How To Etch in Steel With Stuff You Already Have Electro Etch
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- Опубликовано: 17 авг 2022
- 9V battery: amzn.to/3PA2imn
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Vinyl Sheets: amzn.to/3CdUOlM
Adhesive Backing: amzn.to/3CnUVLA
Etching steel is very easy and can be done with things that are already in your shop or house. electro etching with a 9V battery is both safe and effective. and can be done in a few minutes. S,o let's take a look at how to etch a saw with a 9V battery.
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If available, it is also good practice to go over the vinyl stencil with a heat gun after you remove the clear transfer tape- especially if the surface is curved. It softens the vinyl making it easier to form to the surface, helps remove bubbles, and strengthens the adhesion to keep a sharp image.
My catalytic converter has been waiting for this video.
This is exactly the video I was looking for. We want to engrave a handful of medals for our sports banquet. So happy to watch a video that isn't trying to sell me something!
I like your style, friend. Thanks for keeping things simple, real, and thrifty.
Great results from a simple technique. Thank you.
You make it look easy! Opens up some interesting possibilities.
Thanks.
I love your video, the way you presented is great! Now i need to get my wife the stencil cutter she has wanted😂
Worth EVERY penny!! Love love mind!
I haven't finished the video yet, but if you need a small quantity of vinyl sticker for a template cut out, buy a cheap bumper sticker. It works great.
Thank you for the video. What an easy way to personalize a metal surface. I always find your videos informative and entertaining. Keep up the good work!
My wife just got a circut! This is perfect timing. I'll add this to my list of projects inspired by James. Keep up the great content!
I love that I keep finding new videos that you have made. I always wanted to etch a plane or saws. Keep up the great work
Great stuff! Never would have guessed it would be that easy! Gotta try it! Thanks much!
Wow! What timing. Just yesterday I was thinking how would I etch a sawplate as I've got a few of those cheap S&J saws waiting to be retoothed and tuned up. This is much easier than what I had in mind! Looking forward to the next episode of Steel by Wright.
Very slick. Thanks, James.
Thrift stores have all kinds of chargers for phones and other devices. They only cost a couple of dollars, and you can easily add alligator clips for leads.
If you use DC current, it works well. If you can get a charger that outputs low voltage AC current, it will also work, but it sort of birns the metal where it is being etched, leaving behind a black surface where the metal is etched away. It actually looks nice, and it is permanant.
Thanks for sharing this cool technique
"Snide remark" Thanx for the recognition. ;) Great how-to.
This was AWESOME. Thank you so so much for this! I want to etch a design on my throwing axe head, but don't have tools to do so. This was absolutely perfect!
I remember Chris Fix did this to tools. He etched sizes on sockets and put his logo on wrenches. He used a car battery charger, decals, and I think he used vinegar instead of salt water. Turned out really good. He laid down the decals, covered them in nail polish, and picked out the decals.
Genius! Thanks for the tips!
This is amazing! I am totally doing this.
Ooooo. Science-y stuff. My wife is a crafter with a Cricut. They also make an etching cream that will etch on glass using the same stencil method. This is cool and I'll have to try it. 😁
Informative and interesting as usual. Keep up the great work.
Very cool project. Amazing how we forget our high school science class projects or old school project kits from the 60's, 70's & 80's
well that looks like something i could do thanks James
Very cool! Thanks James!
That looks awesome. I like science stuff. I wish my dad was living still he was a science teacher...he always liked stuff like this
wow this was an amazing how to video. Thank you so much.
I had to mark individual serial numbers onto the inside face of a large number of piston rings and had to find a way of marking them in a way that would not change them but that would survive 500 hours in an engine.
I did a lot of research and found a process called Bordeaux Etch that is almost the same as what you've done here but with the difference that it use Copper Sulphate solution, rather than salt, and a flat Copper electrode. The resulting etch is dark and, as you said, can be deep if you have time and or higher current. I use a 12 Volt bench supply as my power source and shellac knotting solution for the etch mask. My partner, she of the neat handwriting, use a needle to scratch the numbers through the shellac.
Things to watch: if the power is too high or you spend too long in one spot enough heat builds up to soften the shellac and give a less than clean edged etch. Keep cleaning (by dabbing with an absorbent cloth) the gunk that forms as you etch. It gets in the way of the etching process and is effectively 'spent' so adds nothing to the process.
Using Copper Sulphate and a Copper electrode lead to a little Copper plating in the etch on some of the trial pieces I was playing with. I believe, if you can obtain it, that a Potassium Permanganate solution gives a really black etch on steel.
