Zero Point Super Deluxe: A delay for the Wasteland...

[neiloler]

I found this to be very enlightening!

http://www.artmondo.net/printworks/articles/ferric.htm

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

Im very impressed with your final outcome! Demo sounds soo good..i think i need to bump this one higher on my to do list.

[neiloler]

Thanks! It really is a great design, full of ambience and really enjoyable tone. I'm definitely one of those people who couldn't ever be satisfied with one single delay pedal, not yet any how, but this one would be in my top 3 or 4.

[nieradka]

Dont use ferric chloride to etch aluminum, ferric chloride is an etchant for copper. Stannous chloride etchs aluminium fairly safely, use that.  Dont reuse the etchant that you used, its probably contaminated. It is also a bad idea in general to use ferric chloride to etch zinc (or galvanized steel) as it will create zinc chloride (which etches faster and exothermicly) and hydrogen gas. Which isnt ideal.

[neiloler]

Worked for me, and I'll perform the same thing outside this next time with more ventilation. Perhaps you read the article I posted? It seems to be something used to etch aluminum. Where are you getting your information from?

[nieradka]

Years as a printmaker and printmaking lab tech, which uses ferric chloride to etch copper plates for printing. It will work on aluminium, but you wont be able to reuse the etchant, unlike with copper where you can reuse ferric chloride for a long long time. And the reaction will be fast and not very controllable (pitting). And probably fairly toxic.

The linked article is about using ferric to etch copper plates. Stannous chloride can be used to etch aluminum and will probably be far better all around.

[neiloler]

Fair enough.

I've found the pitting to be highly desireable, so no arguments there.

I've used it before on aluminum a few times, and while this time was a bit more reactive (due mostly to the sanding of the box, thus exposing fresh, unoxidized aluminum), I'm pretty sure this is fairly safe. If it isn't give me the chemistry proof to prove otherwise. Until then, perhaps we'll just leave it at "etcher beware".

I'll ask my chemical engineer brother what he thinks the reaction is.