Acid Etching Brass Plaques

In this episode of the adventures of Switch & Lever we're making custom brass plaques, using reasonably simple tools, and some basic chemistry. Enjoy!
Also, huge thanks to Chris from Clickspring for the borrowing of his voice! If you haven't already, and I can't imagine how you could've missed it, check out his channel by clicking the link below:
/ clickspring
Follow and like Switch & Lever on:
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And check out the Switch & Lever online store at:
www.switchandlever.com/store/
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Music:
Nicolai Heidlas - Sunrise
CC By 4.0
Nicolai Heidlas - With You
CC By 4.0
Josh Woodward - Crazy Glue
CC By 4.0
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Random public domain videos from archive.org

[@JoeGatling]

Great video! I particularly like how you included information about how to responsibly dispose of your waste materials.

[@johngardiner8847]

You mean a body...👍

[@BlackBeardProjects]

Great video as always man. Awesome results too! Well done :)

[@firebird8600]

That's so neat! I want to put brass plaques on everything!

[@robertqueberg4612]

That, my man, is a very thorough and professional presentation. You answered questions that I didn’t know enough to ask. This one is going into storage.

[@sefolug-softwareinnovation6202]

Thanks for that really well structured video. I was super happy to see you treating waste disposal seriously!

[@feynthefallen]

Awesome tutorial! Gotta try it some time soon. Good to see you being environmentally concious!

[@BenRyherd]

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you going over proper disposal methods. Great Video! I'm going to have to get some Brass stock from the local home center now.

[@CodeFoxAus]

The tip on using the foam to float the plates is brilliant! Thank you.

[@ozsebszogeczki5543]

Finally someone described well the method to use only home tools. Thanks!

[@Chris-ox7qx]

Excellent video! The Chris cameo was unexpected and funny (This Old Tony style). I love it!

[@Mylitla]

I've had good luck with the laser toner method but even better success using vinyl stencils cut on a Silhouette or Circut machine. Also, the ideal place to do your etching is on top of a running clothes dryer. It's nicely warm, and the vibration helps keep the etchant aggitated.

[@0nlyfranz]

Haha, loved that Clickspring joke :D

[@leprud]

Oh yeah! Was surprised a lot! :)

[@Figulus]

Just BRILLIANT!

[@thomas6244]

That made me laugh so hard :D

[@markpaas]

Brilliant, great humor! Chris is the boss!

[@tomsdreamshopworx]

So cool to see another video of yours. Always fun and interesting! About woke up the rest of the family laughing out loud at the Clickspring line.

[@nortok00]

Another great video!! Very detailed in the various methods of applying a resist along with what did and didn't work! The extra effort you put into this saves the rest of us having to go through the same experimentation. I also like your methods of finishing off the projects. As others have commented I REALLY appreciate that you went into how to properly dispose of the solution so as not to pollute the water! I find a lot of DIY videos that use toxic solutions of all kinds don't discuss this and I'm absolutely mortified to see what people pour down the sink which means we're all potentially drinking it not to mention contaminating the environment! Kudos and bravo to you!

[@klayjones724]

Great video. Perfect level of detail. Thank you so much. I've had my laser for 8 years and thought a CNC mill was my only solution for working metal. This opened all new doors

[@MaltandMake]

So glad you're back with a new video... going to have to give this one a try! Looking forward to what you bring in 2018.

[@GregsGarage]

Chris from Clickspring!!!! Awesome video

[@SwitchAndLever]

He is an officer and a gentleman! Cheers Greg, appreciate it!

[@qhack]

Chris is a brass working god.

[@Lemongrasspicker]

Pretty cool stuff! Enjoyed watching this project

[@ursaarcadius1]

Thank you for being so thorough and addressing environmental concerns. Excellent video!

[@Bubblestheghost]

I’m obsessed with this. You’re amazing.

[@mriggsdesign]

Thank you for sharing this video. I can’t wait to give this a try!

[@christophersimmins3181]

Most excellent 'real' descriptions ...and a humorous intro

[@r1w3d]

I loved the brief commentary of clickspring 👌I love both of your channels.

[@georgemoua]

Great tutorial. I appreciate the discussion on how to dispose of hazardous waste properly.

[@brucewilliams6292]

I also love the fact that you showed how to dispose of the material afterward.

[@Match2100]

Excellent video! Clear and to the point!

[@brucewilliams6292]

Excellent video! Thank you. The foam idea is neat.

[@SebastiaanMollema]

Great video! Very well made! As a tutorial it is very complete as well!

