Getting better results when enclosure etching

[xorophone]

Hello! I tried enclosure etching for the first time today. It turned out pretty good, but the toner didn't do a very good job protecting the enclosure. My etching solution (hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide) made small dots and lines where the black printer toner was. On the rest of the enclosure I used nail polish and electrical tape as protection and that worked perfectly.

My guess is that the toner wasn't transferred well enough (I could see a few small dots in it even before etching). I used toner transfer paper and an iron, which works very well for PCB's, but on the aluminium enclosure it was a lot harder to peel off and took some of the toner with it. I'm considering trying a heatless toner transfer method, like the acetone + ethyl alcohol one. I think that would make it easier to line up the graphics with the enclosure too. Do you think that will give me a better result? Do you have any other tips? Can isopropanol be used instead of ethyl alcohol?  Also, will normal printer paper work or do I have to get some kind of shiny paper? Maybe the toner transfer paper will be good even for the heatless transfer method?

Lastly, I have to tell you how much more fun enclosure etching is than PCB etching. When etching circuit boards nothing interesting happens and it takes a long time, but the enclosure changed color, smoked and sizzled.

[xorophone]

A small update to bump the thread.

I've tried just about everything now, but I can't get the toner stick to the enclosure in a nice way. I tried the heatless transfer method with both normal printer paper and toner transfer paper, but the toner doesn't come off the paper at all. I also tried ironing on the graphics using some toner transfer paper, but most of the toner came off with the paper.

Can somebody please help me? Should I try getting some glossy photo paper like the one used in deadastronauts tutorial? (  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cg4UoS6ecY )

[stringsthings]

Here's a really good tutorial on enclosure etching:

http://music.codydeschenes.com/?page_id=2035

One tip:  Use a sanding block to sand the enclosure before the toner transfer.  This gives a nice, flat surface
to the enclosure which helps in the toner transfer.  I use an inexpensive block from walmart.

[Marcos - Munky]

I'm not an enclosure etch expert, but to me here's a few things that works:

- iron transfer method works better than heatless transfer method, at least to me. I just use acetone for the heatless method, and prefer to use it for boards, while I use the iron method for the enclosures.
- use glossy paper and set the printer to the best quality as possible. Try different brands of paper, some are better than others.
- in a brazilian forum, somebody told me he do a "force cooldown" when he uses the iron method to transfer toner to the boards. He just pick the board and put it into the freezer for a few minutes, just enough to cool the board. I tried this with the enclosures, and I don't know if it's just my imagination but I think it helps on the tone transfer. Be careful if you try this, the enclosure gets way hot and you need to use something to grab it.
- to remove the paper, I use warm water. I heat some water in a pan, drop the enclosure inside and carefully rubber the paper until it gets removed. If you try this, you need to control the water's temperature, so it doesn't get hot for the hand. In my experiences, the toner isn't removed when I removed the paper. An alternative is to bring the enclosure with you when you're going to the shower, set the shower to warm/hot water and slowly remove the paper at the same time you're taking a bath (I do it almost all of the time when I do a tone transfer  ).
- always use an old/weak etching solution. Aluminium etching is more, let's say, "violent" than copper etching (and as you stated, funnier  ). If you use a new/strong solution, it will heat up the aluminium so much the toner won't protect the enclosure. I keep a bottle of used ferric chloride and use it to etch the enclosures.
- do not dip the enclosure in the solution for too much time. I dip it for a few seconds, until the enclosure starts to get hot, and remove it. Then I wash it, wait a few seconds, and dip it again.

Like I said, I'm no expert, but maybe these tips can help you.

[jfrabat]

I have not yet tried to do etching for enclosures, but one trick that works for me is to use label paper.  Just throw away the labels and print on the glossy paper underneath.  It peels easier than the photo paper and all others I have tried...

[xorophone]

Here's a really good tutorial on enclosure etching:

http://music.codydeschenes.com/?page_id=2035

One tip:  Use a sanding block to sand the enclosure before the toner transfer.  This gives a nice, flat surface
to the enclosure which helps in the toner transfer.  I use an inexpensive block from walmart.

Thank you! I used a sanding block to sand it, but I'll make sure it's completely flat before trying again. Didn't really spend much time on that part.

I'm not an enclosure etch expert, but to me here's a few things that works:

