{"id":1285,"date":"2015-04-30T16:09:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T20:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.pratt.edu\/open-source\/?p=351"},"modified":"2015-04-30T16:09:16","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T20:09:16","slug":"simple-plating-or-etching-power-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/?p=1285","title":{"rendered":"Simple Plating or Etching Power Supply"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I threw together this simple power supply for electroplating, anodizing,&nbsp; or etching metal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas3.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s really not much to it so I used a cheapie electrical box from Home Depot<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas1.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A quick test with a vinyl stencil and a knife. I used vinyl self adhesive shelf paper and a knife from the dollar store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas4.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Normally I would use painters tape to transfer the letters to the work but in this case I peeled off the stencil in one piece leaving behind the letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas5.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll leave this side blank and just cover it with a piece of vinyl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas6.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dip it in the water with a pinch of salt to get the current flowing. Since I want to etch the knife its connected to the positive lead. the negative lead is connected to a scrap of #10 copper wire formed into a loop at the bottom of the jar. It only takes a couple of minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas7.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I went back and built this bigger version with an amp meter so I can watch the current as I do pieces with a larger surface area. I used a 25 amp transformer and bridge even though I&#8217;ll never need more than 8 amps or so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas8.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This one easily runs 3-5 amps without even getting warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas10.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This time I used both halves of the stencil to see which I like better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas9.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Etching Aluminum is much dirtier than steel and you need to use a lower current or you&#8217;ll get some pretty bad gouging in the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/canvas11.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I sprayed it with some black paint then hit it with the belt sander to really bring out the detail. Some red auto paint would have been nicer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/IMG_3617.JPG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The knives came out pretty good but the current was a bit high. On the smaller one I cut more than half way through the blade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/IMG_3611.JPG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Using some copper sulfate instead of the table salt and reversing the polarity did a nice job of copper plating these 2 nickels&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/IMG_3616.JPG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The next one is going to be a round medallion for a necklace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/es.pratt.edu\/Commons\/Images\/technology\/etching\/IMG_3583.JPG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I threw together this simple power supply for electroplating, anodizing,&nbsp; or etching metal. There&#8217;s really not much to it so I used a cheapie electrical box from Home Depot A quick test with a vinyl stencil and a knife. I used vinyl self adhesive shelf paper and a knife from the dollar store. Normally I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kornequipped.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}