Make your own Embossed Business Cards using Acid Etching

Step 5 I am iron man.

The next part will be familiar to you if you've ever printed a circuit board. After your plate is cleaned to shiny perfection, and you've inspected your printout, it's time to adhere them together with prodigious heat. Tape the corners of the page to your brass sheet to hold it while you iron. Take special care on this step, you only have the one chance to iron this on right. Find a heat proof spot to work, such as a wooden work bench, or the concrete steps on your back porch, or an old wooden cutting board. Plug in the iron and get it ripping hot. Start pressing the iron down on the page, starting in the center, and working out. I took about five minutes to do this page, leaving the iron on one spot while pressing down, and then moving to the edges. What's happening is that the ink melts, and adheres to the board under the heat of the iron. When the paper is soaked, the paper lifts away, and the ink remains.

For another look at this method, take a look at dear Mr. VonSlatt's webpage.

Comments

[TANZMEISTER]

Have you tried putting a sheet of metal over the top, then ironing the metal? In highschool printmaking we transferred images onto wood this way. A piece of 1mm(19 guage) or so sheet steel, a bit bigger than the transfer, clamped at the corners. Heat the whole thing up (we used big cast iron skillets filled with hot rocks. If you try this use 2 hot pads on each handle)

[lancapd]

i am not sure if this will work, but if you don't need the heat to transfer the image, you might be able to use acetone/fingernail polish remover to transfer the image. once i get some space to work, i will try it and let you know if it works or not. great post!

[smurfsahoy]

I've tried this soooo many times to make brass custom keyboard keys. Every time, I get something that looks just like what you have up there, with the little wrinkles in areas without much ink, and the ink sticks perfectly well. The problem is that when I take off the paper, the pattern, though dark, and nicely printed onto the brass, is really warped in shape and distorted due to the wrinkles that formed. Did you by any chance try any business card patterns that weren't so fully black colored? If so, did it work as well? Other people? I am very confused why this never works.

[bofthem]

There doesn't seem to be much you can do to prevent the warping caused by the iron heat. But I would suggest that if you're working with isolated details, like keyboard keys, you break up the image into smaller chunks. If you cut up the pattern, it has a better chance of distorting along the edges while keeping the majority of the image true. It seems that printing 8.5"x11" in one chunk is stretching the limits of what you can do on a brass sheet without a more sophisticated setup. I tried this a few times, before, and smaller images, or smaller pieces of paper seem to make the difference.

Would you mind mailing me about the keyboard key project you've been trying? I think I might be able to give you some help.

[staggerwing88]

Your instructable showed up like magic and at the right time! I've worn out my google looking for a cost-effective etching service- -results never scratched the surface. I just purchased 6 feet of brass stock, echtant and am ready to tool up and go for it . Feeling positive, staggerwing88

[bofthem]

Best of luck! Please mail me if you need help. Tutorials have an infuriating way of getting one excited for a new project, and then do all sorts of nasty things once one has gotten into their grey panel van.

[ll0ll]

In the UK we have stuff called "Dylon Image Maker" which "transfers images onto fabric in 3 easy stages" Basically, you photocopy an image and paint this stuff onto the paper basiccally it dissolves the paper, leaving the photocopyed image in place. I wonder if its worth trying this on brass? Saves having to use an iron, which could solve the problem of the warping? (Search ebay for this stuff) As far as I know it doesnt work with printer ink, only photocopys so that might mean it won't be any good in this situation, but I thought it might help you guys.

[Tinker83]

couldnt you use something similar to a waffle press to lay down even pressure and heating when you put your pattern to the plate?

[bofthem]

that would probably not be able to provide enough pressure. If I'm pressing with most of my weight on an iron that takes up one fourth of the plate, I and three friends will have to sit on a waffle press to get the same results. Something like a hot roller, like the ones found in copy machines, though, would be a great thing .

[smurfsahoy]

I guess a question more to the point is, when you say "spot checking," how did you go back over those spot checking areas with bubbles without having the paper go back down somewhere different than where it started in the process, due to having distorted into a bubble and lifted up first?

[bofthem]

When hot, the paper seems to have a bit of give to it. It seems like there must have been some distortion, to account for the fact that bubbles formed within the pattern, and then were knocked flat by successive ironings. But I honestly didn't notice significant warping in the finished form. The major lines matched with my templates fine. The most pronounced effect was on a smaller level, where the small details, although fine overall, had a slight warble to them. The line widths of the center logo varied on a lot of the cards.

[zohair]

This is by far the hardest part in any toner transfer etch method. Can you tell me how long it usually takes to get the toner completely onto the brass?

[bofthem]

It took literally five minutes of ironing. I let it sit to cool. And then I spent maybe another ten on spot checking, and hitting little spots with the tip of the iron.

[zohair]

That is fast. Does the weight of the iron affect the output?

[bofthem]

Actually, I was pressing down pretty hard. I think that giving it a lot of elbow grease gives you much better holding.