Stop using Ferric Chloride etchant! (A better etching solution.)

Step 6 Alternative (overly-complex) Method: Make Cupric Chloride Faster.

When I originally started trying to make Cupric Chloride etchant, I hadn't thought of just using the regular procedure of etching to get there. So I deliberately dissolved a bunch of copper from a wire.

I don't think it's a particularly good idea, but here's how I got to the end-stage etchant faster.

I mixed the acid/peroxide 1:1 instead of 1:2. The idea was to have a bunch of acid leftover for later regeneration. I don't think it's a good idea, and I wouldn't do it again. 1:2 is probably better, and results in more copper in solution faster with less fuming.

To control the fumes, I used the patent-pending (just kidding) Two-Pint-Glass Fume-Containment-Apparatus. Pour in the peroxide, add the copper, then put one glass on top of the other. Pour the acid down through a small gap between the two glasses and re-seal. Voila. No fumes. (See video. I think I did it with water as an example.)

I also kick-started the formation of cupric chloride by first making copper oxide, which turns to cupric chloride just in the presence of acid alone. This isn't necessary at all, but it was fun. Heat up a coil of copper wire on the stove to red-hot and you get a flakey coating of copper oxide.

Otherwise, it's basically the previous procedure, so just see the pics for notes. I wouldn't recommend it anyway. The less copper you dissolve, the less copper needs to be (eventually?) disposed of, and the acid/peroxide etchant is plenty easy to use.

The two-cup technique is cute. I still recommend it.

Comments

[Lectric Wizard]

That should read " electro-plate other projects"

[Lectric Wizard]

GREAT IDEA !!! I thought there had to be a simpler way than that used in the other instructable you mentioned. I was wondering if you could use the used solution to copper plate other projects ... that would be real recycling !! Thanks for the Instructable !

[M2Field]

To reclaim copper from "spent" solution and make the product disposable, just add excess aluminum. Foil, cans, scrap metal...

The aluminum is sacrificed to aluminum chloride and the copper is precipitated out as pure copper powder. Filter out, rinse clean and dry. Recycle at nearly $4 a pound.

Hey! At least the spent etchant is now disposable.

[amortenson]

Any idea how I could turn this into usable copper? Was thinking of cuprous oxide photovoltaic panels. I suppose I would need a process to turn the cupric chloride into cuprous oxide and then deposit it on a base material. I was thinking glass.

[bruce5000]

i have only one question for everyone ,im ahobbyest metal worker ( will these work on carbon steel) things like pocket knifes army dog tags excetra THANKS & HELP!!

[elias.alberto]

All this environmental concern about copper and disposal reminded me of something: when you're dealing with copper wires and end up with useless pieces of thin copper wire (about 2 inches long) what do you do to them? Usually I just throw them out with other garbage at the trash bin. Should I throw them in the recycling bin, even if they're wrapped in insulation plastic? What if they're not copper, just an unknown silvery metal?

[static]

Most likely wire with a "silvery" appearance is tinned copper. A wire than "burns green", when a flame is applied to iy the wire has copper content. Why not save copper wire for recycling. How much copper will be worth when you accumulate enough to bother with selling will be unknown, but when you do sell it you will have more in your pocket than you did before you sold it. As another said copper in the land fill is less a problem.

[ancienthart]

Copper metal in landfill is less of a concern, as it's hard to get copper ions off the metal at an appreciable rate. Basically the copper has to corrode, and even then, copper oxide isn't very soluble. Some will get free as soluble copper hydroxide, but a properly managed landfill will be separated from the water table.

[elias.alberto]

Btw I haven't seemed much thankful in my last comment, but I only realized that after I posted. So I'm posting again just to thank you and let you know I appreciate your will to share knowledge. :)

[elias.alberto]

So we won't have many trouble if we throw them out as regular garbage... for now. Nonetheless recycling is a good habit. I've been working in a mining company on my last vacations and the environment people there told me I should throw pieces of copper wire in the "metal" recycling bin. They said something like "the plastic will burn when the metal is melted anyway". But then I had someone else telling me every metal that is not too thick will be shredded and then put in a flotation tank, where dirt (such as the plastic insulation on copper wires) will float. So, you can safely recycle your pieces of wire as metal.

[votecoffee]

The main reason that people strip the wire before recycling is to increase the money they obtain per unit of weight. Pure copper gets a higher price per pound that copper with insulation still on it. If you're not concerned about the money difference, don't bother stripping it. Just determines the recycle grading.

[firehazardjewelry]

thank you. that helped me a lot and makes even better and cleaner etches than the expensive stuff i bought

[shaunak]

I did a little experimentation with the technique, and got to a fast technique. I used 12M (commercial ) HCl with lab gradeHydrogen Peroxide (6% stabilized solution) I mixed them in a 1:1 ratio by volume and added a little water. At these concentrations your first board [6"X4" board!!] will etch in under 60 seconds! Please note 12M acid and 6% peroxide are both very strong concentration and they fume a LOT. Do it in an controlled environment and in small quantities. 25ml acid MAX.

[Estwald]

In the USA 6% Hydrogen Peroxide can be found at many beauty supply shops. It's used for bleaching hair.