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In this case, I had made a set of handlebar riser extensions for my motorcycle and wanted something stylish to finish them off, oh, and also fill those nasty holes ...
This instructable is based in part on techiques I found on the web, plus some of my own experimentation. A different approach can be found at: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-etch-aluminum-panel-labelsdesigns-with-a-r/
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Signing UpStep 1Things you will need
The first thing you need is an idea of what you want to achieve! I wanted to make a couple of polished aluminium buttons to fill the holes in my handlebar risers, but you will probably want something different. Basically, the thing that you are going to apply your etched artwork to has to be made of aluminium, or some other metal that will etch well with acid.
So, the list looks something like this:
- The thing you want to etch
- wet and dry sandpaper (various grades from about 100 to 1200 grit)
- Brasso or similar polishing compound (or a buffing wheel)
- A laser printer
- A sheet of printer labels, minus the labels (i.e just the waxed backing sheet that you would normally throw away)
- A clothes iron
- some sticky tape (sellotape or similar)
- a couple of facial tissues
- disposable (latex) gloves
- 2 small artists brushes
- nail polish
- Acid - hydrochloric or sulfuric (Lemon juice might work as well)
- acetone
SAFETY NOTE: Concentrated acids can be dangerous! At a minimum, observe the following:
- WEAR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING. Gloves and eye protection are a minimum.
- ALWAYS WEAR EYE PROTECTION when working with dangerous substances such as acid. You only have two eyes, and they are very sensitive to any sort of injury, much more so than your hands.
- NEVER ADD WATER TO ACID. If you need to dilute acid, add the acid to water. If you splash water with a little acid in it, it won't hurt you, but if you splash acid it WILL.
- WORK WITH SMALL AMOUNTS and keep the bottle capped. A small spill is easy to neutralise by flooding it with water. A large spill will ruin your whole year!
- DON'T BREATHE THE FUMES. The fumes from this reaction contain hydrogen and gaseous hydrogen chloride, both of which are bad to breathe in.
- Work on a flat surface clear of clutter, preferably somwhere you can flood with water if you need to. A kitchen sink or a laundry tub is not a bad choice.
Alright. Now that I've told you what not to do, let's get on with the fun stuff ...
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If you want to use this for large areas, use dilute solutions (2:1 or 3:1 water to HCl) and do it in a well ventilated area to prevent the buildup of hydrogen.
Another possibility for freehand work is to apply nail polish with an artists brush.
Interesting, isn't it, that a really thin layer of oxide preserves the shiny appearance of metals like aluminium, and a thick layer (i.e anodising) can make it opaque and dull.
Acid will etch any grade of auminium, but cans usually have a protective plastic coating on them. You will probably have to remove the coating first.
If you wanted a pattern on the can, you could dilute the acid a bit to prevent it from going all the way through. Dilute acid will still eventually eat its way through the thin material of a can, but it will take longer, giving you some time to work and still be able to wash it off. Experiment!
As I have said, though, always add acid to water, NEVER add water to acid.
Hydrochloric acid is also sold under the name "muriatic acid", which is typically used to clean concrete. You can also use sulfuric acid (battery acid, used in car batteries).
Although I haven't tried it, vinegar or lemon juice might also work, although not as well (you might have to leave it on for a while).
I think I'll have to do some more experimenting ... :)
It sounds like you wash it off right away.
Also, how deep would you say the etch is?
At full concentration, you will probably get an etch up to 0.5 mm deep, depending on how long you leave it on and how many times you apply the acid. On the part shown here, it's more like 0.2 mm.
Really, it's better to experiment a little on a scrap piece first to get am idea of how the acid behaves.
According to Ansell who manufacture various types of chemical resistant gloves ( http://www.ansellpro.com/download/Ansell_7thEditionChemicalResistanceGuide.pdf ), natural rubber latex gloves have excellent resistance against concentrated Hydrochloric acid. Admittedly the test is for 0.48mm thickness, not the typical 0.1mm thickness of disposable gloves, but latex gloves WILL protect you from the acid as long as you don't go doing something stupid like dipping your hands in the stuff. All bets are off if the gloves have holes in them of course.
Thicker gloves are better, so ordinary rubber washing-up gloves will also work, or if you REALLY want to be safe, buy a pair of thick chemical resistant gloves from a hardware store. Disposable gloves are just that, DISPOSABLE, so don't re-use them.
There IS A WARNING about latex regarding allergic reactions in some people that can be quite serious. Generally, Vinyl is better because there isn't a problem with allergies, but LATEX GLOVES AND MURIATIC ACID CANNOT KILL YOU.
As always, when working with dangerous substances BE CAREFUL and take steps to avoid accidents. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. Work in a clean, well laid out and well ventilated area, work with small amounts of acid and keep the acid bottle capped. Work methodically and avoid the fumes.
It depends on what you are doing. Lowes are a hardware store who sell stuff for building houses and suchlike to big boofy blokes in workboots and overalls. A whole different ball game to some delicate artwork!
I wouldn't wear disposable gloves to clean concrete, even if I was just cleaning it with water. For a job like that you want something that's sturdy. Disposable gloves will just fall apart in seconds because they're too thin. For holding an artist's brush though, they're OK.
If you do get acid on your hands, you'll know about it pretty quickly, which is why I suggest you work somewhere where you have ready access to water to wash it off with.
I agree with you that even a good pair of acid resistant gloves aren't that expensive. If you're going to be doing a lot of this, they are a good investment. For a one-off where you are only going to be using a small amount of acid, and no rough handling, disposables will do the job.
WEAR EYE PROTECTION, PEOPLE!!!
The thing I love about ... well pretty much everything I've seen on this site ... is the great stuff you can do with odd bits and pieces and a little bit of ingenuity. There's nothing quite like the satisfaction you can get from making something unique with your own two hands.
It really has to be a laser printer. The aim is to get the toner from the laser printer onto the part so it will act as a mask. Inkjet won't work for a couple of reasons. Inkjet ink is nowhere near resilient enough to act as a mask, and I don't know of a way to get it to transfer onto the workpiece.
The really nice thing about laser printer toner is that it's basically a powdered plastic material with some colouring compound (quite often black carbon) in it. By heating the toner you make it melt, and if it's pressed up against something, it will stick.
There are a number of methods to get the toner onto your workpiece, using all sorts of media such as ordinary paper, overhead transparency film, inkjet photo paper and even printing directly onto the thing you want to etch! Just search for "etch" or "Printed Circuit" and you will find lots of them.
I much prefer using the label backing paper because it doesn't stick to the toner very well. It sticks well enough to print on, but not well enough to glue the paper to the workpiece. I have tried most of the other methods but I've had teh best results with this one.