Acid etched serial tags

oguinn · 1506

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Offline oguinn

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on: May 30, 2019, 01:37:04 PM
While I have a lull between tweaking the Crack with some upgrade parts and putting in the Stereomour upgrades, I decided to do a little cosmetic work and etch small nameplates for each project I've built. I figured I'd share my process in case it's interesting to anyone else.

Here's the list of tools and materials you'll need:
  • A laser printer. It CANNOT be made by Brother, at least not if you use the transfer paper I did. It has something to do with the toner.
  • Transfer paper. I used this stuff that is made for PCBs.
  • A laminator. It has to have enough pressure and heat to melt the toner and press it to the board. The transfer paper manufacturer recommended one, so I got it.
  • Ferric chloride acid. (That's for brass and copper, you'll need a different acid for different materials)
  • Brass etching plates. I got mine here.
  • An infill paint pen.
  • Three tubs, water, baking soda.
  • Xacto knife, ruler, high-grit sandpaper.

Ok, now on to the process.
  • I designed what the tags looked like in Adobe Illustrator. I made the background a dark green (a suggestion from the transfer paper manufacturer) and the text white, then flipped everything so it was backward.
  • I printed the tags on the transfer paper. Give yourself a little space so you can fit a ruler between each tag without touching the ink or it'll scratch.
  • I cut out each tag and paired it with a blank. My blanks had a brushed side and a bare side. If you have both, put the transfer against the bare side. Despite sanding I could never get the brushed side bare enough to etch.
  • I prepped the following: a tub of cold water, a tub with acid (plastic worked, but pick something you don't care about), and a tub with warm water and baking soda mixed together.
  • This is where I experienced the most frustration. Because the tags were so small, it was difficult to get the transfer paper and the blank fed into the laminator together. I ended up using a piece of regular white paper as a sleeve since it was thin enough to allow the heat to pass through.
  • I passed the blank and transfer paper through twice, then immediately plopped them in the cold water bath for a couple minutes until the transfer paper backing came off by itself.
  • I dried off each blank and covered the back side with packing tape to keep it from etching. It apparently also keeps the acid from overheating or something, I'm not a chemist. Leave a little tape so you can have something to grab onto with tongs or tweezers.
  • I carefully dropped the tags in the acid and let them sit for 30 minutes. I agitated the tub of acid every 5 or so minutes to keep the etching surface bare.
  • I pulled the tag out by the tape with some pliers and dropped it immediately into the baking soda and water solution to stop the reaction.
  • After a little while I pulled the tags out and let them dry. Then I scrubbed the transfer off with a coarse kitchen sponge.
  • Finally, I rubbed the entire surface pretty hard with an infill paint pen. This took a little trial and error, but I found sanding in one direction lightly with a high grit paper removed the surface paint and left the infill alone. Then I cleaned them slightly and sprayed them with a clear coat.

Overall I'm very happy with how they turned out. They're imperfect, which is great since my amps are also.

Jameson O'Guinn

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Main System: Schiit Bifrost MB, Rega Planar 6 with Exact cartridge, Eros 2, BeePre, Kaiju/Stereomour II, Jagers, Mainline

Desktop System: Crack with Speedball


Offline oguinn

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Reply #1 on: May 30, 2019, 01:37:57 PM
Splitting the photos into separate posts for size reasons. Here's the base Illustrator image.

Jameson O'Guinn

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Main System: Schiit Bifrost MB, Rega Planar 6 with Exact cartridge, Eros 2, BeePre, Kaiju/Stereomour II, Jagers, Mainline

Desktop System: Crack with Speedball


Offline oguinn

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Reply #2 on: May 30, 2019, 01:40:04 PM
And here are a couple shots of the finished tags.

Jameson O'Guinn

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Main System: Schiit Bifrost MB, Rega Planar 6 with Exact cartridge, Eros 2, BeePre, Kaiju/Stereomour II, Jagers, Mainline

Desktop System: Crack with Speedball


Deke609

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Reply #3 on: May 30, 2019, 02:27:28 PM
That's very cool. What grit sandpaper do you use? 600? Higher?



Offline oguinn

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Reply #4 on: May 30, 2019, 02:33:50 PM
I used 1500, but I’m sure you could get away with something a little coarser

Jameson O'Guinn

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Main System: Schiit Bifrost MB, Rega Planar 6 with Exact cartridge, Eros 2, BeePre, Kaiju/Stereomour II, Jagers, Mainline

Desktop System: Crack with Speedball


Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #5 on: May 30, 2019, 07:49:08 PM
That's really cool! 

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline oguinn

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Reply #6 on: May 31, 2019, 02:30:04 AM
Thanks!

Jameson O'Guinn

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Main System: Schiit Bifrost MB, Rega Planar 6 with Exact cartridge, Eros 2, BeePre, Kaiju/Stereomour II, Jagers, Mainline

Desktop System: Crack with Speedball


Offline ALL212

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Reply #7 on: June 01, 2019, 02:49:48 AM
Very cool and nicely done!

When do you go into production? ;D

Aaron Luebke


Offline Tom-s

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Reply #8 on: June 01, 2019, 03:03:49 AM
Awesome!  :o

Wonder what you put on your S3X badge. Speaker or headphone amp?  :P



Offline Karl5150

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Reply #9 on: June 01, 2019, 08:55:49 AM
Nice! Hearing and seeing a stock BH kit is usually enough to wow most friends and family. It's always great to see the things that add another layer to "I built it myself".

Karl
Downstairs: Planar3>PH-16>Stereomour II>OB Betsy+
Upstairs: RP1>Eros/CD5004>Seductor (2x Monoblocks)>FH3
Office: Modi Uber 2/Sirius>SEX2.1.1>µFonken FF85WK + DC160 subs
BR: FiiO M6>SEX3.0.1>ScanSpeak 10F + TangBand W6 (Mono)/DT770Pro
Garage: X12 streamer>Quicksand>Minimus 77


Offline oguinn

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Reply #10 on: June 01, 2019, 09:02:55 AM
Awesome!  :o

Wonder what you put on your S3X badge. Speaker or headphone amp?  :P

I put PA for power amp even though it’s half accurate and probably not the preferred nomenclature. I considered MISC (like I did for the Fix tag) but settled on this.

Jameson O'Guinn

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Main System: Schiit Bifrost MB, Rega Planar 6 with Exact cartridge, Eros 2, BeePre, Kaiju/Stereomour II, Jagers, Mainline

Desktop System: Crack with Speedball