Hey etchers. Impervious box?

[jubal81]

I think I've gotten an indestructible 125B from Smallbear. It's one of the polished ones, and I had it in the etchant for 45 minutes and nada. I swirled. I heated. I cursed.

Never had this happen before and I just did another of the same type yesterday which etched just fine. Same bottle of Radio Shack FC, too.

Any ideas?

[muddyfox]

Maybe it's not only polished but also coated with something? Tried taking some sandpaper to it before etching?

[pryde]

Did you try new etchant or use the old stuff?

Also its likely they polished it with a wax/petro based product so maybe take some wet 600 to it and then clean with naptha

[Droogie]

Impervious Box—band name?

[lars]

Your enclosure is made of Adamantium is probably worth $$$$$$. Good luck drilling that thing...

[jubal81]

Maybe it's not only polished but also coated with something? Tried taking some sandpaper to it before etching?

I thought this might be. I gave it a good rub with some acetone first.

Did you try new etchant or use the old stuff?

Also its likely they polished it with a wax/petro based product so maybe take some wet 600 to it and then clean with naptha

The other one etched up fine yesterday. Maybe this one got a stronger dose. Not looking forward to sanding and starting over. It's a bummer because pre-sanded enclosures are worth the $4 compared to the time it takes me to do it.

[gordo]

I've been under the impression that the quickest way to make it impervious is to marry it.  Oh wait...is this the right thread...

[jubal81]

Hmm. I found a thread over at DIYSB about the same problem. They must coat them with a protectant. Blah. That explains something else that went awry, though.

[jhigginb]

Which acid?  I'm using cupric chloride and has been very successful.


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[jubal81]

Which acid?  I'm using cupric chloride and has been very successful.


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FeCL. THe stuff from Rat Shack has been working great for me until now.

[jhigginb]

The cupric chloride, if you want to try it, is muratic acid (pool supplies) and some hydrogen peroxide. Take that solution and etch a copper board or two and turns nice green color. I've been etching in the original mix for around 15 enclosures and just added more peroxide around enclosure 13 or 14. Boxes are nice and etched at about 15 minutes give or take. Depends in the etching mask from testing so far. Had one enclosure that had a lot if exposure and it was done in 8 minutes and was cut a little deeper than the others.  The heat being generated really did the job on that one and good thing I noticed the increased reaction. I'm guessing with that level of exposure and my usual timing, it would have gone almost through the top.


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[flanagan0718]

Your enclosure is made of Adamantium is probably worth $$$$$$. Good luck drilling that thing...

Hahahaha nice wolverine reference!
It sounds like the possible coated it too. Good luck!


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[jubal81]

The cupric chloride, if you want to try it, is muratic acid (pool supplies) and some hydrogen peroxide. Take that solution and etch a copper board or two and turns nice green color. I've been etching in the original mix for around 15 enclosures and just added more peroxide around enclosure 13 or 14. Boxes are nice and etched at about 15 minutes give or take. Depends in the etching mask from testing so far. Had one enclosure that had a lot if exposure and it was done in 8 minutes and was cut a little deeper than the others.  The heat being generated really did the job on that one and good thing I noticed the increased reaction. I'm guessing with that level of exposure and my usual timing, it would have gone almost through the top.


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Thanks for the tip. I'm tempted to try that. You get your stuff at the pool supply store?

[jhigginb]

Picked up the muratic at the hardware store (also found sometimes near concrete supplies for etching concrete) and peroxide was dollar store special as I wasn't sure how much I was going to go through. And of course copper clad board or anything else made of copper. I started off with about a cup of muratic and started adding in peroxide until I had about a half inch of fluid in the plastic container (used the zip lock containers for disposability, cheap, and doesn't react with the acid - the original plan was glass but thought my wife might get upset if I took the casserole dish)


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