Etching question

R

RLWJ

Member
I was at a garage sale today and saw an electrical device that I thought might work for etching knives. It was a box with a dial and two sets of plugs. It had two wires with aligator clips at one end and plugs at the other end. There were several choices for the voltage and amperage that could come from the box by plugging into one set of plugs or the other and turning the dial up and down, The choices were as follows.
Plug set 1
0 - 15V 5A
0 - 6V 10A
Plug set 2
0 - 20V 5A
0-10V 10A
There was a switch by each set of plugs to choose volt and amps needed and the dial was used to dial up or down those ranges. I'v seen where people use 9V batterise to etch but I'm not sure about the amps
My question is what kind of volts and amps do I need for etching? Would anything in those ranges work for etching? The guy wanted $10 for it.
 
I'm not super knowledgable about these but from your description that sounds like it could be a variac (?) If that were the case it would be not only good for etching but possibly also for anodizing. I'm not sure of the voltage requirements for anodizing.

I'm running my homemade etcher at 20v which may be a bit on the hot side but between 9v and 20v and you should have a good power source for etching.

Etching machines also have switch to go from direct current to alternating current. Direct current for etching and alternating for darkening the etch.

You could potentially wire it up like a homemade to get both though.

If it is indeed a variac I'd jump on it for $10 in a heartbeat.

-Josh
 
Thanks Josh,
I"m not much of an electrican. In it's current state would it be direct or alternating? How difficult would it be to make it do both?
 
I went back to the garage sale and picked it up. It does have AC and DC so if this thing actually works I think I'm golden. The front says Lab-Volt Model 191.
 
Sounds like it'll make a fine etcher as-is. That's a great score !

I'd start out at 15v and see what you come up with.

Etching is kinda a personal thing so you'll have to experiment a bit to figure out whats gonna work best for you as for how many volts and how wet you like to have the pad (q-tip)

If you want to give it a test run try this for etching solution

1/2 cup hot water
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon salt

Take care - Josh
Works fine for me.
 
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