mustah bin dun B4,new top deco

[sean k]

http://photobucket.com/albums/y115/quickkiwi/?action=view&current=etch.jpg

Okay,the photos way bad but it was done using ferric chloride after drawung a picture,in solvent based pen,on the top then wrapping the sides with masking tape,to create a fence to allow a pool on the top,then leaving for about 5-10 mins.My Ferric is way old and may have the reason it took so long or may the alloy is such that the stuffs not so bitey.Anyways,for anyone who wanted to have a go,the idea would be to polish the top before the artworks put on and the go to it...,and ,of course,I'm sure the print and peel stuf will work fine for this.Then maybe even rub in some paint to finish and repolish.

[Dan N]

Very cool! Looks like you are going with slider pots.

Please let us see how it looks when finished!

[Fret Wire]

Sean, great idea! That was an aluminum box, right? Here's an idea from left field, but it would work. Since it didn't appear to act too harshly or quickly on the alloy, you could polish a box as you did. Then copper plate the box. Then using pnp blue or a sharpie, add your graphic design. Then use Ferric to remove the copper plate, which with most home electro-plating kits would be a thin coating. Then lightly re-polish, and you would have shiney aluminum with copper graphics. Then clearcoat to prevent oxidation.

Btw, nice artwork.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

very cool.

did this take much more than 10 minutes? if not, how do you do it?  :lol:

[sean k]

Yeah,well I guess the possibilities are reasonably endless if one adds plating to the mix,including chrome,because the print'n'peel and the solvent ink would both,hopefully,create a mask for the electroplate process.My take on that would be to draw and etch as I have,but with  wider strokes,as it were, then electroplate in copper.Then redraw a design over the most of the top covering completely the etched out area,so it stays copper,and leaving fine lines over the previously unetched area,then etch again, which would leave me with a fine copper tracery over alloy and the backrounds in copper.The next step would be to black out all the design and most of the etched background except for some fine designs on that and the get it chromed or nickel plated.WHALAH!drawing in two shades,alloy with copper tracery,and two tone background of copper with nickel tracery.So its just a matter of applying screen printing theory to etching and electroplating.All kinds of things could be done given the print'n'peel and the solvent pens stay on during the electroplating process.

[nelson]

Are the etched areas deep enough to use the old modelling technique of "dry brushing" that would add a nice effect. Alot simpler than electro plating and alot less nasty.

Box looks really nice btw.

[Fret Wire]

What I liked about your idea was adding copper graphics on a plain box. For nickel and gold plating, I already worked out simple solutions to adding copper plated graphics on a nickel box, and both copper and nickel graphics on a gold box. My method wouldn't work so well with just copper graphics on a plain box, as an aluminum box has to be zinc coated first before you can plate it. Copper is always used for a base when nickel or gold plating. And gold requires nickel over the copper.

[sean k]

Yup,I didn't etch very deep and should've polished the top first but filling the etched areas with paint should work nice if you etch deep enough and polish under the printed area well as paint won't adhere very well to a polished surface.An interesting feature that could also be used is the fact I used pencil originally and some of it was still in the areas that were etched and the graphite did something with the ferric chloride that is also usable because its slightly darker than the directly etched alloy.It could be used alongside any blackout to serve to darken the edges of the etched areas and so make the unetched parts contrast better.
As for electroplating I wasn't even thinking whether or not the box was compatible though I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to get copper to adhere to the aluminium mix this alloy is.It sure ain't aluminium by itself as its very easily cut and I'd tend to think ther'd be quite alot of zinc in there but I don't know.
Oh,and the beauty of fretwires idea of polishing then plating in copper means the Ammonium persulphate(?) stuff could be used as it would stop at the alloy and wouldn't etch that at all.