Thumbs up. Thanks this sounds perfect for my needs. Well done video
That's so cool ! And looks neat with a stencil. I suppose as long as it can conduct electricity you can electro-etch on it
Wow, what a great thrifty tutorial. Another thing to check out for the stencil if you are attempting finer detail then the vinyl can achieve is called Press and Peel Blue transfer film, used in the creation of copper circuit boards. it's an inkjet printed, iron on stencil that can handle very fine details. Just something else to check out! Thank you
Excellent video. Really appreciate it.
Awesome tutorial brother! Cheers!
I personally use an old DC power brick instead of a battery. I think that the voltage is even lower (~1.5-3v) because it takes a while. And I have cut my own stencils from black electrical tape.
Ok!! I absolutely love that t shirt!!! 🤣😂🤣❤️
Great video! I really appreciate this.
Thanks Jon. and congrats on First!
Fantastic 👏 👏 👏
That is super cool!
Surprisingly, Japan varnish is used as a masking agent in jewelry etching and would work here as well. It is not the same as traditional japanning but is varnish mixed with asphaltum. Nice work and great results.
⁹ppp1
This method can also be used with gun bluing. Thank you for the video brother 👍
Really cool!
How cool is that!!!! ❤️
That was neat... thanks
Rio Grande sells gold solution that yiu can do this same process with as well. Great job in making this a simple process for people that do not have a rectifier at home.!!!!
Thank you. Subbed
Great video James. An even cheaper way to make a stencil is to use a laser printer paper transfer. There are you tube videos on how to do it.
To blacken your etching, keep the stencil on, wash the salt off and dab on some ferric chloride (also used for etching printed circuit boards). It leaves a great black finish in the etched bits. Be careful to not spill it on other parts of the metal.
I use an old model train transformer with AC/DC connectors in lieu of the 9v battery. AC gives you a darker color etch and DC gives you a deeper etch (or it could be the opposite, can't remember). In lieu of a Q tip I use a wired brass bolt with cotton cleaning patches as the salt solution holder. Windex w/ammonia is my cleaner of choice.
Interesting technique 👍
Alternatively, you can get a 9v battery connector by ripping off the top of a used 9v battery 😋
Very nice! Thank you for your video. I want to work with aluminum and steel using the bath method, but I'm not sure what metal or wire to use for the negative side. I appreciate any help you can give me with this. Thank you.
I’ve learned quite a lot from you and it’s kinda cool that I get to return the favor in some small way. Before I ever got into woodworking I was doing electronics, particularly music related stuff. Building my own stomp boxes and guitar amps. Anyway etching stomp boxes is a big thing. This may be impractical for something as big as a saw blade, but when it comes to something smaller like a plane blade, I think you’ll much prefer to results from acid etching instead of electro etching. Acid etching will be deeper and more uniform and in my experience has better definition. The problem with electro etching is that it’ll never be uniform. Acid will work more evenly and you can stop the etching instantly with something like baking soda dissolved in water. Acid also works pretty quickly once you get it dialed in right. I’ve done a lot of etching of home made PCBs using copper board and ferric chloride. Not sure off hand what would be ideal for steal, stomp boxes are cast aluminum. Regardless, make sure to vent things or even better do it outside. Keep making awesome content. Just got me a set of Narex Richters!
How about making a small, shallow "tank" using tape just where the stencil is? You would have to mask of the rest of the work piece to avoid stains when tipping it out when you are done.
that is very true, but today i was trying to show a cheap and simper way of doing it. there are many big benefits to acid. that is how I normally do it. in this video I wanted to just show a very cheap and easy way that people can do it with things they already have on hand.
@@pettere8429 This is a really nice way to go. Personally, I prefer either hot melt glue or caulk, but you can make tape work.
Thanks for this !! I Was surprised it's just salt water (not dangerous acid) I would use an (Adjustable) power supply set to 9 or 12v (But that's just me) .. Again Thanks. 👍👍👍👍
Can’t see it because of the eyes but it sounded pretty good. My Blind club owns a cricket cutting machine so deafly come up with a quirky sign for my garage using an old soul I see how we get on great video though
That's Amazing nice
instead of using q-tips, pull apart an old felt-tip marker and use a small screw to attach the lead to the back of the felt tip. if it's a big enough marker you can even stick an 18650 li-ion battery in it and connect the other lead to the back end of the marker rather than using an external battery.
