm not sure disposing copper waste in the way you demonstrated is a good idea, though. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the solid stuff left by evaporation water soluble copper salt in solid form? It will redissolve into water when getting wet and release copper ions.
The issue is more with what the copper does to the water treatment plant and how much is caught before it leaves the plant. On a garbage dump it poses less risk, and hopefully would get incinerated before it has a chance to lay around. Even if that's the case, garbage dumps tend (or should) not to be located where they pose a risk to ground water.
Yep, I mention that in the video as well. You need to expose it to UV light though, not just any light, and it does require extra material, as well as printing on transparencies.
Would you be able to use a 3d print as a resist in order to save material? Or maybe wood. Not sure if it will eat through it. Trying to etch .25 inch stainless steel using the salt water electro etching method. Thanks.
Not sure what you mean by 3d print or wood as a resist. You need to close off any surface that you don’t want etched from liquid. It needs to be completely sealed. Any etchant, or in your case water, which will seep under the resist will also etch the metal.
4:25 i used warm-hot water, i let the piece sit in there 2 minutes. Then you dont have to rub so long and hard as shown in the video. You could also use a soldering iron for the heat, not the tip but the bigger pipe. Rub it consistently back and forth with slow-medium speedover the paper until you see the paper start to get brown which might be in ~10seconds. I prefer the chemical way with a mix of Isoalcohol+25%Xylene since Acetone+Iso didnt worked with my toner brand. The chemical method is the fastest and most reliable to transfer the toner even to curved urfaces like knifes.
Much more difficult to get an even heat with a soldering iron though. I could see it being useful for non flat surfaces, but other than that a laminator or clothes iron is still your best bet.
i dont have a laminator or laser engraver thats why i tried the good old low tech ;D solvent method had the best results for me after i figured out the recipe for the mixture :)
I know this question is way late but got to ask, when you say "photo paper for inkjet printers work well too" I assume you still mean people should use the laser printer and not inkjet right? Or does that mean you could use the photo paper with ink jet to do this? I assume the former but would love to find out the latter works. But not holding out too much hope since my understanding from the Craftsman Steadycrafting channel is that the toner is the secret to making the patterns and not the ink.
Thank you for the tutorial. I've been using ferric chloride for etching PC boards for years but never thought about using it for etching brass. Would using a bubbler (like in an aquarium) help/speedup the process? And could stainless steel be used as a etching container?
Bubbler may make a difference, but I doubt it will help as much as gentle heat will. Heating the etching solution up to just 50 deg C will significantly speed up the process over room temperature. I would not use any metallic containers at all. Stick to plastic or glass. Stainless steel will stain, and corrode. Therefore it's also a waste of the etching solution.
It's not ink, it's enamel paint, which is a lot more durable. Also, I wouldn't. I would polish it all the way before adding paint. Paint should be the last step (or actually varnishing should, if you decide to varnish). If you want to add paint after polishing a small syringe to fill in the etching can be better, or more carefully wiping off any overspill before the paint has dried.
@@SwitchAndLever Thanks. I tried it yesterday with some etched aluminum and the results weren't great. Looks like I'd have to polish first, then attach vinyl, do the etching, clean up etched surfaces & apply paint while the vinyl is still attached. Then remove the stencil, do touchups and apply lacquer / varnish.
This is great, thanks for making the video! I have two questions I'm hoping you can help me with to pick the right Laser Engraver: 1) How powerful is your Laser Engraver? Is 40W enough for the Laser-Paint-Removal method? 2) When using the Laser-Paint-Removal method, what resolution are you effectively getting out of your laser? Is it possible to remove very fine lines of paint and create a very detailed image with a 1000DPI Laser, or is there always a lot of bleeding? The lines and text look significantly bolder with the Laser-Paint-Removal method vs. using the other two methods.
It's not quite that easy, two laser cutters of the same wattage from two different manufacturers will work differently. A 25W laser cutter from a good (read: expensive) manufacturer will work better than a 40W from a shitty (cheap) one. That being said, literally a 2W laser cutter will remove paint (just more slowly). Depending on the width of the laser beam you can achieve fine detail, though frankly I'd say a good quality laser printer + laminator would be better, and way cheaper. Different paints will react differently, you'd need to experiment, as I've not had the issue with the bolder effect when I've done it before, but I've literally always just picked whatever random can was on the shelf.
