December 24th, 2009

Etching 101 – Graphic transfer & Touch-up

Before applying the transfer to the enclosure, it’s important to make sure that it’s clean of any dirt, oil from your hands, and any other crud that will muck up the transference. I use a small amount of lighter fluid and a napkin, but rubbing alcohol will also work.


Don't go overboard, just use a little put on the napkin

Don't go overboard, just use a little put on the napkin

You should see the dirt come off onto the napkin. It’s important not to touch the top after cleaning it. Bring it straight to the ironing board, and place the transfer onto it. Tip: If you’re having problems with the transfer sliding around, lightly rub the shiny side on yer noggin. Static electricity will help it cling.

It’s now time to transfer. Bust out the iron, set it on medium (make sure the steamer is off), and wait for it to heat up. Once it’s up to temp, begin by placing the iron straight down on one side of the transfer.


iron01

Anchor the transfer with light pressure

Leave it there for about 15 seconds to help anchor the transfer to the enclosure. Then, with light pressure, slowly move the iron towards the other side. About 30 seconds total for this first pass with the iron. Your transfer should now be fairly stuck to the enclosure. Now’s a good time to push any air bubbles to the edge (or drilled holes) and out, or to any large black (masked) areas. Those areas can always be painted over in the next step, and it’s important to preserve the areas with detail.

Pay special attention to the corners, as they’re the most common problem areas.

Make sure each corner gets a good amount of time

Make sure each corner gets a good amount of time

After about 10-15 minutes of ironing, it’s time to cool the sucker off. Take it over to the sink and rinse it under cold water for about 60 seconds.


Incidently one of my favorite photos in this tutorial.

Incidently one of my favorite photos in this tutorial.

« Part 2 | Part 4 ⨠

by Preston | Posted in TUTORIALS | 3 Comments » | Tags: ,


3 Comments »

Comment by Howard
  • Hey Preston,
    Thanks for answering my question on part one. Here is one for this part of the procedure. Instead of making a photocopy of the graphic, could the Press N Peel be run (and printed) through a laser printer instead (assuming you have one)? Isn’t the toner the same (or similar) to a photocopy? This would save a step, and be a bit more acurate.
    Thanks again for this.

    January 15, 2010 @ 6:54 AM
  • Comment by Chris
  • Hi!
    I realize you don’t update this place, but I still wanted to give it a shot….

    I took “the step” and ordered the stuff that is required for a PNP to etch-whatever. Great tutorial on that one by the way.

    I’ve got two issues at this point though:
    1: my PNP wont “do the job” on the whole surface, i was anal with the ironing but still it gave me semi-crap resuts – please explain this part of the tutorial in greater detail….
    2: My etching got pretty f’d up. My guess that the reasons of failiure is
    a) to exposed to the acid mix.
    b) Bad P’N'P-mask (see above)

    Please get back to me.
    Epic DIY Love,
    Chrstian from Sweden

    July 31, 2010 @ 5:40 PM
  • Comment by Preston
  • Hello Christian-

    Make sure you are removing any bubbles when first ironing the PnP onto the enclosure. The black parts where there is toner will start to stick to the enclosure pretty quickly, so it’s best to push the air bubbles to any blue parts of the transfer, or ideally out from under the transfer entirely.

    As to your second problem, it all depends on how long you exposed, what temperature, and the detail of the transfer. If you have fine detail, you’ll want to expose for short amounts of time, rinse, and repeat. Remember, if the acid bath is warm enough (for instance, if you’re doing outside on a summer day), it will become more active, and therefore less controllable. If you find you’re still losing too much detail, try using enamel paint (or even nail polish) to thicken up the mask in parts you find are being destroyed.

    Hope that helps you out in some way. Best of luck!

    -Preston

    August 23, 2010 @ 5:01 PM
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