etching services?

[CoolJohnny]

i'd love to try to get some of these beautiful enclosure etchings i see in the pictures thread on some of my boxes. problem is, right now i reallky don't have the space and time to do it effectively (small apartment, daughter, cats) i'd rather not keep the chemicals around if i'm only going to be doing a few. is there anybody out there with some experience who would be interested in doing a couple for me based on a design i might come up with (or collaborative) for a few bucks?

[Hides-His-Eyes]

I'm sure there will be, but if not, Futurlec will make you boards using ExpressPCB files.

[alparent]

enclosure etchings

I don't think Futurlec will do enclosures.

Etching PCB's is one thing.......etching an enclosure is another. Usually guys that do etching base the prices on the size of the board. An enclosure is BIG compared to a board. Lost of prep. work and a big risk. (If you screw up a board it's not a big deal......if you screw up an enclosure..... )

I do etch my enclosures and some of the work I see on this forums just makes me drool. But I'm in no way, even close, to being good enough to offer it as a service.

But you never know.........some member are VERY good at etching enclosures.  Good luck.

[Hides-His-Eyes]

enclosure etchings

I don't think Futurlec will do enclosures.

My reading comprehension score: F-

[alparent]

enclosure etchings

I don't think Futurlec will do enclosures.

My reading comprehension score: F-

Just to make you feel better.........I'm french.........and even I got that!  

[CoolJohnny]

thanks everybody. after researching a little bit more ive decided to put off the etching idea and maybe do some kind of transparent decal work myself. got some great ideas in my head, problem is all i have on my PC right now is paint and i don't think that is good enough to render anything clear. on top of that, i don't know how to take the fonts of downloaded and get them in there anyway...i've been making effects (on and off) for ten years now but i've always gone ghetto with my enclosures. totally noob at this. is there a readily available (preferably free) something i can download to get my templates together? any ideas much appreciated...

[tominator]

GIMP, is a fairly powerful free image tool, similar to the $700 Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately it has a fairly steep learning curve, but you can do a lot with it, including setting a custom grid pattern which I found useful in scaling PCB layouts. Something else I've seen used here is Microsoft Photoshop.

GIMP link:
http://www.gimp.org/

[Slade]

enclosure etchings

I don't think Futurlec will do enclosures.

My reading comprehension score: F-

Just to make you feel better.........I'm french.........and even I got that!  

I did too... so Hide-Your-Eyes from here..

[alparent]

I use InkScape. Free and wonderful, very intuitive.

As for clear decals.......I've you considered this? http://www.pulsarprofx.com/DecalPRO/index.html

[CoolJohnny]

wow. thanks all, definitely some stuff to follow up on...

[Kearns892]

Check out Paint.net very similar to photoshop but free of course. I use it for all of mine. Also if you are looking into decals, check out papilio window transparency film. It's not very expensive, real easy to use, and gives good results. You can print it yourself and it is self adhesive.

[CoolJohnny]

thanks for the rec on paint.net. i had no idea about this, downloaded it and already have some good ideas afoot.  though have you imported other fonts?

[darron]

where's the fun in paying someone to make a do-it-ourself pedal for you?


you can have a CNC person do it for as cheap as $10 a unit. i have done this before. then fill it with paint yourself. they will want to work with a vector file to make the routes



if you get some enclosures to me that are already coated i can laser them for you. i am in australia though

[darron]

looks like these guys provide an excellent custom shop service:

http://www.moollon.com/products/customgallery_e.asp

they help you with the artwork and the etching... they will also do the final step and put the circuit in there for you too.