hey everyone
i've been trying to come up with a good way to do graphics on a bare aluminum front panel for my G1176 silverface project. a la mnats? box. i was gonna try Keith's toner on backing paper method, but the problem of the adhesive showing around the transfer seemed unavoidable. also, i wanted to keep the aluminum bare as opposed to clear coating it to seal the graphics.
then i got an idea to use the negative [i think...or is it positive?] resist emulsion for doing PCBs to cover the entire front [and back maybe] expose the artwork onto it, develop and etch the same way we do with PCBs. in doing a little googling, i came up with some stuff:
example:
http://www.ID-IDeas.com/silketch/intel-a.gif
some chemical formulas for etching different metals and depths
http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/other/microeng/processing/etching/metal.etch.html
the etch-o-matic
http://www.etch-o-matic.com/EOM.html
i?m really liking the examples of the EOM, but it is a little pricey. even with the midrange kit you still need to get or figure out something for the stencils. i?m going to try some experiments based on their process to see if we can figure out a more cost effective way of getting the same result.
well that?s it for now. gonna do some more research and start some experiments. i?ll post updates here. someone please stop me if you?ve been down this road before without any success.
-AL
i've been trying to come up with a good way to do graphics on a bare aluminum front panel for my G1176 silverface project. a la mnats? box. i was gonna try Keith's toner on backing paper method, but the problem of the adhesive showing around the transfer seemed unavoidable. also, i wanted to keep the aluminum bare as opposed to clear coating it to seal the graphics.
then i got an idea to use the negative [i think...or is it positive?] resist emulsion for doing PCBs to cover the entire front [and back maybe] expose the artwork onto it, develop and etch the same way we do with PCBs. in doing a little googling, i came up with some stuff:
example:
http://www.ID-IDeas.com/silketch/intel-a.gif
some chemical formulas for etching different metals and depths
http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/other/microeng/processing/etching/metal.etch.html
the etch-o-matic
http://www.etch-o-matic.com/EOM.html
i?m really liking the examples of the EOM, but it is a little pricey. even with the midrange kit you still need to get or figure out something for the stencils. i?m going to try some experiments based on their process to see if we can figure out a more cost effective way of getting the same result.
well that?s it for now. gonna do some more research and start some experiments. i?ll post updates here. someone please stop me if you?ve been down this road before without any success.
-AL