Making My Own Head Badges
- Thread starter CycleTruck
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Thanks everybody and yes the original is C. I was going to fix that dent but I figured it gave the badge a battle scar. You would think that the color of the brass is different but its not. What makes it look different in color is the red paint that was used to paint the headbadge. When I cleaned it up I notice that it still had the original red paint under that black coat of dirt and the red paint kind of stuck to the brass.
Yes I have a plotter
XC204 said:
Yes I have a plotter
Funny, I went with e of tuse of the holes. They look machined whereas the others look punched...I did notice the color, but it wasn't the deciding factor...been etching today myself....
i've been experimenting with painting the badges. kind of cheating since i painted it while it was still covered by the vinyl. i think what i painted black is suppose to be blue but i think it looks better this way
painting methods from here
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12021&start=15
painting methods from here
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12021&start=15
Nice job with the aluminum. Did you use the same chemical ratio?? 1:1 ?? I just picked up some aluminum today....
Man those are good...
OK, so I'm trying this myself and I keep getting the brass plated with copper????? I know it sounds weird, but anything not covered by tape or toner is ending up copper plated??? No electricity involved, just brass, Peroxide and Muriatic Acid????? What am I doing??
Brass is an alloy of copper, zinc, tin, and lead. I'd say the copper you are seeing is what's in the brass. The acid is effecting the other metals and the copper is effected less and showing through. Is your muriatic acid a fresh batch? Maybe not strong enough? Just a guess. I'm no chemist, by the way. :mrgreen: Gary
Two other factors affect the etching process. Time & temperature. The colder your solution is, the more time it'll take to etch.
It doesn't take much heat to speed up the process. I've used aquarium heaters in tall containers to warm the solution while etching printed circuit boards. I've also put the etching solution in a Tupperwear type container and then dunked the whole thing into a 5 gallon bucket of hot water from the sink to warm the etching solution.
It sounds to me like your process is working, just slowly.
It doesn't take much heat to speed up the process. I've used aquarium heaters in tall containers to warm the solution while etching printed circuit boards. I've also put the etching solution in a Tupperwear type container and then dunked the whole thing into a 5 gallon bucket of hot water from the sink to warm the etching solution.
It sounds to me like your process is working, just slowly.
2 good thoughts, thanks. I'm using an old Mr. Coffee to keep things warm....it's the price I pay for living in Montana in the winter. Anyway, last night, when I pulled a piece out, I noticed that the etching was copper where the piece was in contact with the bottom of the pot, and brass where the piece was away from the bottom. I also heard that putting steel wool in the solution will help "absorb" (for lack of a better term) the excess copper ions?? I'm going at it again today and will keep you posted. ITMT, if anybody has any other answers, I'd appreciate it. Thanks
