Etched enclosures

[Hexjibber]

OCD (v3) & Death By Audio Fuzz War (v1) in one box, good combo!

[TG Flatline]

OCD (v3) & Death By Audio Fuzz War (v1) in one box, good combo!

Sweet! Love the bigger knobs up top!

[Hexjibber]

Sweet! Love the bigger knobs up top!

Cheers man! I love those Davies 1470's! Sucks that I have to import them though, wish there was a UK based supplier of Davies stuff.

[deadastronaut]

Awesome work man! Is it really for Dweezil Zappa?! Respect!

Aye for Dweezil! Cheers dude!!

how cool is that!... nice one man.

[halcyon]

Hi all,

New to this forum! I just tried doing my first pedal etch, and I've run into a problem. The toner isn't sticking to the enclosure, and this is after I've smoothed it down real nice with 600 sandpaper wet.

I'm following MarkM's tutorial, and ironing for 3 minutes.

It sticks well in some places, but for the most part it doesn't seem to be adhering (see piece of magazine in back). Is this an issue with ironing time? Should I iron for less or more?

I've tried using glossy photo paper and magazines, both with the same result.

[dromilious]

I think your toner is not suitable for the transfer.I had the same problem when i refilled my toner cartrige.I bought a new original samsung toner and everything is cool now.

[guitarmageddon]

I've heard of people having issues with toner brands, though not myself fortunately.
A large enclosure like that will be a significant heat sink, I think I'd give it a bit more time than 3 min.
I use glossy photo paper and it often starts to get brown scorch marks by the time I call it done.
I sit the iron on, leave everything to get good and hot, then thoroughly work it all over in circles, pressing firmly.
Also, try wiping down the box with acetone, they've got to be really clean, grease-free and dry too.

[electrosonic]

I have come up with a slightly different method.

I sand and wipe the surface with acetone.

Then I put my press n peel face with the transfer up in a cast iron pan (cheap from ikea - never used for food so it is grease free) and line up my enclosure on top of the press n peel.

I put a digital meat thermometer probe in the enclosure and weight the enclosure down with another cast iron pan.

I turn the stove on low (about 3 1/2) on my stove and monitor the temperature.

When it gets to 300 degrees (F) I flip the enclosure over in the pan and use a roller to give the transfer a once over and quench it in the sink with cold water.

Not always perfect, I still do some touch ups, but I have better success this way then with an iron.

Andrew.

[jbgron]

I think I got my method from Slade's tutorial but I iron for much longer times, up to 15 minutes for large enclosures and at least 10 minutes for a 1590B.  It's time consuming but I have excellent success doing this and hardly ever need to get out the nail polish.

[ch1naski]

Halcyon, also make sure that you've sanded the enclosure completely FLAT.  Use a straight edge, like a ruler on edge, and lay it across the top.
More often than not, enclosures are higher around the edges, concave.

[deadastronaut]

Those boxes get hot really quick. I only iron briefly really...a minute or so.

[Pettol]

My latest etch - an Echo base.




I know, the guts are not as neat as they should be... I never learn, but it works.



The back is actually not etched. Instead I used UV curing ink. Worked like a charm.

[Mac Walker]

The back is actually not etched. Instead I used UV curing ink. Worked like a charm.

That looks great, what font are you using here?  Tell us more about this UV curing ink method, please!

[Pettol]

Thanks.

I used this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCB-UV-Curing-Paint-Ink-For-Character-Labels-Black-100g-/190655178895?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c63ef288f
(when that link is dead, just search for "PCB UV curing ink" on ebay).

This was my first attempt, so there is probably better ways, but this is how I did it:
1. I painted the areas where the text would go with a thin layer of the ink.
2. The ink was dried at 150 C.
3. I applied a mask - inverted print on transparencies (I used two aligned on top of each other).
4. The box was left in the sun for half an hour.
5. I finally wiped off the unexposed ink with ethanol.

I'm surprised how hard the text adheres.

[Pettol]

And oh, the font is Century gothic, with the 'j' and 'd' tweaked a bit.

[deadastronaut]

^ nice build..

cool lettering process too...very neat..

[ch1naski]

Pettol, I'm not sure I understand the process. The ink will etch when exposed to sunlight?  No acid involved?

[electricgrave]

Those boxes get hot really quick. I only iron briefly really...a minute or so.

I guess it depends on the iron (and may be toner) you use. I had to do it at least 15 minutes.

[Pettol]

@deadastro, Thanks.

@ch1naski, there's no etching involved with that ink. I used it only on the backside to test the technique.
The top is etched with pnp blue and NaOH. However that ink can be used for touch ups and masking for alkaline etching.

[glops]

My latest etch - an Echo base.




I know, the guts are not as neat as they should be... I never learn, but it works.



The back is actually not etched. Instead I used UV curing ink. Worked like a charm.

Beauty!!!