Electo-Etching!!

[matmosphere]

So I decided to try to etch an enclosure but I didn't want to deal with any nasty chemicals. I read up online about a technique called electrical etching. You basically put it in a salt water bath and add current.

Why not right? If someone has a tutorial online it must be safe!

For a first try it turned out alright (and did in fact seem plenty safe). I used a paint marker as the etch resist and drew this up freehand.

The etch has almost no depth though. I lost power after about ten minutes of etching and had to stop. When I tried to pick it up again this morning I wasn't getting the same kind of reaction. I'll figure it out, practice makes perfect right?

Here is the freehand design. Sat down to draw a panda (it's going to be a bearhug comp [and yes I know pandas aren't bears]) on the enclosure and saw the news about Kenny Baker. Changed pace.



Here it is in the bath, you can kinda see the bubbles from the reaction.



And finally here's how it turned out.



I'll post some more details later on if you guys are interested.

[Aristatertotle]

I've etched a few enclosures this way. One thing that really helps is to gently brush the exposed part to keep exposing the raw aluminum. The oxides start to build up and it doesn't get good contact.

Check out some print making stuff like this http://www.nontoxicprint.com/Electroetching.htm they have good information on getting good etchs with this technique.

[Aleph Null]

This is an interesting effect. Doesn't look like a chemical etch. I'm excited to see what sort of results you get with more practice.

[jimilee]

I'm very interested

Sent from my Coolpad 3320A using Tapatalk

[selfdestroyer]

SCIENCE!

Very cool.

Cody

[matmosphere]

Aristatertotle, I figured somebody on here had already used this technique. I'd love to see some of your results. I was a little worried to use a brush because I was worried it would peel the resist.

One thing I noticed was that the scrap enclosure I had the negative terminal on etched much quicker and darker.

I'll probably give it another go soon.

[stecykmi]

neat, what kind of power supply were you using?

also, i believe pandas are technically a type of bear.

[Aristatertotle]

Sure!

Here's a harbinger one build I did for my brother in law.



Here's my Sagan Delay enclosure before I added color.



You can see where the resist got rubbed off a bit so that's definitely a problem. I'm about to start another round of etches and try different resists out, I had just used toner transfers before.

Your etch came out pretty clean, the paint pen looks like it holds up well.

[matmosphere]

neat, what kind of power supply were you using?

also, i believe pandas are technically a type of bear.

I actually used a one spot, I conviently had a bunch of plugs to use to make easy connections. I probably would have done better with something that was a little higher voltage and amperage.

I guess I could be wrong about the whole panda/bear thing. I remember learning that they were basically just huge red pandas, but it looks like from a dna standpoint they might be bears after all.  That's a wiki-wormhole for a different night, there's soldering to do!

[somnif]

I did an electro etching project in an art class several years ago. We actually did it in a fairly unusual manner. We took our bits of metal (a bit of scrap plate in my case), connected the lead wire, then dipped the whole thing in candle wax.

We then scratched away the wax where we wanted etching and ran it through the process. You can get really creative and do multi level etchings too (scratch some wax off, run a bit, scratch more, run longer, etc).

It worked fairly well, as long as you don't ramp the current too high and melt the wax. Getting the wax off at the end was a big annoying, but its easier if you toss it in a fridge for a bit before hand (then it just pops off in big chunks). A bit of solvent works too (or you can flame it off, but that can get warp-y if you aren't careful). Of course going this route limits the etch to your own artistic talent, but its another option if you get bored and want to play around a bit.

[matmosphere]

You can see where the resist got rubbed off a bit so that's definitely a problem. I'm about to start another round of etches and try different resists out, I had just used toner transfers before.

Your etch came out pretty clean, the paint pen looks like it holds up well.

That is a freakin' sweet looking etch. I hope I can get results like that with this method. I think having such a large field to etch probably didn't do me any favors though.

The paint pen held up perfectly while it was in the bath, but as soon as I got the brush out it started coming off quick. I'm going to keep at it though, I like the hand drawn thing and I don't have a laser printer.

I did an electro etching project in an art class several years ago. We actually did it in a fairly unusual manner. We took our bits of metal (a bit of scrap plate in my case), connected the lead wire, then dipped the whole thing in candle wax.

We then scratched away the wax where we wanted etching and ran it through the process. You can get really creative and do multi level etchings too (scratch some wax off, run a bit, scratch more, run longer, etc).

It worked fairly well, as long as you don't ramp the current too high and melt the wax. Getting the wax off at the end was a big annoying, but its easier if you toss it in a fridge for a bit before hand (then it just pops off in big chunks). A bit of solvent works too (or you can flame it off, but that can get warp-y if you aren't careful). Of course going this route limits the etch to your own artistic talent, but its another option if you get bored and want to play around a bit.

That's a really cool idea. I wouldn't have thought to use wax as a resist, that could save me some electrical tape next time. Do you happen to remember what type of power supply you used, or how strong it was?

[somnif]

Unfortunately I do not recall the votlages/amperage we used, but I am trying to see if I happened to save that handout anywhere (or, barring that, find it online). I was a standalone desktop power supply, I recall.

It looked very similar to the PSU's I use for doing gel electrophoresis, but  different make/model (random chance you know what those are, but to give context).

Lets see what I can find....

[alanp]

WOW.

I'm tempted to have a go at this myself, now.

If only I had any artistic ability! (Or even vector-art fakery.)

[culturejam]

I etched a couple PCBs with this method way back in like 2008. It worked okay, but it took forever and I found that once it got down to the end, it slowed down almost to the point of never completing. Probably works better on enclosures.

[matmosphere]

SCIENCE!

Indeed!

Looks like I still need to do some tweaking. Attempts two and three were not as successful.

I hooked up the power incorrectly on the second one. It did a nice job etching, but unfortunately the incorrect connections somehow pushed the resist off the enclosure.




Sanded that one down and started again.



This time everything was hooked up correctly, but I wasn't getting a good reaction. I left it in for almost twelve hours etching. I think I might need some new (and possibly larger) donor metal. There were a few spots that didn't etch, I suspect there was some oil or something on the enclosure.



I'm considering trying to redraw over this one and etching it more once I change the setup a bit.

There are so many variables to consider that it might take me a while to lock down a good process. I might just need more current.

I need to read up on salt water and conducting electricity. I'm wondering if flipping the enclosure and using a more shallow bath might help.