[@issammoumeni4620]

Believe me, the best and most beautiful video I've seen, I benefited a lot from it, thank you

[@SmokyFrosty]

Thanks for showing how to discard of the leftovers properly. Great video

[@Xellurat]

Your animations are getting better every video. Great project btw

[@tinygreenleaf]

Thank you for this! Super helpful and just what I needed, thank you for providing a method I can easily diy.

[@johndilsaver8409]

Excellent video, thanks for posting!

[@nigelhowell3674]

Was searching for a commercial option to produce a name plate. Couldn't find a thing, then I stumbled across your video. Brilliant, bought materials and followed the laser printer method. It's worked better than I could dream of! Thank you :)

[@SwitchAndLever]

Well if you only need to make one there's hardly a place you can find which will make it and make it worth the cost. For serial production though, making lots of them, you can probably find a lot of producers willing to make it for a price point that makes sense per plate.

[@BruceAUlrich]

Really interesting process. Thanks for teaching me some things.

[@josuelservin2409]

Wonderful and useful, and thanks for that clicksping cameo, it certainly made my day 😂

[@SwitchAndLever]

Haha! Thank Chris, he made it all possible 😀

[@kjellski]

Fantastic video man! I guess I'm a bit late to the party, but it's still great - thanks for the tips on properly discarding the leftovers as well!

[@v3gp45ty4]

This is an excellent tutorial, Thank you.

[@pjhalchemy]

Thanks Daniel! That Craftsman DP badge gave me an idea using your technique to restore the number plate for my 1950 King Seeley that I messed up during cleanup...the trick is matching the original font. Great that you gave a fun shout out to Chris. An amazing man...like you!

[@SwitchAndLever]

How bad is it messed up? Maybe you can take a good quality photo of it and trace what you can't match through fonts? There are also good services like WhatTheFont and Identifont that can help you identify fonts, but oftentimes for these old vintage stuff the fonts were simply not standardized how they are now, and many of those old fonts may never even have been digitized.

[@pjhalchemy]

Very. I used a 10:1 cleaner solution (10 H2O) in my ultrasonic to remove a decade worth of being in a horse stall on the ground. It was fine until I pulled it out and touched it...all the enamel came off but the Stamped numbers are fine. Luckily I got it's sister Band Saw with it which is pristine (well covered) and its plate is identical & pristine. The originals are .050 AL but for all the time and energy I've put into restoring it been kicking around a brass one with the OEM detail and numbers that I can put a nice Restored by and date for whom ever gets it next...likely my son. They don't build them like these anymore and hopefully never sees a horse stall again. Your etching gave me the idea to hi res scan the one from the Band Saw and the stamped numbers from the dead one (again archaic font) and trace them if necessary in AI or ACAD to get it as original as possible. Thanks much for the Font links, I'll check them out and if none match, on to the tedious tracing. Thanks again! Always enjoy your work and videos!

[@Bravo-ry9st]

Best tutorial video I have ever seen!!!

[@PhunnyConflicts]

This guy really produce too notch quality videos!!!

[@danthemakerman]

Fantastic video! I'm going to have to try this using my vinyl cutter.

[@SwitchAndLever]

Hmm, interesting! I'm sure it would work, but I wonder how fine details you could get with it.

[@sheloves13]

Great video! Appreciate the comparisons and the disposal information.

[@smartrajful]

simple and straightforward.. .. great video thank u.. .

[@LukePettit3dArtist]

You get a sub for having Chris and joking around.

[@lisag2771]

I love your humor as much as you videos.

[@SwitchAndLever]

Thank you Lisa! Comments like yours warms my heart and makes doing all this worth it! 🙂

[@debaserNYC]

excellent video. I especially like the comments on clean up as other similar videos omit that part. thanks!

[@fynbo1007]

Thank you for sharing your amazing video.

[@kookyflukes9749]

Clickspring Chris. The engineered presicion voiceover. So clean..........sooooo clean and crisp. Nice etching btw.

[@mog-gyveroneill2500]

...me from the beach in Weston-super-Mare, England (much too cold!) !! Lol! I only own an ink jet printer, but a shed load of Sharpies, so will try this, everything will have brass labels!!

[@ifell3]

Hahahahaha

[@RedSmith]

Guess what I'm working on...?😊 Great tutorial and cool result. Well done Sir!

[@SwitchAndLever]

Hahaha! Shoooooow meeee!!! 😄

[@RedSmith]

Switch & Lever Sunday of everything goes well 😊

[@yourunclesam6780]

Awesome result.I di it!.Thanks

[@RRINTHESHOP]

Thank you for the review of the process, I have several projects i plan on doing this with.

[@SwitchAndLever]

Cool cool! Looking forward to seeing some! :)

[@citylockapolytechnikeyllcc7936]

Awesome video. I will link this to a forum of my peers

[@PeteBrubaker]

Beautiful work! The toner transfer method produces an amazing result. With such a high resolution, I bet you could do simple gradients and patterns using dithering. If it works well, it might be possible to do a dithered photograph.