I didn't even know those cute baby vinyl cutters existed
so cool
Awesome
Thanks for the video. I'm just wondering where you get your saw blank material? I would like to try this
I got it from Blackburn tool works. But you can buy blank plates of 1095 spring steel.
very nice!
Have you tried Boric Acid? It is readily available at the pharmacy.
I like the other comments to use a wall wart power adapter... That is what I use, 12v 1.5A(I think). I dont think the polarity matters as much for etching as it does for plating.
Use the cotton swab as long as possible, the black goo is carbon and/or metal oxides and seems to help the process, albeit messier.
Another way to do deep etching is with ferric chloride. Same general process, but without using electricity. Instead, you pool the chemical on top of your pattern and wait.
Edit: James does mention acid etching. But still, if someone wants to try, ferric chloride is sold as an etchant. It can etch steel, brass, nickel and copper. But please be careful, it is highly acidic.
Ferric Chloride is nasty stuff to use, not so much because of the acidity just the potential for mess. I've use it in the past to etch circuit boards and the mess, even when being careful is hard to avoid. (These days I just design the PCB and fire it out to one of the many PCB houses who, for very little money, etch, mill and drill the boards in a few days)
Hi bro,
A great etch can be achieved on iron/steel with copper sulfate (blue vitriol), you will know its correctly etched by the copper color on the steel, which can be wiped or protected. Thanks for this idea
could you just rest a gauze pad (dipped in the salt solution) over the whole logo instead of using a q-tip? or do you have to trace it? thanks for the vid!
The electricity will take the shortest path and if you spread out the small amount of electricity for a 9-volt over the whole thing it wouldn't do very much other than what is closest to the electrode. So putting it on a small q-tip allows you to focus exactly where you're putting it.
I'm guessing the UV-sensitive film that we used to use for making printed circuit boards would probably work well as a resist too.
Thanks a metric Ton! Is that more than a ton?
if u have an old battery charger it works great for this
Good demo. Thanks! Anybody tell you that you sound like Max Headroom? rofl. Maybe it is the speaker I'm using..
Actually, James, if you can get a 12v transformer, like from a really old power supply, or old electronics (like a VCR or DVD Player), you can make a 2 step etching machine. (I believe I have the stuff to make one, but I need to make sure.)
Either way, using that you can use 12v AC for etching and 12v DC to make it darker. You know? 😉
The rest is exactly the same as you did. 😊
The advantage is that, if you use a small plastic box, you would've made a small machine! The feeling is the same when you finish a woodworking project. 😬
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Most libraries, around me at least, have vinyl cutters for public use.
what's the ratio of salt to water? Great Vidya!
No idea. I just put in some salt. It does not need much to conduct electricity well. But there is no upper limit as long as it devolves.
Neat one James, so simple and effective and such an easy way to personalise/mark your tools. But seriously, 2" painters or masking tape is all you need for transferring the vinyl - If using regular masking tape, just stick on your shirt a time or two to reduce stickiness and you're GTG.
the problem with masking tape is it can be hard to see if the pattern is positioned correctly. it will work
A problem with masking tape is bleeding along the edges ruining the straightness of your lines,this happens with all grades of stickiness,with paint it is fixed by painting the 'wrong( base) 'colour to seal the tape before the right colour is applied
No ones talking about using it as a mask to paint anything, we're talking using it to transfer a vinyl decal. As to not being able to see the design easily, that all depends on which brand/one you use, but honestly not an issue I've had in all the years I've used it for just this purpose.
@@lynxg4641 I was not talking about painting specifically but about the bleeding along the edges and how to deal with that as regards painting and as paint is a liquid just like salty water the same problems could occur
he is not talking about using the masking tape as the stencil but as the transfer backing. in the video what I used is clear.
cool
How did the older saw manufacturers do their etching with such fine detail? I wonder if there is a market for precut stencils for those wanting to restore their antique saws? Another great video James.
there were different methods over time. some used chasseing to carve it. some had pre cut dies to cut stencils. there was some electro etching though acid was more common.
Try using a transformer, and make sure you can switch between ac and dc; with the ac you can really blacken the groove that you etched into the surface.
Thanks for the DIY; do you know if this would work on silver metal instead of steel?
It will work. But it is slower.
Would this process work on aluminum base?
I would assume so but you might need a different voltage. I have not tried it though.
will it work if i make a silicon border around the logo and flood the area with saltwater? Maybe to get a more even etch?