S&L...thanks for the etching tutorial, great tips. You mentioned no specific software in the beginning as there are many that will do the job (I even went to #8 of your FAQ video to maybe get another hint)...I know NOTHING of graphics, yet I want to reproduce data tags/ machine labels for some old equipment, and make some new ones for vehicles. Can you/ would you suggest a SIMPLE software program for a novice such as I, that will allow me to incorporate (or even import) different fonts and logos? The design portion is the most intimidating aspect...the etching I can understand. If any other views have freeware suggestions, that would be appreciated too.
Indeed, I deliberately didn't mention any software because there are so many that you could use to get the same result. I do understand that it can be a bottleneck for many people, and unfortunately all of these programs do have a learning curve to them. I use Adobe Illustrator, but there are many free softwares you could use. Inkscape is rather popular among free vector design softwares, but you could even use CAD software like Solidworks, Rhino or Fusion 360 if you're at all comfortable with them. There are great Wikipedia pages listing free vector design softwares. Fonts you can download from places like myfonts.com for commercial fonts, or dafont.com (and many others) for free fonts. Expect to be spending a lot of time looking for the right font though. Install them to your computer and they will show up in the program you're using.
Thank you for the reply...I understand not endorsing any one product and the reasons why, i.e. some formats are better suited to specific tasks. I really should dive in and learn Fusion 360, but will look at Adobe Illustrator first...as you mentioned, there is a learning curve regardless of choice.
You can just pour lye into the used etchant and pour it down the drain. The copper hydroxide formed is not soluble in water and will be precipitated in sewer water plant.
Interesting, I did not know that, not that I have lye on hand either. I would still be cautious of pouring it down the drain though, if the reaction is as you say you still need to make sure all the copper in solution has reacted with the lye, so you need to make sure you add it in excess.
I think you mean "oxidizer", rather than "acid". (I mean, you actually explained the chemistry correctly at 9:20. And as you can see, you are using Iron III chloride's oxidizing properties to dissolve the copper.) But cool video!
Nope, I mean acid. As been discussed elsewhere in the comments there are different ways of defining an acid, and FeCl3 is indeed what is called a Lewis acid.
I know that. But you are not using its acidic properties here. You are using its oxidizing properties. The fact that it is a lewis acid is irrelevant to the etching process.
My point is that I meant acid when I wrote acid. People intuitively know what an acid means whereas unless you know at least a little about chemistry an oxidizer isn't as intuitive. It is describing the compound of FeCl3, even though it may not explain the correct chemistry that's taking place during etching. "Oxidizer Etching Brass Plaques" would have been more of a confusing title.
Unless they're chemists, when people think of "acid", they think of Brønsted acids (like vinegar, citric acid, sulfuric acid, etc...), not Lewis acids (you wouldn't consider rust as an "acid"). But okay, I guess you just wanted the title to be more appealing to a wider audience.
Great video, however I suspect the laser and regular paint was doomed from the start, maybe a focus issue but the writing didn’t look fine at all before going into the acid.
I wouldn’t at all call it doomed. The result is just a little bolder than the original design. Either adjust that by altering your file, choosing a better paint that won’t act like that or tube laser settings better and you’ll likely get a more exact result.
Yes, it's only ferric chloride. There are many factors which affect whether something etches properly or not, material, cleanliness, time and temperature being the main ones.
@@SwitchAndLever already. And I try to use hcl acid but there's no affect. Your information is very important to me. I need this to open small business but what to do. I have no idea.
Again there are many factors. I really cannot help you here but there are lots of resources online about the chemistry of etching. I would suggest doing some googling and lots of readings before starting up a business. There are lots of things to consider.
Thanks! Somehow I thought the metalic element in the solution was needed to exchange the exposed part of the metal with the element. I must have confused etching with eletro-plating for some reason.
FeCl3 is often used when etching damascus steel to highlight the different steels inside. If you leave it in the etching solution for longer you will feel the differences as well as different steels etch differently. So it will work, but again, too slow to really be worth it.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you going over proper disposal methods. Great Video! I'm going to have to get some Brass stock from the local home center now.
...me from the beach in Weston-super-Mare, England (much too cold!) !! Lol! I only own an ink jet printer, but a shed load of Sharpies, so will try this, everything will have brass labels!!