[@SwitchAndLever]

Indeed, though I wouldn't do so high resolution. You can look at etched printing plates which were commonly used in letterpress printing up until the '80s for inspiration. I would recommend checking out the short movie "The Collection" on Vimeo, by Adam Roffman about a collection of old printing plates with some beautiful shots of plates displaying this halftone patterning. I think that quality is about the highest you can expect working.

[@DIYGarage_SoCal]

Nicely done!

[@xanderguldie]

Awesome video, I also saw a video where they uses a type of plastic foil designed to use for etching. It uses UV light to transfer the protective layer. This method was very easy to use.

[@SwitchAndLever]

Yeah, it's called a UV resist, and does offer a little better result, but it requires the film and a source of UV light. The sun works, but is not reliable.

[@Geckomayhem]

I like how you can do this with just a laser printer, ferric chloride, enamel paint, and sandpaper. Very DIY!

[@grantrettke4851]

Thanks for the detail and also how to safely dispose of the copper.

[@nowayjerk8064]

happy new year and thanks for sharing

[@GetHandsDirty]

Love it! I want to try this out :D

[@SwitchAndLever]

Do it! You make amazing stuff already I'd love to see what you make with this!

[@mrdavidurquhart]

THIS is how you show how to make something. Bravo!!

[@MLFranklin]

Really cool process and video.

[@hohmmicrophones]

This is the most comprehensive and informative video on this topic i've seen. I've been using the toner transfer method on aluminium for the branding on my product, and am thinking of offering a premium brass version so it's awesome to discover I can use similar processes. Also I never thought of using a laser to create the mask on a painted coating. I think i've gotta start using this approach as the printer and heating method has a high failure rate for me due to 'ghosting' and pinholes. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge :)

[@SwitchAndLever]

My pleasure! I checked out your stuff and you make some really high quality and gorgeous microphones! Let me know how it works out for you 🙂

[@brba]

Inkjet won't work, this is done with a laser printer. Laser toner is a thermoplastic that can be transferred with heat or solvent, inkjet ink is not.

[@westonmeans7321]

Lol I came here from watching the etching video on Clickspring with the photo resist. This seems like a really good DIY alternative if you don't want a whole setup.

[@MLFranklin]

Great video. Thanks for sharing it.

[@TheDutyPaid]

So happy to see the printer method worked so well. Now everyone has a laser to play with.

[@ianSapo]

Best anime crossover : Switch & Lever and Clickspring

[@DaniloAbrao20]

Amazing video! You give me a great idea with paint and laser. I will test it.

[@evilutionltd]

A 4th option that I used was to cut the design on a vinyl cutter, stick it to the metal and etch. Same way I did a few PCBs too.

[@ryanbarker5217]

i was wondering if that would work. the ex kept our trophy/plaque shop and she does tons of vinyl, mostly for shirts, but can do other materials, too. we could use an oxidizing solution on brass plates that would turn the engraved parts black very quickly.

[@Cactusworkshopchannel]

excellent video 100%!! super cool to include the whole lifetime of the project (disposal and recycling) fantastic! why did the special laser paint fail? again super great job

[@SwitchAndLever]

I honestly don't know. I'm guessing something in the paint was attacked by the acid. The coating bonds with the brass (or steel) which it is laser etched onto, and it's tough to the point of needing to be sanded off if you want it gone. My assumption is that whatever they use to make this special paint doesn't hold up to ferric chloride. I did another test off camera and had the same result, so all things considered it's most definitely an issue with the paint+acid.

[@TheRecreationalMachinist]

Like that. Thanks for sharing! 🇬🇧

[@timberdish]

Very cool!! Great vid man :-)

[@ifell3]

When I use this method I will be posting a link in my video to this useful piece of resource!!

[@reforzar]

Brilliant!

[@recurveninja]

Using the closed-cell foam as a float is very clever. Another thing that will speed up etching is agitation - either mechanically (stirring or tilting) or with an aquarium bubbler. Parts that sit still etch slower because the etchant in contact with a given surface becomes saturated and thus etches slower, so you want to give it a swish to make sure that "stale" etchant is getting replaced frequently. Another option for exposing photoresist, used by some who make PCBs, is to use a dry-film photoresist that gets ironed or laminated on, and then exposing it with an MSLA 3d resin printer.

[@martin.musale]

Beautiful !!