Unfortunately the wonder the contact area the less it etches. If I push too hard with the swab and spread it out it has little affect.
For more intricate custom designs you can use spray paint and just scrape the paint away.
Does this q-tip method work with copper also?
Will it work on copper ?
Hi James, where did you get the saw plates? I want to make my own but struggle to find sources for plates or even shim stock in Ireland. Thanks
I purchase mine from BlackBurn Tool works or Florip saws. I think Jared green also sells them.
I wonder if you could dye steel using this method with different metal salts!
Apply water under the stencil when you apply the acid. I was using an electric etching machine. Get a nice clean etch. Newer the stencil the better. Works nice on stainless. Know what you mean though. Acid smells horrible.
Would it work the same if you built up a wall around the design and poured in the salt water, or is there a benefit to rubbing it on the surface?
It is the electricity that actually removes the steel. the salt water is just a conductor. so if you made a pool of it then put the electrode inside it would remove steel every ware the saltwater touches, but the most the closest to the electrode.
that is the method Michael Cthulhu has used in a lot of his videos. Seems to work out well enough but can be messy if the wall fails mid-etch.
Now I just need a cool logo.
If you connect more batteries then it goes faster
This is great.
Hi I super enjoyed your video and I’ve already gotten some practice in! I could use a little help though, I etched two stainless knives for practice, and so I just used stencil stickers that you get for kids. I was able to get a decent question mark and exclamation mark done! However, it took me forever, whereas this one took you minutes! I bought brand new batteries and everything. Would there be something wrong with the concentration of salt or my technique? Thanks again for the great video😁
I forgot to add, on my second attempt I actually ate through the alligator clip connected to the q-tip😬 I’m wondering if that was just not cooling down the clip often enough or again, something off with my mixture.
Then you have the wrong wires on the wrong ends. If you're eating through the alligator clip that means the electrons are leaving the alligator clip and going to the knife. You need to go the other way around.
Thank you so much for the timely response! It was such a simple mistake, things are working properly now!
Would this also work on a tool that has more mass?
I'd love to try this on a hatchet.
Totally.
sure. the thickness does not matter at all.
@@WoodByWrightHowTo unless you drop it on your toes.
Do you think I could I etch a pizza steel without it rusting? I imagine any kind of oils that would be added to prevent rusting would not be food safe.
Sure. Most simple oils are food safe. You could even use butter. you can also do this to stainless steel.
How can you make it darker?
Hey, i was looking ways to etch metal, im just wondering wuld it work for all/most metals?
Yes. It works in most anything that will conduct electricity.
Hi thanks for the video. I wanted to etch on my knife, is it will stay permanently? Thanks
Yes. This is permanent. It actually cuts into the steel so you can feel it with your finger.
@@WoodByWrightHowTo OK thanks for the help now I can save lots of money by not sending it to engraving. Thanks mate.
if we do this on stainless cookware that is regularly washed, will the engraved area start to rust?
Will this work on normal steel. I think it's mild steel. The normal plate steel you get from the welding supply store
Yes it will.
You can do this on wood without electricity using oxalic acid.
Is there a simple safe way to do this for wood? I've tried a liquid concoction with a heat gun and it worked but the wood also absorbed the liquid and spread under the sticker. A soldering iron would do the trick but the stencil would need to be metal or else it would be up to my shaky hands to get the design I want.
I generally use a branding iron for that.
For wood burning i use amodium chloride, thick it ( food and beverage thickener) and water . Apply ur vinyl stencil , apply the gel mix let it set to dry a little then when dry peel vinyl off use ur heat gun on the area u just applied the gel mix to and thats it. Then you can seal it however you like . There is also a scortch pen you can use as well instead of the mix and just use heat gun after drawing with the scortch pen. Good luck to you :)
You kind of sound like That Old Tony.
Will the result be better and quicker to etch IF I use a higher voltage battery with higher out put ... say 12V & 5A battery ? ?
It will be faster.
@@WoodByWrightHowTo Thanks !
Can I ask a question here about something else? Do you have a place where I can get no 62 sweetheard blades?
usualy the contact me on the page or email are best for questions as that is my ToDo list, but most of the time I get them here. if you are looking for antique parts then I would look at the parts dealers listed on HandToolFinder.com or even the normal sellers will often have parts available. if you are talking new. I do not think the modern Stanley sells them. but Veritas and Hock sell replacements for them.
@@WoodByWrightHowTo ok thanks a lot. Doe the veritas irons fit the stanleys?
yes they are made to the same measurements.