SpankySmith Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 YES, I've read up through some older threads about etching, but they mostly seem to be people etching Damascus and such for knives, my question is more basic and I really just need to pass it in front of some of you who have experience with this. I need to etch some WORDS into some mild steel....pretty basic, I'll be using Muriatic Acid (your basic Lowes mix, which I think is 30% dilute) because that's what I have. My PLAN is to print the words on the steel using the new REALLYREALLYPERMANENT marker Sharpie has come out with, just because I think that's the simplest method and I have this INSANELY neat handwriting. Then after thorough drying, to dip the stock in muriatic. My question involves timing - I have no earthly idea how long this should take with fresh muriatic to achieve a DEEP etch? Are we talking minutes? Hours? Overnight? Yes, I know I could experiment and no doubt will, but I'm looking for a ballpark as I have no experience with it at all. Can anyone help a girl out here? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Experiment! (how much is a Deep Etch? How much steel has to be etched compared to how much not to be etched? Makes a difference if your set amount of acid has to etch 40 sq feet vs 2 sq inches---one will exhaust the etchant as it works compared to the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Something adrift in your description.you want to etch some words into the steel...you are using the pen because of your neat handwriting...positve and negative.If you write on the steel with the pen and chuck the plate in the acid, it is everything else that will be etched away and the words will remain proud of the new surface.You may need to consider doing the normal thing of protecting the majority of the surface from the acid with a resist and removing the resist with a stylus where the words are to allow the acid to bite. Alternatively finding a way to write which will not allow a lacquer type resist to adhere to the surface....with a hot wax pen perhaps?How deep do you want to etch?Have you considered the advantages of direct cutting the lettering with gravers?Alanp.s. Forgot to mention that you must allow for undercutting of the resist with a deep etch, the acid eats anything it is in contact with. It will go sideways too, not just perpendicular to the surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 (edited) Spanky , signage vynil is the 'best' resist . It's easy to have cut and cheap too. Anything you can rustle up in coral draw is a breeze!Keep your mordant(acid) warm like a hot bath(for a man, one cooks lobsters in a woman's hot bath) use a feather to 'brush off the bubbles ' to get a faster and more even etch.Use a small bit of dish soap with water in a spray bottle to spray onto the surface before you apply the vynil to help squeegee out the bubbles. Edited September 18, 2015 by ianinsa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Press apply letters can be used as well if you burnish then down to the metal well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Hydrochloric acid is cheap and available, but it is not really a great acid for the type of etch you want. There are online kits for etching combined with electricity which do a very neat and reliable job. Really Deep ? can mean a lot of things. If I wanted it really deep I'd just do steel engraving on mild steel. Making and sharpening engraving tools is a special skill in itself.Get a brownell's catalogue and by a couple of theirs. If you have really neat handwriting you should be able to do what you need in a few hours of practice and have a new skill.Other wise, get some bee's wax, nitric acid, and a feather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankySmith Posted September 18, 2015 Author Share Posted September 18, 2015 Can't reply to my own topic about etching, so I have no choice but to try this: Thanks for all the replies - I worded my question poorly, but yes I do understand that the method I wrote will result in etching AROUND the letters, not the letters themselves. I considered the vinyl, but I'm talking like 1/4" letters on a 1/2" piece of round stock, and my local HobLob doesn't carry vinyl letters that small. this is a one-off, special request item I need to produce quickly. I do very much want to try the electro etching some day, but it will be later. In the meantime, I have NO idea whether to start my experimental dip with 5 minutes... 5 hours.... 50 hours? I know I'll have to experiment, was just trying to get a handle on a ballpark to play in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 well one of the nice things is that you can use the same test piece: etch for 5 minutes, rinse with water, look at it put it back in and etch for X minutes more based on how the first trial looked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Ha foiled by an assiduous mod...I wrote a long reply and when I submitted, it all disappeared because the thread had been conflated with the original...hey ho.It was a reminder to polish the whole surface and degrease before you write on it. You can always dull it down afterward but if you try and polish after etching you will lose edge definition.you could increase contrast post etching by wiping over with graphite and wax or even shoe polish, it will wipe clear of the letters and leave the pigment in the etched surface....like a printing plate.Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 (edited) Obviously test on a scrap piece before you dive into something harder to replace. I'd pick up an etch resist pen rather than rely on a sharpie. If there is such a thing as a radio shack these days you might find one there but they are also sold on Amazon.Personally, I would go the proper route of making an etch mask which is a bit more complicated than can be put in a post. Look into it if the quick and dirty method isn't satisfactory. The modeling world makes some amazing stuff with chemically machined parts (etch away the stuff you don't want) so there is a big community there to learn from as well as supplies to do a superior job--you'd just need to dig them out of the woodwork.Here is one thing that might help if you have time---This is a photo-resist material that you print on with a laser printer (NOT ink jet) and then can just peel off the template to use on your parts to be etched (actually ironed on and then peeled). http://www.techniks.com Edited September 18, 2015 by Kozzy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankySmith Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 Thanks all for the many good suggestions. I hope this posts, I've tried to reply to my own post and your comments several times today and keep getting the dreaded FORBIDDEN. I'm starting to really hate that word.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 (edited) Spanky, this will take me back about 60 years....when I was in junior high school (I believe it was) and before OSHA, EPA, etc. etc. In arts and crafts class, we etched designs in aluminum plaques and bowls using dilute hydrochloric acid. Maybe some of the old geezers on the forum remember doing something like that. The part of the design to be left untouched, or un-etched, was painted with a thin asphalt coating which was allowed to dry, and the acid then ate away at the bare aluminum leaving a matte design. Now.......picture a bunch of kids with acid, no PPE, pouring acid (dilute) into aluminum plates and bowls!!!!!!! I think back on that and it scares the **** out of me!!!Anyway, food for thought. Edited September 19, 2015 by arkie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankySmith Posted September 20, 2015 Author Share Posted September 20, 2015 I think it was back in my own high school days that I first heard about using HC for etching. I did some brief experimentation this weekend, using paint, Sharpie, I HAD some asphalt coating but didn't think to use that - should have. The paint pen gave the best result, but it didn't last more than about 15 minutes in the HC before it started coming off, so the etch was there but faint. In the end I used an etching tool because this was a quick need/one off thing, but I'll definitely try some of these fine ideas down the road. I'm in Production Mode for a craft show in November, things should slow down a bit - hopefully - for me after that and I"ll have more time to experiment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 If you want to do production and etch then check out a stamp making kit for applying the resist. The problem with etching is how it WILL be undercut by the etchant and eventually flake off or just blear the results.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Nitric acid is a better etchant for steel than HCl. One of the traditional masks is bee's wax which adheres well to polished steel and permits a fine line to be drawn where as some others do not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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