Let's see your finished DIY projects!

[BetterOffShred]

I was trying to find my aluminum grinding bit last night.. and stumbled across an unopened bottle of radio shack feric chloride... It's labeled as pcb etchant, will the strength be any different ?

[LaoWiz]

I was trying to find my aluminum grinding bit last night.. and stumbled across an unopened bottle of radio shack feric chloride... It's labeled as pcb etchant, will the strength be any different ?

That's exactly what I use...

[BetterOffShred]

Oh damn! Hot dawg! Well I guess I'm one step closer to giving this a try. Now I just need to throw down on some transfer paper.

[garyg]

I never cover the sides as i like the acid to fuck up the sides too. Blue painter's tape works though if you want to keep the sides clean.

Right, got you now, just assumed you kept the sides clean somehow.

Thanks.

[LaoWiz]

Oh damn! Hot dawg! Well I guess I'm one step closer to giving this a try. Now I just need to throw down on some transfer paper.

Yea, if you found a bottle and it's still sealed and it's not like 10 years old you should be good to go!

[fuzzonaut]

All this etching talk made me pick up some NaOH.

It just seemed appropriate to give it a first try with the back plate of my recently finished Harmonic Percolator - which has a transistor in Q1, that Laowiz sent me with his Pig Pile.

Here it is, the switch lifts the diodes.

[Sonaboy]

This one was on the bench for a while, only because of a bloody trimmer that came by way of slow boat from Mars. Anyway... it's done.

DEFX Flange-a-rama. It's a clone of the Ibanez FL-99 flanger. Many many thanks to armdnrdy and Govmnt_Lacky over at DIYSB for their work and help on this one. This is one kick-ass flanger. The only bad thing about it? You'll spend hours noodling with it. They really should reissue this one. We decided to adopt a sandwich type construction. This stayed true to the original, as well as knocking down the space required. Granted, a 1590J isn't tiny, but it is a smaller footprint than the original. Phil really outdid himself on the layout. In case you're wondering, the trimmer located on the control board is still accessible via thru holes aligned on both boards. A jewelers screwdriver reaches it from the backside, so no need to pull the boards for adjustments.

That one's so purdy, you should put it in a plexiglass box.

[Jero]

All this etching talk made me pick up some NaOH.

It just seemed appropriate to give it a first try with the back plate of my recently finished Harmonic Percolator - which has a transistor in Q1, that Laowiz sent me with his Pig Pile.

Here it is, the switch lifts the diodes.

DSC06525.jpg

DSC06522 (1).jpg

Nice! I already had the itch, but now I want to try that method even more.

[Jwar]

I think they apply it to the top of the enclosure. If you submerge, it can quickly react and create heat/mess/etc.

I mean IMO, that's like 90% of the fun/creative process behind it. I submerge to create uniqueness in each etch. I've done it the other way and I find it incredibly boring (no offense meant others. You guys do killer work). To me, allowing the acid some reactionary grace adds to the unpredictable chaotic look of etching that I desire.





When using acids of any kind, you cannot assume you're going to be able to control the environment. Even if you dunk it in water, you're most likely not fully diffusing it. You'll need something like baking soda to do that. Acid is corrosive and will corrode unless you seal it. Meaning using a strong poly or clear that will coat it and fill in every inch of it. I think of it like a decaying cavity. If you only get part of the decay removed and seal on top, you'll still have a fucked up tooth later.

That being said, I've found methods to dunk (which is faster) that will still get me good solid lines that look like they took hours to complete as opposed to the typical 1 to 2 minutes it actually takes.

I'm not the best at it, but I certainly have got a good process down. hah

[digi2t]

This one was on the bench for a while, only because of a bloody trimmer that came by way of slow boat from Mars. Anyway... it's done.

DEFX Flange-a-rama. It's a clone of the Ibanez FL-99 flanger. Many many thanks to armdnrdy and Govmnt_Lacky over at DIYSB for their work and help on this one. This is one kick-ass flanger. The only bad thing about it? You'll spend hours noodling with it. They really should reissue this one. We decided to adopt a sandwich type construction. This stayed true to the original, as well as knocking down the space required. Granted, a 1590J isn't tiny, but it is a smaller footprint than the original. Phil really outdid himself on the layout. In case you're wondering, the trimmer located on the control board is still accessible via thru holes aligned on both boards. A jewelers screwdriver reaches it from the backside, so no need to pull the boards for adjustments.

That one's so purdy, you should put it in a plexiglass box.

Would make it really hard to work the footswitches.

[cherler]

I think they apply it to the top of the enclosure. If you submerge, it can quickly react and create heat/mess/etc.

I mean IMO, that's like 90% of the fun/creative process behind it. I submerge to create uniqueness in each etch. I've done it the other way and I find it incredibly boring (no offense meant others. You guys do killer work). To me, allowing the acid some reactionary grace adds to the unpredictable chaotic look of etching that I desire.





