etching brass with nail polish, a laxxxor, HCL and H2O2

After a number of exciting experiments I’ve got a good brass etching system set up. I started out trying to use acrylic paint as a mask, but it doesn’t adhere to the brass very well. I tried several other things and finally ended up with nail polish, which works perfectly! I’m using the etching solution detailed at: http://www.instructables.com/id/Stop-using-Ferric-Chloride-etchant!–A-better-etc


the process I’m using:


* clean brass thoroughly

* coat both sides of the brass sheet with nail polish, let dry

* use lazer to burn off unwanted nail polish, exposing brass where the image should be etched

* submerge in HCL + H2O2 bath for several minutes

* rinse in tap water

* remove nail polish with acetone

* wheee!


Some early test results using the NegFi logo:


negfi_with_resist.jpg

top two are after etching with white nail polish and clear nailpolish as resist

bottom two were done with acrylic paint as resist (resist already removed)

 

negfi_finished.jpg

same, but with resist removed

 

negfi_whitenailpolish.jpg

this one used white nail polish. the scratches are from me agitating it in the etchant. whoops.

 

negfi_clearnailpolish.jpg

this one used clear nail polish. doesn’t seem to be any difference. white is easier to see though!

 

negfi_back.jpg

the back of the brass sheet. you can see where I missed some spots with the clear nail polish…

 

otter_fire.jpg

I wanted to see if I could etch all the way through a very thin brass sheet. I had the laser cranked up too high when I burned off the resist and it caught fire!

It tunrs out the laser can cut through very thin brass sheets, so etching them probably isn’t needed.

 

otter_etched.jpg

I tried again with a lower laser setting, and it worked fine.

 

Next I’m going to try some larger, more complex images. So far it’s lots of fun and much easier than I was expecting!

 

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