Another great video!! Very detailed in the various methods of applying a resist along with what did and didn't work! The extra effort you put into this saves the rest of us having to go through the same experimentation. I also like your methods of finishing off the projects. As others have commented I REALLY appreciate that you went into how to properly dispose of the solution so as not to pollute the water! I find a lot of DIY videos that use toxic solutions of all kinds don't discuss this and I'm absolutely mortified to see what people pour down the sink which means we're all potentially drinking it not to mention contaminating the environment! Kudos and bravo to you!
i was wondering if that would work. the ex kept our trophy/plaque shop and she does tons of vinyl, mostly for shirts, but can do other materials, too. we could use an oxidizing solution on brass plates that would turn the engraved parts black very quickly.
I've had good luck with the laser toner method but even better success using vinyl stencils cut on a Silhouette or Circut machine. Also, the ideal place to do your etching is on top of a running clothes dryer. It's nicely warm, and the vibration helps keep the etchant aggitated.
Great video! I particularly like how you included information about how to responsibly dispose of your waste materials.
You mean a body...👍
That, my man, is a very thorough and professional presentation. You answered questions that I didn’t know enough to ask. This one is going into storage.
That's so neat! I want to put brass plaques on everything!
The tip on using the foam to float the plates is brilliant! Thank you.
Great video. Perfect level of detail. Thank you so much. I've had my laser for 8 years and thought a CNC mill was my only solution for working metal. This opened all new doors
Guess what I'm working on...?😊 Great tutorial and cool result. Well done Sir!
Hahaha! Shoooooow meeee!!! 😄
Switch & Lever Sunday of everything goes well 😊
Great tutorial. I appreciate the discussion on how to dispose of hazardous waste properly.
Excellent video! The Chris cameo was unexpected and funny (This Old Tony style). I love it!
Thanks Daniel! That Craftsman DP badge gave me an idea using your technique to restore the number plate for my 1950 King Seeley that I messed up during cleanup...the trick is matching the original font. Great that you gave a fun shout out to Chris. An amazing man...like you!
How bad is it messed up? Maybe you can take a good quality photo of it and trace what you can't match through fonts? There are also good services like WhatTheFont and Identifont that can help you identify fonts, but oftentimes for these old vintage stuff the fonts were simply not standardized how they are now, and many of those old fonts may never even have been digitized.
Very. I used a 10:1 cleaner solution (10 H2O) in my ultrasonic to remove a decade worth of being in a horse stall on the ground. It was fine until I pulled it out and touched it...all the enamel came off but the Stamped numbers are fine. Luckily I got it's sister Band Saw with it which is pristine (well covered) and its plate is identical & pristine. The originals are .050 AL but for all the time and energy I've put into restoring it been kicking around a brass one with the OEM detail and numbers that I can put a nice Restored by and date for whom ever gets it next...likely my son. They don't build them like these anymore and hopefully never sees a horse stall again.
Your etching gave me the idea to hi res scan the one from the Band Saw and the stamped numbers from the dead one (again archaic font) and trace them if necessary in AI or ACAD to get it as original as possible. Thanks much for the Font links, I'll check them out and if none match, on to the tedious tracing. Thanks again! Always enjoy your work and videos!
Wonderful and useful, and thanks for that clicksping cameo, it certainly made my day 😂
Haha! Thank Chris, he made it all possible 😀
I’m obsessed with this. You’re amazing.
Best anime crossover : Switch & Lever and Clickspring
Thanks for showing how to discard of the leftovers properly. Great video
Clickspring Chris. The engineered presicion voiceover. So clean..........sooooo clean and crisp. Nice etching btw.
Using the closed-cell foam as a float is very clever. Another thing that will speed up etching is agitation - either mechanically (stirring or tilting) or with an aquarium bubbler. Parts that sit still etch slower because the etchant in contact with a given surface becomes saturated and thus etches slower, so you want to give it a swish to make sure that "stale" etchant is getting replaced frequently.
Another option for exposing photoresist, used by some who make PCBs, is to use a dry-film photoresist that gets ironed or laminated on, and then exposing it with an MSLA 3d resin printer.
I love your humor as much as you videos.
Thank you Lisa! Comments like yours warms my heart and makes doing all this worth it! 🙂
Beautiful work! The toner transfer method produces an amazing result. With such a high resolution, I bet you could do simple gradients and patterns using dithering. If it works well, it might be possible to do a dithered photograph.
