Etched enclosures

[vigilante397]

It's a little oitside your usual style, but holy hell I love it. Absolutely beautiful etch.

[thermionix]

What's the 3rd jack, expression pedal?

[Marcos - Munky]

Those perfect lines . Don't know if I asked you on this, but what do you use for the transfers? Tone transfer, dryfilm?

[davent]

Excellent etch Lars, cool design and paint fade!

dave

[lars-musik]

It's a little oitside your usual style, but holy hell I love it. Absolutely beautiful etch.

Really? It is just too large. But the PCB is designed for 1590A use (built this for someone else though and he wanted that gigantic enclosure).

What's the 3rd jack, expression pedal?

No it is a dry output to connect this fuzz to the corresponding envelope filter (see here: https://youtu.be/BgjtX5GmonE?t=484).

Those perfect lines . Don't know if I asked you on this, but what do you use for the transfers? Tone transfer, dryfilm?

I'm sure did describe it once or twice somewhere here. I use a UV etch mask that is sprac painted on the enclosure (called "KONTAKT POSITIV 20") and etch with hydrochlric acid. It does not come out so neat all the times but I am getting better at it, The trickiest part is to apply the UV spray evenly, the rest is very similiar to pcb etching.

Excellent etch Lars, cool design and paint fade!

Thanks!

[baklavametal]

Lars, what are you using as an etching solution? your etch seems rather deep, but relatively clean
i tried NaOH and Fe3Cl but i can't get a very deep etch without drastically losing etch quality

[lars-musik]

Lars, what are you using as an etching solution?

For that particular etch I used old (meaning often used) HCl (as stated above, hydrochloric acid), 27% from the DIY store. For the first uses I added some hydrogen peroxide from the aquaristic department of said DIY store but since about a year I simply re-use the blackened soup again.

I think the temperature is key here: too cold and it will take too long and ruin the etch mask, too hot and the stuff gets really vicious. Keep in mind that the reaction is exothermic and will generate more heat on the surface.
Something else:

THE FUMES ARE MOST DANGEROUS!

Really, really. Like lung-eating dangerous. I do the etching under a fume hood in lab coat, security glasses and all. (Have a look here: https://melscience.com/en/articles/how-hydrochloric-acid-reacts-aluminum-formulas-and/)

But you’ll get absolutely identical results with FeCl3 (again mind the temperature AND the reaction AND the gases).

   

[masonsjax]

Here is my first attempt at an etched enclosure. I rushed the process a bit as the results clearly show. I'm still working on getting a clean toner transfer.. this was the best of several attempts. I etched with naoh, but out of caution I mixed it pretty weak and the toner started coming loose before the etch was deep enough. I then sanded through the paint in a couple of spots, didn't sand straight, and then boogered up the final clearcoat in a few spots. Overall it's good enough for my pedalboard and I learned a lot in the process. Hopefully my future posts will be more worthy of this thread. Thanks to all that have shared their tips and tricks. Cheers!

[Marcos - Munky]

Can't see the images.

[masonsjax]

My pics should be visible now, my bad.

[vigilante397]

I wish I could find the pics of my first etch, so everyone else realizes how amazing their first etches are Really excellent stuff.

[duck_arse]

.... and, masonsjax, welcome to the forum.

it's always good to get all yer fckups in one place, instead of spreading them evenly over all your builds, innit.

[Marcos - Munky]

21th build of 2018. It's an EP Booster with internal charge pump.

[thermionix]

21th build of 2018.

Only 1997 left to go!

[bloxstompboxes]

21th build of 2018.

Only 1997 left to go!

Not much time left either. Better hurry the hell up.

[Marcos - Munky]

Actually it's 1996 right now. Today I built a whisker biscuit fuzz in a tuna can to give to a friend, just need to put the knobs and it's done

[masonsjax]

So my second attempt at etching went much better. I think I've finally nailed my toner transfer process. The detail in the graphic was pretty ambitious, maybe not the best choice of artwork, but it came out better than I expected. It's still not as deep as I would like, so I'll probably mix a little stronger batch of lye next time. Also I'll spray some clear on this after it's drilled, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

[deadastronaut]

my latest, astro cab sim. finished up last night.... 

[italianguy63]

So my second attempt at etching went much better. I think I've finally nailed my toner transfer process. The detail in the graphic was pretty ambitious, maybe not the best choice of artwork, but it came out better than I expected. It's still not as deep as I would like, so I'll probably mix a little stronger batch of lye next time. Also I'll spray some clear on this after it's drilled, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

It's hard to do "greyscale" type images.

Nice job!

MC

[Elijah-Baley]

my latest, astro cab sim. finished up last night.... 

Hi deadastronaut! Really nice pedal, as usually .

I started a thread here: https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=121750.0
I need some advice to use for the first time XLR jacks. Maybe you could help me, please?