Etched enclosures

[tasos]

Come on!
Tell us more about the accident!

[Earthscum]

@pakrat: The tip of his gun is crooked. I hate it when I slam the end of my gun in a door. 

(just joking, of course  )

[pakrat]

Hah! It would be nice if I could find a crooked led to put in there.....

[jwar]

So not a completely finished pedal, but I'm pretty proud of this etch. My cousin LOVES Donald Trump...yea...seriously. So he asked me to put a super fuzz in this huge box for him with this design. God I hope Trump doesn't find this and sue me. hahah...seriously.




the acid got on the inside of the box a little bit!!!!!

[pakrat]

He wouldn't sue you, he would just want you to pay a fee every time the pedal is used. Nice etch!

[texstrat]

Here is my version of the Omega Treble Booster. This is my first attempt to etch an enclosure. Not great, but not too bad for a start:

[guitarmageddon]

The Zappagizer


Codtone Bass Fuzz


Gnome Bender

[pakrat]

The Omega looks very nice Tex, especially for your first try!

[pakrat]

I also like that Gnome Bender a lot, it has a nice vintage look to it.

[hardstatic]

Etched backplate.  The black color is the remaining laser toner from the mask.  I thought it looked cool so I left it.

[jwar]

What do you all use for transfers? It seems like pnp only works like half the time for me.

[hardstatic]

What do you all use for transfers? It seems like pnp only works like half the time for me.

I use this stuff from the Dollar Tree.  $1.00 for eight sheets and it works so good I almost feel like i'm cheating.  My printer is a standard HP LASERJET (not Inkjet) and I print at 1200 DPI.  I've tried Press N Peel, expensive photo paper, magazine paper, etc.  The PNP worked pretty well, but at $2.00/sheet it's cost prohibitive.



I also started using one of these gizmos during the ironing process - allows me to lay off the iron a bit and keep the missus from yelling at me:

[.Mike]

What do you all use for transfers? It seems like pnp only works like half the time for me.

I use dollar store photo paper. 8 sheets for a buck at the Dollar Tree. It's listed as being for inkjet printers, and they always have it in stock. I have checked multiple stores, and they all had it.

Edit: It's the exact stuff that hardstatic posted above.

You an also use magazine paper. That should really be catalog and flyer paper, though, since most magazines use paper that is higher quality than necessary. You want something cheap-- music catalogs, flyers, or other assorted junk mail.

Another edit: By the way, prep is the key. The best transfer mediums are no match for a flat iron and a curved enclosure.

Mike

[mremic01]

I've had very good luck with Tayda's 1590Bs without any real prep. I rub the enclosure down with some alcohol just to get any dirt off of it, but I don't sand them. I've done maybe 10-15 so far and the only one that gave me any problems had a bit of a lumpy surface, the I eventually got the toner to stick without sanding. I also got a few 1590DDs from 4site that came pre-sanded. I was not happy about that. Now I have to sand them with a finer grit because the tone doesn't want to stick to them.

[guitarmageddon]

I've had very good luck with Tayda's 1590Bs without any real prep.

+1
They seem to work for me too.

[jwar]

Thanks guys! I did another etch last night, but ended creating my own design with a paint pen. Did it more out of frustation than anything. I wanted to etch something damn it! It turned out really well! I used what I had left of my Ferric Chloride, which I love btw. I also bought some of those sheet from Dollar Tree! hahah! You were right they are easy to find! Hopefully they work good, we'll find out soon. I'll post pics of my etch after I've painted it and filled the box.

[mremic01]

Thanks guys! I did another etch last night, but ended creating my own design with a paint pen. Did it more out of frustation than anything. I wanted to etch something damn it! It turned out really well! I used what I had left of my Ferric Chloride, which I love btw. I also bought some of those sheet from Dollar Tree! hahah! You were right they are easy to find! Hopefully they work good, we'll find out soon. I'll post pics of my etch after I've painted it and filled the box.

Remember, you can use ferric chloride multiple times. I've been reusing the same bottle for awhile now, and it's gotten a little slower but it still works fine. It smells a lot worse and is a lot murkier too.

[jwar]

That stuff worked like a charm!!!!!!!! Thanks so much guys! God so much easier than PNP!

Here's the end result of my etch. Turned out pretty good IMO.

[guitarmageddon]

Nice one!
Welcome to the Dark Side. 

[poppyman]

Hello everyone !

Here are my last etched enclosures.

I've been trying etched enclosures for a few years now and I really fell in love with nico fx work. IMHO, his boxes are the most gorgeous around for their perfect look and the choice of his artwork.

I tried to inspire myself from his reversed etched boxes and despite a lot of care, I ended up really far from the result I expected :/
Could anyone tell me what went wrong?

Here's what I did: I sanded the boxes really flat with an electric sander. Transfered my artwork with PnP and etched with ferric chloride.Got a nice looking deep etch. I cleaned the boxes, drilled them and sprayed them with lacquer paint. Then, I sanded them with 800 sandpaper with a block and that was when it started to get ruined (see pics below) the edges lost all the paint before the center of the pedal and a goey dark dirt appeared while sanding  on the "clean" paint.

I did a "positive etch" with the same batch, fortunately this one looks much cleaner.

Could it be the vise I used while drilling that made the box not flat anymore? Or the little nail mark I do to center my drillings? Is a 800-grade sand paper too strong?

Thanks in advance.

Syl

GGG alembic booster


GGG jordan bosstone



Red Llama waiting for its guts