Indeed, though I wouldn't do so high resolution. You can look at etched printing plates which were commonly used in letterpress printing up until the '80s for inspiration. I would recommend checking out the short movie "The Collection" on Vimeo, by Adam Roffman about a collection of old printing plates with some beautiful shots of plates displaying this halftone patterning. I think that quality is about the highest you can expect working.
Your animations are getting better every video. Great project btw
So happy to see the printer method worked so well. Now everyone has a laser to play with.
One method more is to do as in making a PCB. You spray the positive or negative etch resist on to your part and let it dry. Then have the design printed on a transparent sheet as black as you can get. Put the print against the etch resistant surface, shine UVA light on it enough (experimenting needed, usually 5-10 mins), remove the transparent sheet, develope the etch resist in sodium hydroxide solution (lye) and finally etch away :) Works always, doesn't creep under the resist much.
Yes, this is the traditional way of doing it, however the method I showcase doesn't require any special materials or tools. You can even forgo the laminator and use a clothes iron instead.
Most of the UV/photo resist materials will expose in simple sunlight. No special light exposure setup needed. And if spraying stuff isn't your thing, photoresist film is available. This also has the benefit of being able to reuse your printout. You can use inkjet or laser printer to print on transparency film. You could even use dot-matrix if you still have one of those. This method is less specialty tool intensive since you don't need a heat source other than the sun. This may be difficult for cave dwellers though.
Thanks for the detail and also how to safely dispose of the copper.
THIS is how you show how to make something. Bravo!!
Awesome video, I also saw a video where they uses a type of plastic foil designed to use for etching. It uses UV light to transfer the protective layer. This method was very easy to use.
Yeah, it's called a UV resist, and does offer a little better result, but it requires the film and a source of UV light. The sun works, but is not reliable.
Fantastic video! I'm going to have to try this using my vinyl cutter.
Hmm, interesting! I'm sure it would work, but I wonder how fine details you could get with it.
Pretty cool stuff! Enjoyed watching this project
Thank you for this! Super helpful and just what I needed, thank you for providing a method I can easily diy.
Really interesting process. Thanks for teaching me some things.
Microwave the etchant for a few seconds to heat it and that will speed the process up. I do this for PCB etching.
I did this in the workshop at my previous workplace. I think they would have objected to me microwaving ferric chloride in the kitchen 😄
This is perfect for my needs. I have many sign plates that would have cost an arm and a leg to have made in order to comply with boat safety regs. I will get a laser printer and make them myself. (May also look at the cost of a small vinyl letter cutter as one of the responses mentions good results.)
Like that. Thanks for sharing! 🇬🇧
Awesome video. I will link this to a forum of my peers
Toner held up good the other two broke down. If you have the money you can use Kodak photo resist. Ferric Chloride will permanently stain most everything it touches, clothing, concrete, etc.
Nicely done!
excellent video. I especially like the comments on clean up as other similar videos omit that part. thanks!
Thank you for sharing your amazing video.
this si well explained, thank you brother! GruSSe
Haha i love the Clickspring reference!:)
I noticed at 10:32 you said that you could sprinkle baking soda on there too neutralize the acid, wich is correct. But well im swedish too so i recognized the can you were pouring from, that looked a lot like a bakpulver can and that's a mix of bikarbonat (baking soda) and citric acid! So it will foam and fizz in contact with water not acid!
Because there is already acid in powdered form in there!!
You are correct about the baking powder, and what was in the can once. These days I'm just using it as a canister for baking soda so I don't have to use the big 1kg box of it. It's a bit more practical :)
Can you etch a thin plate completely through (like PE in modeling) using this method? Thank you!
Awesome video by the way! Few simple questions if you don't mind. 1. What is the thickness of the brass plate you used? 2. Where did you obtain it? 3. I noticed your vice had some sort of padding between the claws, mind sharing where you found those?
1. No clue, 1-2mm? Not important as long as it's not so thin you etch through. 2. Local metal supplier, but many hobby stores carry stuff like that too. 3. Hardware store. Just look for soft vise jaws. You can also make yourself by gluing rubber or leather.
Really cool process and video.
Great video. Thanks for sharing it.
Switch & Lever ..MOST NICE RESULTS FOR USE PRINTER LASER TONER YES?
I tried this project out with the laser and spray paint method but the burnt away spray paint left a residue that I couldn't undo. Even after acetone the spray paint removed but the residue from the burnt spray paint didn't and the residue is resisting the acid! Have you had that problem?
