Name plates made at home.

[SmithDoor]

I have for long time used Zinc etching for name plates.
I would send to print shop to etching done.
Today I plan to do etching at home in copper or maybe brass. Use a Lazer printer and acids.
Using a electronic pc board tech.

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At this time I have not tried this but plan too.

Dave

 

[idahoan]

I have had good luck using Press N Peel Blue and ferric chloride.

Dave

 

[SmithDoor]

I have had good luck using Press N Peel Blue and ferric chloride.

Dave

I have only used Zinc etching witch is printing and rubber stamps for name plates and castings.

I have not try this way
It is something I just ran across. It is widely use for copper curcit boards today witch is about the same as zinc etching.

Some name plate are plated too. They are screen printed then plated.

Dave

 

[awake]

I just did some experimenting with OMTech Laser Marking spray - similar (or possibly identical) to the more familiar CerMark, but significantly less expensive (though still not cheap). I was very pleased with the performance in my simple test in my K40 type laser - set to 20 or 25 on the digital setting, I got very clear, crisp, and strongly adhering results. I tried wiping pretty hard with acetone, and it did not blink.

No affiliation other than a satisfied customer, but this is what I plan to use for future name plates!

 

[L98fiero]

I have only used Zinc etching witch is printing and rubber stamps for name plates and castings.

I have not try this way
It is something I just ran across. It is widely use for copper curcit boards today witch is about the same as zinc etching.

Some name plate are plated too. They are screen printed then plated.

Dave

Will this work for aluminum? Obviously a different etchant would be required, maybe sodium hydroxide?

 

[rutzen]

I have used Press n Peel blue and electro etching using copper sulphate solution and 2 or 3 volts. I found you need the surface you are etching facing downwards so the etched particles fall away from the surface.

 

[awake]

Will this work for aluminum? Obviously a different etchant would be required, maybe sodium hydroxide?

It would be interesting to see if this would work. Of course, full PPO required - sodium hydroxide is nasty stuff!!

 

[Gary]

I have had good luck using Press N Peel Blue and ferric chloride.

Dave

There are some really interesting videos on YouTube showing this with the etching being done using salt water (no nasty chemicals). Worth a look.
Gary.

 

[awake]

For copper, a very effective etchant is a mixture of 2 parts drug store hydrogen peroxide and 1 part muriatic acid. Note that this is for "drug store" H2O2, meaning a very low percentage (3% or so) of actual H2O2 mixed into H2O. In this area, it is much cheaper to buy a jug of muriatic acid from the hardware store (used for cleaning bricks and balancing the pH of swimming pools among other things) and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide than it is to buy ferric chloride. Of course, just like ferric chloride, proper disposal is a concern. And of course, remember the golden rule: add acid to water (or hydrogen peroxide), not the other way around.