- iron transfer method works better than heatless transfer method, at least to me. I just use acetone for the heatless method, and prefer to use it for boards, while I use the iron method for the enclosures.
- use glossy paper and set the printer to the best quality as possible. Try different brands of paper, some are better than others.
- in a brazilian forum, somebody told me he do a "force cooldown" when he uses the iron method to transfer toner to the boards. He just pick the board and put it into the freezer for a few minutes, just enough to cool the board. I tried this with the enclosures, and I don't know if it's just my imagination but I think it helps on the tone transfer. Be careful if you try this, the enclosure gets way hot and you need to use something to grab it.
- to remove the paper, I use warm water. I heat some water in a pan, drop the enclosure inside and carefully rubber the paper until it gets removed. If you try this, you need to control the water's temperature, so it doesn't get hot for the hand. In my experiences, the toner isn't removed when I removed the paper. An alternative is to bring the enclosure with you when you're going to the shower, set the shower to warm/hot water and slowly remove the paper at the same time you're taking a bath (I do it almost all of the time when I do a tone transfer  ).
- always use an old/weak etching solution. Aluminium etching is more, let's say, "violent" than copper etching (and as you stated, funnier  ). If you use a new/strong solution, it will heat up the aluminium so much the toner won't protect the enclosure. I keep a bottle of used ferric chloride and use it to etch the enclosures.
- do not dip the enclosure in the solution for too much time. I dip it for a few seconds, until the enclosure starts to get hot, and remove it. Then I wash it, wait a few seconds, and dip it again.

Like I said, I'm no expert, but maybe these tips can help you.

Thank you for the tips!

I'll buy some glossy paper and try using that for the transfer.

- do not dip the enclosure in the solution for too much time. I dip it for a few seconds, until the enclosure starts to get hot, and remove it. Then I wash it, wait a few seconds, and dip it again.

Do you actually rinse it with water after dipping it the first time? If so, do you only do that the first time or between every "dip"? I guess you'd have to dry it with a paper towel or something after washing it too.

[xorophone]

I have not yet tried to do etching for enclosures, but one trick that works for me is to use label paper.  Just throw away the labels and print on the glossy paper underneath.  It peels easier than the photo paper and all others I have tried...

Good idea! I'll have to try that sometime.

[Marcos - Munky]

- do not dip the enclosure in the solution for too much time. I dip it for a few seconds, until the enclosure starts to get hot, and remove it. Then I wash it, wait a few seconds, and dip it again.

Do you actually rinse it with water after dipping it the first time? If so, do you only do that the first time or between every "dip"? I guess you'd have to dry it with a paper towel or something after washing it too.

I rinse with water between every dip. If you watch the video on the tutorial David posted, I do basically the same thing but rinsing the enclosure with water instead of dipping it in a container with water. The reason is the same as stated on Cody's tutorial. I don't dry the enclosure in between the etching, I just do a quick rinse and dip it again on the solution. After your etching is done, you need to do a good rinse with water, so you can remove all the solution from the enclosure.

[xorophone]

After a lot of trying I finally got a result I'm satisfied with! When applying the toner I used glossy photo paper and the trick was to really press down hard on the paper using the tip of the iron. When the toner is visible through the paper, you know it's on the enclosure. I also tried putting the enclosure in the freezer for a while after transfering the toner, like Marcos suggested. I really don't know if it made a difference or not, but I'm probably going to continue doing it anyway. When I covered the exposed aluminium with nail polish I also tried to cover as much of the black toner as possible, because my chemicals seem to eat through the toner and make lines all over the enclosure otherwise. As you can see on the picture below, there's lines around the etched graphics. This was not intentional. That's where I didn't put any nail polish and just used the toner as "protection". If anyone has any ideas on how to get rid of this, I'd love to hear them. In this case I think it looked pretty cool, but I want to have more control over it.

I etched two enclosures. The first one I wasn't happy with because I didn't etch it deep enough. When I sprayed it with some paint and tried to sand away the paint on the rest of the enclosure (leaving it in the etched areas), the "Boneyard"-text was in level with the rest of the enclosure and got sanded away too. It seems like bigger areas need more time than the small details. I honestly thought it would be the other way around. The first time I etched, I etched it for 20 minutes. The second time (the etch that's shown on the picture below), I etched it for 40 minutes instead. I think 40 minutes was a bit too long, but the time will of course vary depending on how strong the solution is. A very useful tip is to brush away dead metal and orange rust looking residue a few times in some water during the etching process. This will expose new aluminium to etch and it will get a lot deeper, a lot faster.

After etching I sprayed it with some matte black paint, sanded the enclosure and sprayed it with 2 layers of acrylic clear coat. I'm really happy with the results, but there are of course some defects I'll have to learn how to avoid.



What do you guys think? Obviously it isn't perfect, but it's got personality.

Sorry for the weird lighting and reflections in the picture. It was really hard to snap a good photo of it. The circuit is a Madbean Boneyard from Etcher's Paradise by the way. It sounds great, but I'm having some problems with self-oscillation that I'll have to look into.

Thanks for all the help! 

[stringsthings]

Very nice etch!

[xorophone]

Very nice etch!

Thank you!

[jfrabat]

I like it.  And even with the small defects around the etching, I think it is very nice looking (I think those "errors" give it character, considering the image).

[xorophone]

I like it.  And even with the small defects around the etching, I think it is very nice looking (I think those "errors" give it character, considering the image).

Thank you! Yes, it worked well with this design. It of course looks even better from a distance. The only thing that concerns me is that some text might turn out unreadable. Look at the "Crunch"-text for example. The C looks a bit like a G and the U and N are connected. On even smaller texts (like my name under the 3pdt, which isn't visible on the picture) it becomes a big problem.