You could use NaOH to precipitate the aqueous copper to copper (II) hydroxide and then neutralise the remaining liquor with HCl. Alternatively, you could remove it by electrowinning.
Yep, you could, but generally that's less accessible for most people. You could definitely buy drain cleaners or other household chemicals which contain those compounds, but as far as evaporation go it doesn't really get much easier than that. You could also speed up the evaporation by pouring it into a glass flask, or ceramic pot, and heating it, if you so desire.
Very good, thanks.
great will be trying Friday.
Great project! I'm not sure disposing copper waste in the way you demonstrated is a good idea, though. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the solid stuff left by evaporation water soluble copper salt in solid form? It will redissolve into water when getting wet and release copper ions.
The issue is more with what the copper does to the water treatment plant and how much is caught before it leaves the plant. On a garbage dump it poses less risk, and hopefully would get incinerated before it has a chance to lay around. Even if that's the case, garbage dumps tend (or should) not to be located where they pose a risk to ground water.
Beautiful !!
What power lazer did you used?
PCB photoresist method would be another way. You get photoresist in spray can and sheets. You need to expose it with light.
Yep, I mention that in the video as well. You need to expose it to UV light though, not just any light, and it does require extra material, as well as printing on transparencies.
Would you be able to use a 3d print as a resist in order to save material? Or maybe wood. Not sure if it will eat through it. Trying to etch .25 inch stainless steel using the salt water electro etching method. Thanks.
Not sure what you mean by 3d print or wood as a resist. You need to close off any surface that you don’t want etched from liquid. It needs to be completely sealed. Any etchant, or in your case water, which will seep under the resist will also etch the metal.
4:25 i used warm-hot water, i let the piece sit in there 2 minutes.
Then you dont have to rub so long and hard as shown in the video.
You could also use a soldering iron for the heat, not the tip but the bigger pipe.
Rub it consistently back and forth with slow-medium speedover the paper until you see the paper start to get brown which might be in ~10seconds.
I prefer the chemical way with a mix of Isoalcohol+25%Xylene since Acetone+Iso didnt worked with my toner brand. The chemical method is the fastest and most reliable to transfer the toner even to curved urfaces like knifes.
Much more difficult to get an even heat with a soldering iron though. I could see it being useful for non flat surfaces, but other than that a laminator or clothes iron is still your best bet.
i dont have a laminator or laser engraver thats why i tried the good old low tech ;D
solvent method had the best results for me after i figured out the recipe for the mixture :)
Switch & Lever will any laser printer work, and what is your take on monochrome laser printers?
Att sätta den på pennybrädan var en fin detalj!
Very cool!! Great vid man :-)
Åh herregud vilket bra avsnitt!
Which laser machine you using
excellent instruction !!!
Hi can u tell me the name of paint u use for etching please ?
I know this question is way late but got to ask, when you say "photo paper for inkjet printers work well too" I assume you still mean people should use the laser printer and not inkjet right? Or does that mean you could use the photo paper with ink jet to do this?
I assume the former but would love to find out the latter works. But not holding out too much hope since my understanding from the Craftsman Steadycrafting channel is that the toner is the secret to making the patterns and not the ink.
Yes, you’re correct.
Thank you for the tutorial. I've been using ferric chloride for etching PC boards for years but never thought about using it for etching brass. Would using a bubbler (like in an aquarium) help/speedup the process? And could stainless steel be used as a etching container?
Bubbler may make a difference, but I doubt it will help as much as gentle heat will. Heating the etching solution up to just 50 deg C will significantly speed up the process over room temperature.
I would not use any metallic containers at all. Stick to plastic or glass. Stainless steel will stain, and corrode. Therefore it's also a waste of the etching solution.
Nice video....
Superb!
when using a Laser Etch to mark the painted Surface does it matter what type of laser you use?
What laser are you using please.
Curious, would vinyl sticker work as a resist?
Heat transfer vinyl will work.
wonderful nice ,well done sir
How would you continue to polish it at the end without removing the ink in the process?
It's not ink, it's enamel paint, which is a lot more durable. Also, I wouldn't. I would polish it all the way before adding paint. Paint should be the last step (or actually varnishing should, if you decide to varnish). If you want to add paint after polishing a small syringe to fill in the etching can be better, or more carefully wiping off any overspill before the paint has dried.
