Aluminium works well also! (Still wet from rinsing in pics)
That looks amazing! So excited.
Does the vinyl come double sided, or do I need transfer paper? Mine should be in soon!
Thanks, Doc! Definitely transfer paper! And it is a bit tedious to get small details to peel (take your time; folding the liner under helps as you go).
Thanks!! I’m ridiculously excited. I’ve spent a ton on stencils!
Do you use a "picking tool" to peel small letters out ??
My son and I had access to a large format vinyl cutter and he was making screen stencils for teshirts.
Is this process the same?
I found the following video,
he puts the tape/film on the piece to be etched then uses a laser to "cut away" the area to be etched.
That would bypass the "picking" and transferring,, but would require a laser.
He then used paint as a stencil,,,
I do have access to a 30w epalog laser,,, I may have to try it.
I think one of the small diode laser engravers (3-7 watt) sold on ebay or amazon would have enough power to "cut" the film?
Thinking, put the film on the item to be etched,, burn the pattern, etch it.
I have used moly resin on a couple of lowers. Holds op pretty well. Not as durable as Cerakote.Absolutely! If you run into any issues hit me up (I don’t see that happening, it’s pretty user friendly both machine and software, but I’m happy to help if you do hit an issue).
What is your etching setup?
I’ve been contemplating trying to home anodize that last lower, but decided I’m going to try Norrell’s Moly Resin (decision to lay out for a proper airbrush was aided by realizing the burnt bronze color is quite close to the TiCN PVD on my 2011 barrel; I’m going to try a random spare thumb safety to see how they match and abuse it a little but if it’s good I’m going to coat the controls)
I have used moly resin on a couple of lowers. Holds op pretty well. Not as durable as Cerakote.
I got a DC power supply from Amazon. I use salt and water. Typically I try to enclose the entire area to be etched so I can make a water reservoir. I’ll either fold tape, or make a “lake” with modeling clay. Black on lower, and use an old drill bit or other metal in the red. Put the metal in the water, and off it goes.
I’d seen some guys using hot glue to form a “dam” - but yeah that will absolutely work with vinyl. What kind of depth are you getting on aluminium? I ended up going with a purpose built machine to make sure I could get sufficient depth on stainless but AFAIK a lawnmower battery will get good results on relatively softer metal. Are you sure about the polarity? My machine clips on red and black does the etching (though I intentionally state color rather than polarity because my machine switches between ac and dc to mark and etch respectively and I’ll be candid that I don’t know if they utilize the same polarity [second] though I understand the mechanism of action on AC it wouldn’t matter)?
You are right, I reversed polarity. (it was early). Black for etching. I get very good depth. Sufficient for NFA an perfect for what I want. If you keep going, the etching eventually gets a little "fuzzy: I've never done marking, but it makes sense. Reverse polarity and instead of metal being chewed through, it gets laid down.
I have THIS
No clue of the settings, I just turn it up to 11 and it works.
Dogfight Ink will miss me. I've spent hundreds.