Etching question

J.D. Hill

Active Member
I've got a couple of hollow ground blades where the only room for my etch is in the grind next to the plunge. I've seen where several makers put there mark there, question is how do you get you stencil to lay down in there to get a good etch? Do you maybe put you pad set on the stencil before you turn the etcher on to make sure the stencil doesn't move around?
Thanks
Jeff
 
I hold my stencil on with scotch tape. On a hollow grind put the tape on the left and right sides first to hold it tight into the hollow.

Take care- Josh
 
Hi Jeff

While I do have an Electro-Etcher unit I have not yet had the chance to have a stencil made for it, so at this stage I am still doing Photo resist etching, however the process of using a "stencil" is pretty much the same, with the stencil needing to be fixed in place against the blade to allow for the exposure of the photo resist or the etching of the blade with the Electro Etch process.

With the photo etching process i have tried two different methods - using Tape around the edges of the stencil to fix it in place, the other method is using Wooden clothes pegs (used for hanging washing on a clothes line to dry) - these pegs are modified by sanding the tips into fairly narrow points and the inside surfaces curved to fit into the hollow grind of the blade holding the stencil tightly against the blade surface.

I would think that both methods could work with the electro etch stencil, However I think the tape may work better, since the pegs would require a fairly wide border around your logo, to permit clipping the pegs on, and still allow the etcher anode to cover the logo.

Hope this helps

I suppose it would depend on how much space you have around the edge of your stencil to accomodate
 
Thanks for the answers. I ended up taping both top and bottem to get it to set tight next to and over the plunge then taped the sides just to keep solution off the blade. Turned out very well.
Thanks
Jeff
 
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