@@SwitchAndLever Thanks. I tried it yesterday with some etched aluminum and the results weren't great. Looks like I'd have to polish first, then attach vinyl, do the etching, clean up etched surfaces & apply paint while the vinyl is still attached. Then remove the stencil, do touchups and apply lacquer / varnish.
This is great, thanks for making the video! I have two questions I'm hoping you can help me with to pick the right Laser Engraver:
1) How powerful is your Laser Engraver? Is 40W enough for the Laser-Paint-Removal method?
2) When using the Laser-Paint-Removal method, what resolution are you effectively getting out of your laser? Is it possible to remove very fine lines of paint and create a very detailed image with a 1000DPI Laser, or is there always a lot of bleeding? The lines and text look significantly bolder with the Laser-Paint-Removal method vs. using the other two methods.
It's not quite that easy, two laser cutters of the same wattage from two different manufacturers will work differently. A 25W laser cutter from a good (read: expensive) manufacturer will work better than a 40W from a shitty (cheap) one. That being said, literally a 2W laser cutter will remove paint (just more slowly). Depending on the width of the laser beam you can achieve fine detail, though frankly I'd say a good quality laser printer + laminator would be better, and way cheaper. Different paints will react differently, you'd need to experiment, as I've not had the issue with the bolder effect when I've done it before, but I've literally always just picked whatever random can was on the shelf.
@@SwitchAndLever Thanks for the explanation
I'd rather engrave it on the CNC (then colour with brass antiquing fluid), but it's really fascinating to learn other methods
If you have a CNC, then of course. This is more accessible to most people though, and literally zero G-code generation required! 😄
Switch & Lever except for the 66% of options that use a laser ;)
I have had issues with pitting after acid etching...any suggestions? Thanks!
thanks for the tutorial
Gud am madam, can do a favor, for itching the flexiglass, what chemical need to itching plexiglass plastic sheet thnx for favor action thnx
S&L...thanks for the etching tutorial, great tips. You mentioned no specific software in the beginning as there are many that will do the job (I even went to #8 of your FAQ video to maybe get another hint)...I know NOTHING of graphics, yet I want to reproduce data tags/ machine labels for some old equipment, and make some new ones for vehicles. Can you/ would you suggest a SIMPLE software program for a novice such as I, that will allow me to incorporate (or even import) different fonts and logos? The design portion is the most intimidating aspect...the etching I can understand. If any other views have freeware suggestions, that would be appreciated too.
Indeed, I deliberately didn't mention any software because there are so many that you could use to get the same result. I do understand that it can be a bottleneck for many people, and unfortunately all of these programs do have a learning curve to them.
I use Adobe Illustrator, but there are many free softwares you could use. Inkscape is rather popular among free vector design softwares, but you could even use CAD software like Solidworks, Rhino or Fusion 360 if you're at all comfortable with them. There are great Wikipedia pages listing free vector design softwares.
Fonts you can download from places like myfonts.com for commercial fonts, or dafont.com (and many others) for free fonts. Expect to be spending a lot of time looking for the right font though. Install them to your computer and they will show up in the program you're using.
Thank you for the reply...I understand not endorsing any one product and the reasons why, i.e. some formats are better suited to specific tasks. I really should dive in and learn Fusion 360, but will look at Adobe Illustrator first...as you mentioned, there is a learning curve regardless of choice.
You can just pour lye into the used etchant and pour it down the drain. The copper hydroxide formed is not soluble in water and will be precipitated in sewer water plant.
Interesting, I did not know that, not that I have lye on hand either. I would still be cautious of pouring it down the drain though, if the reaction is as you say you still need to make sure all the copper in solution has reacted with the lye, so you need to make sure you add it in excess.
Switch & Lever Exactly. You need very excessive amount of lye to make sure this works.
I think you mean "oxidizer", rather than "acid".
(I mean, you actually explained the chemistry correctly at 9:20. And as you can see, you are using Iron III chloride's oxidizing properties to dissolve the copper.)
But cool video!
Nope, I mean acid. As been discussed elsewhere in the comments there are different ways of defining an acid, and FeCl3 is indeed what is called a Lewis acid.
I know that. But you are not using its acidic properties here. You are using its oxidizing properties.
The fact that it is a lewis acid is irrelevant to the etching process.
My point is that I meant acid when I wrote acid. People intuitively know what an acid means whereas unless you know at least a little about chemistry an oxidizer isn't as intuitive. It is describing the compound of FeCl3, even though it may not explain the correct chemistry that's taking place during etching. "Oxidizer Etching Brass Plaques" would have been more of a confusing title.
