How to ETCH your name into steel

[Tamiyacowboy]

so you want to add your name/phone number etc etc to your rc gear but its metal.

a pen will rub off overtime etc etc and a tape will/can be removed.

 

so how do you add your mark to your metal item, and it never goes away.

Chemical etching but we are going to do it a simple way. 

 

first off grab these items:

 

a 9v PP3 duracel battery ( square shape one with them funny looking terminals)

couple croc clips

a baggie of cotton ear buds on sticks,

and a good strong saturated salt water mix. 

 

now your going to watch this short video and try it yourself.

 

 

[HATZY]

you can also use salsa or anything with a high selenity

[Exos]

You will probably need something like:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Armour-Over-Over-Self-Stick-Reusable-Glass-Etching-Stencil-Small-Letter-Number-/161069656219?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25807fe89b

[chrisreilly]

How cool is that; though prob easier to take the chassis plate to timpsons? 

[Tamiyacowboy]

ok so you see the engraving part. 

 

what about adonizing you say. well in my world its called electro plating.

but using the method like above we can electroplate stuff. 

 

you will put a copper plate onto the positive side this will hang into the sal****er

we will mix a little copper solution into the water. and we will connect our item to the neg side.

now your going to suspend the item into the copper solution with the positive and negitives not touching.

 

over time the an electro chemical reaction will take place. the copper solution will help the copper plate disolve

a very little, usually they co black'ish on the area submerged. at the same time the negative side draws the copper from the solution.

this sticks the the item and coats it in a very tiny thin layer.

 

best to try this using a copper penny and a silver cent/dime

you will strip the silver from the dime and coat the copper penny.

 

AS ALWAYS ........ 

 

using chemicals and electric is dangerous, so please make sure you have a grown up and/or adult with you to watch

over you and act as a mentor, do this outside aways from other people and always never leave your experiment unattended

 

Be safe and i hope you enjoy trying this.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Tamiyacowboy

[RCbutcher]

Thats ace Im going to try the etching that's totally safe right?

Ide love to see a video showing the anodizing being done as simple as it sounds.

[Huktonfonics]

This works on Aluminium  ? Im going to stencil the life out of some stuff ! Yeeha !

[Tamiyacowboy]

its basic electrochemistry 

 

if you take a copper solution thats saturated, the pos and neg ions have a

copper ion to. 

 

now we take a cathode and an anode. 

 

one is our pos from battery, the other the neg.

 

on one we will place a silver coin a silver american cent, as we pass a current

through the wires and our solution the positive ions are drawn to the silver cent. after a while

its surface is coated with a fine layer of copper ions, we turn our silver coin copper.

 

if we now place our silver solution in the pot and a our copper coated silver coin.

add a current the ions are yet again drawn to the coin, its layered again but with a silver layer.

 

now we have a silver coin with a layer of copper and a top layer of silver.

 

etching is using an acidic medium like salt water, passing a current through it oxidizes the metal

this is etching, you oxidize the top coat only a few nanometers deep.

 

Different metals, may take longer or shorter, or a more saturated mix, its from here you practice your newfound dark art to a key.

 

as always Old Tami does not condone tinkering but cannot be held to account for any mishaps someone may have.

if you make a mistake its your fault not mine. do these things OUTSIDE in open air, WEAR suitable eye protection and gloves.

DO NOT leave your experiments alone you are in charge and it is your account for safety of those around. 

DO NOT play with acid, stick with salt water and practice on differing metals.