When using acids of any kind, you cannot assume you're going to be able to control the environment. Even if you dunk it in water, you're most likely not fully diffusing it. You'll need something like baking soda to do that. Acid is corrosive and will corrode unless you seal it. Meaning using a strong poly or clear that will coat it and fill in every inch of it. I think of it like a decaying cavity. If you only get part of the decay removed and seal on top, you'll still have a fucked up tooth later.

That being said, I've found methods to dunk (which is faster) that will still get me good solid lines that look like they took hours to complete as opposed to the typical 1 to 2 minutes it actually takes.

I'm not the best at it, but I certainly have got a good process down. hah

Over the winter I couldn't get enough heat etching outside even submerging, so I rigged up kind of a double boiler type thing with hot water on the bottom to help get things going. Probably pretty stupid, but the etches turned out nice!

So you don't think putting acid/NaOH on top gets as much texture in the etch itself jwar?

[Jero]

I think they apply it to the top of the enclosure. If you submerge, it can quickly react and create heat/mess/etc.

I mean IMO, that's like 90% of the fun/creative process behind it. I submerge to create uniqueness in each etch. I've done it the other way and I find it incredibly boring (no offense meant others. You guys do killer work). To me, allowing the acid some reactionary grace adds to the unpredictable chaotic look of etching that I desire.

When using acids of any kind, you cannot assume you're going to be able to control the environment. Even if you dunk it in water, you're most likely not fully diffusing it. You'll need something like baking soda to do that. Acid is corrosive and will corrode unless you seal it. Meaning using a strong poly or clear that will coat it and fill in every inch of it. I think of it like a decaying cavity. If you only get part of the decay removed and seal on top, you'll still have a fucked up tooth later.

That being said, I've found methods to dunk (which is faster) that will still get me good solid lines that look like they took hours to complete as opposed to the typical 1 to 2 minutes it actually takes.

I'm not the best at it, but I certainly have got a good process down. hah

I'll keep that in mind, thanks! Sounds like what I've been wanting to do lately just to texturize some boxes. Etch the whole surface a little, with no masking.

[Jwar]

I think they apply it to the top of the enclosure. If you submerge, it can quickly react and create heat/mess/etc.

I mean IMO, that's like 90% of the fun/creative process behind it. I submerge to create uniqueness in each etch. I've done it the other way and I find it incredibly boring (no offense meant others. You guys do killer work). To me, allowing the acid some reactionary grace adds to the unpredictable chaotic look of etching that I desire.





When using acids of any kind, you cannot assume you're going to be able to control the environment. Even if you dunk it in water, you're most likely not fully diffusing it. You'll need something like baking soda to do that. Acid is corrosive and will corrode unless you seal it. Meaning using a strong poly or clear that will coat it and fill in every inch of it. I think of it like a decaying cavity. If you only get part of the decay removed and seal on top, you'll still have a fucked up tooth later.

That being said, I've found methods to dunk (which is faster) that will still get me good solid lines that look like they took hours to complete as opposed to the typical 1 to 2 minutes it actually takes.

I'm not the best at it, but I certainly have got a good process down. hah

Over the winter I couldn't get enough heat etching outside even submerging, so I rigged up kind of a double boiler type thing with hot water on the bottom to help get things going. Probably pretty stupid, but the etches turned out nice!

So you don't think putting acid/NaOH on top gets as much texture in the etch itself jwar?

There have been some points where I've held and iron on an enclosure to warm it up (or I even used an oven once) and toss them into the acid when it's cold out. Nothing creates a stronger reaction, well, other than throwing a bit of water in there or a piece of tin foil. That creates a chemical reaction.

I think putting any corrosive on the top of the enclosure just takes up previous time. You can achieve depth regardless of which way you do it. When I etch however, depth is not the first thing on my mind. I'm just looking for a certain look. I don't always want the depth there like a pit. It feels cool but people step on these, they don't touch them (well at least not all the time lol).

My last etches were my best IMO and they were all with a mixture of processes that took me 4 years to develop. lol

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

2018-07-14 10.35.27.jpg (229.45 KiB) Viewed 5089 times

this isn't pedal related at all but pretty stoked about this.
yesterday my friend brought over some old tiger handhelds that he found
this one (ninja garden II) didn't turn on so i asked him if i could hold onto it to see if i could fix it.
swapped a gooey cap for a new one and viola! ryu hayabusa is back in action

[Jero]

2018-07-14 10.35.27.jpg

this isn't pedal related at all but pretty stoked about this.
yesterday my friend brought over some old tiger handhelds that he found
this one (ninja garden II) didn't turn on so i asked him if i could hold onto it to see if i could fix it.
swapped a gooey cap for a new one and viola! ryu hayabusa is back in action

keep on fightin