Etching

[minamus]

So my goal is to etch a couple things into the blade holder of the saber and for right now it's certain that the main part will be a tri-force for the etching so not too much. However the bladeholder is powdercoated as well so this confused me somewhat on if and how it can be done.

I have looked everywhere on the web and in the forums about etching and have found mostly about muratic acid or hydrochloric acid mixed with hydrogen peroxide. I havn't had a clear understanding of the electric method yet. Even a link to somewhere is very helpful.

Does anyone have any preferences or experience with a good form of etching and maybe some instructions for any of these or your method? i'm not looking to spend a huge amount to do this and any insight would be very helpful.

[Madcow]

You can only etch metal. Powdercoating is essentially plastic, so you would have to etch first, then powdercoat over it.

[cakira21]

i'm not sure if you have the means to do this, but i've used this trick quite a bit. take the part and put a layer of electrical tape over it. then use an razor/exact-o knife to cut out the pattern you want. then sandblast the exposed pattern. the rubber electrical tape will defuse the energy from the sandblasting however i'm not sure how quick it will eat thru the powder coat so be careful not to blast through the tape. once you've gotten off the powder coat then you can etch the pattern in the exposed aluminum by usual means. now i haven't tried this with PC, but what i've done in the past was polish the aluminum then tape and cut the pattern, then sandblast, and it comes out really well. just make sure the tape is stuck on to the aluminum really well before cutting and blasting, and when you sandblast, blast at a 90? angle to the surface, if you blast, at say a 45?, for example it will peal the tape and the pattern will be ruined. and i've done some pretty intricate designs with polishing and blasting and it works pretty well. and if you need a template, you can do like i've done and just print it to the right size, then use a spray glue to glue the pattern on the surface of the tape. once i get off of work and get home i'll see if i can't dig up some pics of one of the patterns i've done just to give you an idea.

**EDIT** i've just thought of this as well. even if the powder coat doesn't blast off, you'll have the design in a different finish on the saber. like if the powder coat is shiny, the pattern will be matte even though it'll be the same color. kind of a silver lining if all else fails.

[cakira21]

1129811299

here's that photo of the polishing then sandblasting. its part of my Altair costume from assassin's creed, sorry about the poor quality of the photo this was before cell phone cameras became decent

[snilam]

1129811299

here's that photo of the polishing then sandblasting. its part of my Altair costume from assassin's creed, sorry about the poor quality of the photo this was before cell phone cameras became decent

that looks awesome. have to try that some time.

[minamus]

That looks great. I have to see if anyone i know has a sand blaster lol.

[ARKM]

Saltwater etching with electricity is extremely easy and cheap to do. I made a tutorial involving stencils that you make yourself from adhesive backed printer paper and that use paint as a resist. However, laser printer toner is a much better method as it does not require stencils or paint. Sadly, I have not finished a tutorial for that method yet. Anywho, here's a link for the tutorial for my stencil method. Maybe it will help....

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?13430-ARKM-s-Saltwater-Etching-Tutorial

[minamus]

I read it and those are some good instructions but how well would this fair using a powder coated part? will the acetone eat at the PC? will i be able to do any of the paint removal process? I only ask this because i have no clue about powder coat and it still amazes me on how it actually works to coat the metal with powdered plastic and electricity lol.

[ARKM]

Acetone will harm powder coat but nowhere near as easy/quick as it harms paint.

I should have paid more attention to your first post. Sorry about that. Saltwater and acid etching only works on bare metal so this won't work over powder coat. However you can laser etch through powder coat, down to the bare metal. Unfortunately this means that you will have to take it to a business that provides that service and it might not be cheap to have that done.

[minamus]

It's ok. However i picked up some small attachments to my dremel like a extender thing so i dont have to hold the dremel to use it and make it more like a angry pencil and some other things. So i'm going to protect the area around it and be careful while i dremel into the PC then paint anc clear coat the new area. I'm also thinking that before the clear coat i am going to do a couple more layers of heat resistant tape and use a industrial heat gun to bake the pain on to give it a little extra chance at survival. Any thoughts on this?

[Silver Serpent]

"Angry Pencil" :D I like that.

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to describe. It sounds a little complex, so I wish you the best of luck.

[ARKM]

I think I see what you're going to do. I'm thinking that the paint you will be using is a different color that the powder coat and will fill in the areas you dremel out. If so, that could work. However if you're trying to take off the powder coat with a Dremel to make a bare area to saltwater/acid etch, I do not recommend that... at all.

[minamus]

No what i'm going to do is dremel the PC down to the bare metal (in the spot im working on) then tape off with high heat tape and paint the bare metal with acrlic paint or something else. After that i was going to bake it on with a heat gun then clear coat it. Than just remove the tape and there will be no extra PC done then what i already got in an order and no etching done.

[Silver Serpent]

That could work. You'll want to be careful not to overheat the powder coating. I'm not sure what temp it melts at, so watch that heat gun carefully.

[TrypWyr]

That could work. You'll want to be careful not to overheat the powder coating. I'm not sure what temp it melts at, so watch that heat gun carefully.

In my (limited) research of powder coating, I've learned that most powders are thermoset polymers. The curing process (also called crosslinking) melts the powder and it cures over the course of the cure time. Once it solidifies, it will not melt again.

Here is some good information:


Two basic types of powders:

Thermoset Powders - Curing or crosslinking takes place so that once cured, the coating will not remelt.

The majority of powder coatings today are thermosetting type powder.
Typical Thermosetting type powders are:
Epoxies
Acrylics
Most polyesters


Thermoplastic Powders - Do not crosslink and can remelt after curing when exposed to sufficient heat.

Typical Thermoplastic powders are:
Vinyls
Nylons
Fluorocarbons

http://www.powderovens.com/powder_basics.html

[minamus]

Thank you for reassuring me :)