[@que_dijo]

this si well explained, thank you brother! GruSSe

[@usamazahid1]

Excellent video

[@rajoooprakash2465]

wow! Amazing! Video... I Thank you very much. Really helpful video for starting hobby as business! please do post more... Rajoo

[@doc.voltold4232]

Will use this on my kt120 tube amp. Thanks mate. Subbed

[@SwitchAndLever]

Cool! Would love to see the results! Shoot me a message when you've made it 🙂

[@Mosfet510]

I've used glossy photo paper for pcb's and it worked well and was wondering if it would work on brass too? I got a pack of them at the $ store and it worked first time for the circuit boards with the iron on process. Good video.

[@syedalishanzaidi1]

Beautifully done video, very instructive and useful for people wanting to try it out for themselves. I have learned a great deal from it, and may want to try it out one day. Thank you very much!! I have a question here: If I had a sheet of A4 or A3 size paper with printed text on it, can it be engraved onto a copper plate using your techniques? Please respond. Thank you.

[@SargonKasto]

Åh herregud vilket bra avsnitt!

[@ISTOmaker]

Very good, thanks.

[@glennextra]

excellent instruction !!!

[@darwi4]

This is perfect for my needs. I have many sign plates that would have cost an arm and a leg to have made in order to comply with boat safety regs. I will get a laser printer and make them myself. (May also look at the cost of a small vinyl letter cutter as one of the responses mentions good results.)

[@adolfogomez-herrera1348]

great will be trying Friday.

[@JohnMadeit]

Daniel i knew you was a good guy because you contact me after a silly comment about the make knife on the we like to make stuff group . (i missed a a email about filling a form and you help me) but im so glade i found your video lots of details on how to do the process 👍🙂🤘 you rock

[@SwitchAndLever]

Haha! Thanks man!

[@joshwarner5676]

The clickspring cameo was spot on

[@muhammadmerajuddin6012]

wonderful nice ,well done sir

[@Badgerworkshop]

That is great. Now I want a plaque on everything I make.

[@SwitchAndLever]

I can only recommend it! It really classes up everything!

[@theelectromechanic5114]

Haha i love the Clickspring reference!:) I noticed at 10:32 you said that you could sprinkle baking soda on there too neutralize the acid, wich is correct. But well im swedish too so i recognized the can you were pouring from, that looked a lot like a bakpulver can and that's a mix of bikarbonat (baking soda) and citric acid! So it will foam and fizz in contact with water not acid! Because there is already acid in powdered form in there!!

[@SwitchAndLever]

You are correct about the baking powder, and what was in the can once. These days I'm just using it as a canister for baking soda so I don't have to use the big 1kg box of it. It's a bit more practical :)

[@reilly3771]

I'm curious as to what grit sandpaper you used? I seem to have a lot of scratches on mine. The polishing compounds will remove the paint.

[@Mr.Flo.Official]

You should agitate the chemistry. Being an surface oxidation process you need the mechanical action on the surface. Also would suggest adding som HCl to the mix :D Try to heat up to 54 C to get an optimum reaction - and for a smooth surface maybe try to get the acid slightly saturated with Cu :) Anyway, love your innovative ideas :) Would love to connect!

[@enriquegonzalez2802]

Superb!

[@JaakkoF]

One method more is to do as in making a PCB. You spray the positive or negative etch resist on to your part and let it dry. Then have the design printed on a transparent sheet as black as you can get. Put the print against the etch resistant surface, shine UVA light on it enough (experimenting needed, usually 5-10 mins), remove the transparent sheet, develope the etch resist in sodium hydroxide solution (lye) and finally etch away :) Works always, doesn't creep under the resist much.

[@SwitchAndLever]

Yes, this is the traditional way of doing it, however the method I showcase doesn't require any special materials or tools. You can even forgo the laminator and use a clothes iron instead.

[@jjbailey01]

Most of the UV/photo resist materials will expose in simple sunlight. No special light exposure setup needed. And if spraying stuff isn't your thing, photoresist film is available. This also has the benefit of being able to reuse your printout. You can use inkjet or laser printer to print on transparency film. You could even use dot-matrix if you still have one of those. This method is less specialty tool intensive since you don't need a heat source other than the sun. This may be difficult for cave dwellers though.

[@Dosbomber]

I like the idea of suspending the plaque (or in my case, usually circuit boards) in the acid with a piece of floating foam. Not sure if it'll hold up to the Muriatic and Peroxide etching brew I use, but I'll give it a shot next time. :)

[@SwitchAndLever]

Well unless it attacks plastics I think you'd be pretty safe. Just make sure the foam you use is closed cell foam so it doesn't absorb your "brew". The stuff that oftentimes comes packaged around electronics these days (as opposed to styrofoam of old) works really well.

[@johngardiner8847]

Not sure if this was a comedy or a how to video- excellent video all in all!

[@gerisyandrayusman241]

Thanks from Java Indonesia!!