Anyone do their own photo-etches?


fast_ian said:
....Is it any good? Recommendations/comments?
Click to expand...

OK, noodling around suggests;

- It works as advertised, if the driving instructions are followed.
- The chemicals are *nasty* - Handle (& dispose - in CA :eek:!) with care.....
- It's possible to DIY for less $.

I think I'm gonna have to order one :)

Cheers,
Ian
 
You can do it for less money, and it isn't all that difficult from what I've read. I haven't tried it yet, but I do have a few projects where photoetched parts would be nice and are not commercially available.

Search Google for photoetching brass, and you'll find a lot of good information out there.

timothy dineen
 
i read a review of it - srry it was in language other then english. it works, but nothing is there to justify the price. look carefully what this kit is - aligator clip, gloves, brushes, gogles, tweezers... cheep chineese crap dollar stores filled with.
of more serious stuff laminator is easy, fishtank pump can be used for air pump. film, material, fotoresist and chemicals are consumables, you will need to find source to supply them anyways. so in my wallet it all just doesn't add up. perhaps convinience fee.

still the bulk of work with etching is really drawing the shapes before printing them out. making sure that your layout is exact downt to fraction of mm on both sides. good luck with that stuff, show some etched items when you get them
 
I like the idea of being able to do that. Only thing I see overall is: I wouldn't want to spend that amount of money for something I might use 1-2 times. Like he said above the prosess is only part of it..you have to learn the designing, transfering (might not be too bad if your computer skilled already). I like the idea and it would be a great learning tool to advance to a larger set-up and starting custom work for others. But for me, I'd prob do it 1 or 2 times and its be on my shelf collecting dust.
For that amount of money, you maybe able to find someone who can make your piece for you custom and still have some money left over. Just a thought.
 
Appreciate the comments guys - Definitely valuable and appreciated!

As noted in the OP, I came across quite a few DIY "solutions" - It seems that these have all gone thru several iterations before working "correctly" - One for example had two different air-pumps to get enough circulation. Another had multiple attempts at a holder for the part. Another, the laminator wouldn't handle over 0.005 [This will go up 0.010] etc etc......

It's certainly doable for less $, but it's not what I want to be doing - Hopefully, this thing is tested, sized correctly and just works....... As for the size of the work, I don't think I've ever seen a PE piece larger than 3"x3", so that should be fine.......

Am I paying for convenience? Sure! It's got everything needed, sized appropriately and is "ready to go" - I can't help thinking the DIY route is gonna involve lots of driving around to get parts & supplies and ultimately produce an inferior solution. [At least that's what I'm telling myself ;)]

Turning to Tankist's comments about getting the drawings done - On that one I'm confident! Use Inkscape and a 12"x12" drawing size - Lay it out at that scale then shrink it down to 3"x3" [Alarmingly easy with SVG without losing any quality at all]. Mirror that for the "back", and we're done - Hopefully the exposure frame ensures good registration.

Finally (for now at least!) I did poke around for a local supplier that could do it - Easy if I want a thousand :eek:. It seems there's a few guys doing it in the UK, but I'm struggling here - Dunno why - Maybe it is a business opportunity!?......

Thanks again for the comments,
Cheers,
Ian
 
Yeah I could see a larger company only wanting to mass produce you an item. Thats because their machines have to be setup and program to do a run for production. Too costly to do one. I was thinking more in the line of a privite guy who owned a small set up might do one item for your build.
I'm still with you on what you would have to do on putting ur own together (alot of runnin along with some trial and error) And I agree this is your best starter package and learning tool. I also agree if you mastered it, you might be able to do work for others and make enough money for a few replacement supplies for you. I also see it as a way to make multipule items of something you use alot of, even saving it for future use on flash drives.
Bottom line is. If you plan on making it a useful tool and use alot, go for it and don't look back.
I am kinda going off my show truck experiance, I wanted to get into powder coating, so I bought a setup.. about 200...I dont have an oven to do large stuff...have all the supplies but the oven and now its sets on a shelf, so now I buy the parts chromed or I paint with regular paints.
 
Trucula said:
.... I wanted to get into powder coating, so I bought a setup.. about 200...I dont have an oven to do large stuff...
Click to expand...

Use the one in the kitchen! :D

Seriously - as I'm sure you know, do not do that!...... ;)

Anyway, I would have ordered it today, but want both thicknesses of stainless sheet - It includes one, but it doesn't say what thickness it is. :(

Nevertheless, this of course prompted the scouring of the catalog for "may as well get that included in the shipment" items!...... ;)

I *love* a good tool! - If I'm getting in this deep, may as well include one of these; http://www.micromark.com/Mission-Models-Multi-Tool-Small,8495.html

for bending the parts..... Trouble then is, do I get the large or the small, or save $10 and get both!?..... [Murphy is certain to put the sizes I need right in the sweet spots on the other one! ;)]

I also recently had to trash a bunch of old adhesives etc - As this is a ground shipment, may as well "refresh" those as well.....