Unless they're chemists, when people think of "acid", they think of Brønsted acids (like vinegar, citric acid, sulfuric acid, etc...), not Lewis acids (you wouldn't consider rust as an "acid").
But okay, I guess you just wanted the title to be more appealing to a wider audience.
Please let me know, how to mark my initial on the steel knife?
Great video, however I suspect the laser and regular paint was doomed from the start, maybe a focus issue but the writing didn’t look fine at all before going into the acid.
I wouldn’t at all call it doomed. The result is just a little bolder than the original design. Either adjust that by altering your file, choosing a better paint that won’t act like that or tube laser settings better and you’ll likely get a more exact result.
@@SwitchAndLever doomed was maybe a bit harsh, but it really looked like a laser issue making it an unfair comparison.
I literally laughed out loud at the ClickSpring comment. You can also use Muriatic Acid and Peroxide instead of the Ferric Chloride.
Will this work on copper?
Has anyone tried to make a deeper corrosion?
4:37 is lazer machine important for this process
god damn, your nails are something else
Oh hey, look, another person who has no idea how hands look like when working in a workshop all day long. Amazing!
I try already but nothing happened. Are you sure is only ferric chloride. Please help me 🙏
Yes, it's only ferric chloride. There are many factors which affect whether something etches properly or not, material, cleanliness, time and temperature being the main ones.
@@SwitchAndLever already. And I try to use hcl acid but there's no affect.
Your information is very important to me. I need this to open small business but what to do. I have no idea.
Again there are many factors. I really cannot help you here but there are lots of resources online about the chemistry of etching. I would suggest doing some googling and lots of readings before starting up a business. There are lots of things to consider.
Does anyone know if this works with really small lettering?
Say i want to etch steel, then FeCl3 won't really work. What acid would I use instead?
It will, but very slowly. I would rather use electro-etching when etching steel, skipping acids all together.
Thanks! Somehow I thought the metalic element in the solution was needed to exchange the exposed part of the metal with the element. I must have confused etching with eletro-plating for some reason.
FeCl3 is often used when etching damascus steel to highlight the different steels inside. If you leave it in the etching solution for longer you will feel the differences as well as different steels etch differently. So it will work, but again, too slow to really be worth it.
Switch & Lever will fecl3 work with aluminium?
12:10 pretty funny!
Would vinegar work?
Nope, way too weak acid. It may tarnish the surface of the brass but not much more.
Couldn't you just use the Laser to etch away the material ?
No, as I said in the video the laser does not affect the base metal.
👍
editing error at 0:56
Hahaha! Nope.
Haha, loved that Clickspring joke :D
Oh yeah! Was surprised a lot! :)
Just BRILLIANT!
That made me laugh so hard :D
Brilliant, great humor! Chris is the boss!
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you going over proper disposal methods. Great Video! I'm going to have to get some Brass stock from the local home center now.
Chris from Clickspring!!!! Awesome video
He is an officer and a gentleman! Cheers Greg, appreciate it!
Chris is a brass working god.
Optionally, kiss you spouse goodbye, and tell your children you love them...
Great video as always man. Awesome results too! Well done :)
I like how you can do this with just a laser printer, ferric chloride, enamel paint, and sandpaper. Very DIY!
...me from the beach in Weston-super-Mare, England (much too cold!) !! Lol! I only own an ink jet printer, but a shed load of Sharpies, so will try this, everything will have brass labels!!
Hahahahaha
Another great video!! Very detailed in the various methods of applying a resist along with what did and didn't work! The extra effort you put into this saves the rest of us having to go through the same experimentation. I also like your methods of finishing off the projects. As others have commented I REALLY appreciate that you went into how to properly dispose of the solution so as not to pollute the water! I find a lot of DIY videos that use toxic solutions of all kinds don't discuss this and I'm absolutely mortified to see what people pour down the sink which means we're all potentially drinking it not to mention contaminating the environment! Kudos and bravo to you!
A 4th option that I used was to cut the design on a vinyl cutter, stick it to the metal and etch. Same way I did a few PCBs too.
i was wondering if that would work. the ex kept our trophy/plaque shop and she does tons of vinyl, mostly for shirts, but can do other materials, too. we could use an oxidizing solution on brass plates that would turn the engraved parts black very quickly.