Etching enclosures with FeCl3, a few questions

[Gledison]

Hey mate, another chemistry expert here but not much on etching, but I think ur etching solution is not the problem as u are getting a nice etch. I think that u should try the easier thing a first. perhaps your masking tape is too porous and the FeCl3 is penetrating  through it! I would choose tapes that have a good adhesion to metal and not paper backing.
pS:Cody 'a tutorial indeed is great!

[m-Kresol]

thanks for your answer. The masking tape is not the issue; it's about the etch mask, so either the toner or the photoresist. The etchant is penetrating through both after some time. the sides of the enclosure are fine.

[selfdestroyer]

P.S.: this is haunting me so badly, that I even dreamt about Cody. In a non-romantical-he's-showing-me-how-to-etch way This stuff is starting to wreck my brain

LOL, My wife just printed out the paperwork for a restraining order, you know.. just in case. lol

This has been a hard thing for me ever since I place my tutorial up on my blog and I get mixed results from people. I really think there are just so many variables and its really hard to make suggestions that doesn't feel counterintuitive. It sounds like you have tried quite a few things. I can give you a few suggestions and see if they may help and at the very least, point you in the right direction.

Etchant:
I use the Radio Shack Etchant since I can get it locally and I have always had good results.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102868
MSDS Sheet
http://www.radioshack.com/graphics/uc/rsk/Support/MSDS/2761535MSDS.pdf
As per the MSDS sheet it looks like its only 30-60% chloride so that may be a factor why it doesn't eat through my mask so quickly. So if you are using 100% chloride you may want to dilute it some.

Paper & print density:
I still swear by the HP Premium Presentation paper 120g
http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product.aspx?sku=10250041&mfg_part=CG988A&pagemode=ca

Print destiny on HP printers set to the highest setting (5 in my case on the HP LaserJet Pro P1102w)

I really do think I can get finer detail when I agitate the enclosure in the etchant in a up and down motion. I find that  it helps knock off the deposits left from the etchant. I do the same up and down motion in a water bath. I usually put the enclosure in the etchant for 30-40 seconds and then a quick rinse in water. I will repeat this as needed. You can use your finder to gauge how deep the etch is but be careful not to wipe away your mask.

[m-Kresol]

thanks for your advice. I think I might just have overdone it the last times in respect to depth and etching time. My solution is rather concentrated, but 100% is not possible as FeCl3 is a solid I will dilute mine a little further.

P.S.: this is haunting me so badly, that I even dreamt about Cody. In a non-romantical-he's-showing-me-how-to-etch way This stuff is starting to wreck my brain

LOL, My wife just printed out the paperwork for a restraining order, you know.. just in case. lol

No worries, I'm half a continent away and I have too little time for another hobby

[Stomptown]

Have you tried a different printer or are all of the attempts from the same printer?  I've had a couple bad etches and I've come to the conclusion that all toner is not created equal when it comes to transfers.

[m-Kresol]

it was with the same printer. I tried varying the toner density.
I might give the other office printer a shot. Thanks for suggesting

[TGP39]

Hi everyone. Quick question. Is there any truth that color laser printers won't print quality etching masks?  Should I get a monochrome laser printer? My problem seems to be just getting a quality etching mask onto the damn enclosure. I just purchased some PNP Blue. If that works I'm re-naming it PNP Gold. 
Also want to thank Cody for putting that tutorial together. I was afraid to even try etching prior to watching that. Thank you Cody.

[Stomptown]

Hi everyone. Quick question. Is there any truth that color laser printers won't print quality etching masks?  Should I get a monochrome laser printer? My problem seems to be just getting a quality etching mask onto the damn enclosure. I just purchased some PNP Blue. If that works I'm re-naming it PNP Gold. 
Also want to thank Cody for putting that tutorial together. I was afraid to even try etching prior to watching that. Thank you Cody.

I've used color laser printers at the print shop without issue but I'm not sure about smaller ones.  How long do you spend ironing the transfer to the enclosure?  I Find that insufficient time makes for a bad transfer. I usually go for 15 minutes or so, which I picked up from Pryde's tutorial. Specifically I let the iron sit on the enclosure for 2 minutes. Then I use the tip of the iron to go over the enclosure for two minutes and repeat.

PnP blue is really nice but the technique it quite different compared to using gloss paper. After switching to paper I tried to go back to PnP and had a terrible time with it. Definitely research how to use PnP on enclosures.  At the end if the day etching enclosures is a bit of a black art and it really takes trial and error to make it work. There are so many variables and changing one little thing has huge effects down the line. 

[selfdestroyer]

Hi everyone. Quick question. Is there any truth that color laser printers won't print quality etching masks?  Should I get a monochrome laser printer? My problem seems to be just getting a quality etching mask onto the damn enclosure. I just purchased some PNP Blue. If that works I'm re-naming it PNP Gold. 
Also want to thank Cody for putting that tutorial together. I was afraid to even try etching prior to watching that. Thank you Cody.

I have used a color laser from here at work (Konica Minolta) and had good results. Glad you are giving it a go, the more of us etching the more tips and tricks we can all learn from each other to perfect the craft.

Cody

[Justus]

The black toner you put into the black slot on a color laser printer is the same black toner you put in a monochrome laser printer.

Just don't let the black toner run out, otherwise the color laser printer will attempt to compensate by using extra c/y/m toner to simulate black.

[Stomptown]

The black toner you put into the black slot on a color laser printer is the same black toner you put in a monochrome laser printer.

Just don't let the black toner run out, otherwise the color laser printer will attempt to compensate by using extra c/y/m toner to simulate black.

Hmm... I wonder if this is the reason I've had issues on occasion. There are two times in particular I can remember where the black toner just didn't look right and the transfer was terrible.  For whatever Reason, C/Y/M compensation never occurred to me!

[TGP39]

Thank you Jon, Cody and Steve. I'll keep at it.

[m-Kresol]

I'll give it another go for my ultrastoner build. I'll try fresh solution and shorter etching times. Thanks guys