The slippery slope!

Cheers,
Ian
 
fast_ian said:
I *love* a good tool! - If I'm getting in this deep, may as well include one of these; http://www.micromark.com/Mission-Models-Multi-Tool-Small,8495.html

for bending the parts..... Trouble then is, do I get the large or the small, or save $10 and get both!?..... [Murphy is certain to put the sizes I need right in the sweet spots on the other one! ;)]...
Click to expand...

ermm, why? don't you own enogh sizes of drill bits to round the pe parts? up to you of course.


in anyrate everything is up to you of course
 
catch on what? a drill bit has a very nice and round end (the one goes into a chuck). but if your goal is collection of cool tools sure, why not.
mico mark is good stuff untill you realize "wait a minute, i could have used ordinary [name of tool] for that"
 
I have one of the etchers, but I've never tested it, I hope the chemicals are still good. My wife bought it for me and would be quite mad if they went bad before I used it! I still have not figured out what to make.
 
jbaakko said:
I have one of the etchers, but I've never tested it, I hope the chemicals are still good. My wife bought it for me and would be quite mad if they went bad before I used it! I still have not figured out what to make.
Click to expand...

Wish I had a wife like that! :)

As for the chemicals, my (limited) research suggests they've got the half life of uranium...... Some pretty nasty stuff that AFAIK doesn't have a shelf life.

Cheers,
Ian
 
Hey,

Well, after much deliberation I've ordered it. As it ships via ground I reckon I've got about a week to 10 days to do some draft layouts......

I'll keep everyone posted on progress.

Cheers,
Ian
 
A little update;

While waiting for it to show up, I started on the artwork - I've got "Ford" in a format that's suitable for etching, but think I need to thicken it a little - This is not proving easy! - It's not "text" but an SVG object - I don't want to resize it, but thicken the lines.....

So, while pondering that I figured I'd go and find "some" reviews of the sucker - Oh dear! - I found a few starts, often with folk asking for updates, but never really found anything useful! :eek:....... Either;

- They give up :(
- Are killed or incapacitated by the chemicals! or
- Decide to "keep it to themselves!"

We'll see soon I guess.....

Cheers,
Ian
 
fast_ian said:
... I've got "Ford" in a format that's suitable for etching, but think I need to thicken it a little - This is not proving easy! - It's not "text" but an SVG object - I don't want to resize it, but thicken the lines.....
Click to expand...

So, I posted the problem to the Inkscape (about which I raved before) forums, and the answer was posted within an hour! - Simply apply a "stroke" to the object!

I am friggin' stoked! - Not only does it work perfectly for the "flowing" Ford logo, but tweaking some of the options will allow the stripes and other "geometric" shapes to be finely tuned for etching as well.

Had to share,
Cheers,
Ian
 
Following the "in for a penny, in for a pound" mantra, I think I'm gonna have to try and do *real* chrome!.....

http://www.micromark.com/Plug-N-Plate-Copy-Chrome-Plating-Kit,8327.html

I have no idea if or how it works, anyone got one? Any good? Or, anyone know what the magic chemical is? I've got a bunch of wal-warts that could supply the juice, it's just the chemical that I have no idea on. [It's not "nasty" like the PE stuff as they can ship it via air, which is a no-no with a lot of this stuff, but beyond that I dunno.....]

Cheers,
Ian
 
fast_ian said:
As noted in the OP, I came across quite a few DIY "solutions"
Am I paying for convenience? Sure! It's got everything needed, sized appropriately and is "ready to go" - I can't help thinking the DIY route is gonna involve lots of driving around to get parts & supplies and ultimately produce an inferior solution. [At least that's what I'm telling myself ;)]

Finally (for now at least!) I did poke around for a local supplier that could do it - Easy if I want a thousand :eek:. It seems there's a few guys doing it in the UK, but I'm struggling here - Dunno why - Maybe it is a business opportunity!?......
Click to expand...

Who in the UK is doing it Ian?

I looked at buying this BUT they won't ship the chemicals needed to the UK, you have to source these locally - so I didn't see the point in purchasing it in the end.. It would be handy to know of someone that is doing them without a stupid 'minimum run' amount...
 
Scordicus said:
Who in the UK is doing it Ian?
Click to expand...

Ask Jim Smith-Wright - Somewhere in his Birmingham New Street thread he mentioned that a guy in, IIRC, Scotland does his. [Do they have health & safety laws up there? :D]

I looked at buying this BUT they won't ship the chemicals needed to the UK, you have to source these locally...
Click to expand...

And they hardly give you a discount either!..... In fairness, I poked around and the chemicals are pretty easy to source.

Cheers,
Ian
 
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