Salt etching aluminium

Due to varied reasons (one of the main ones being a desire to create something), I wanted to try my hand at etching aluminium. I've had prior experience with it from one of the places that I used to work at and from College, but I was hoping to avoid having to use Ferric Chloride or other strong chemicals. After a bit of browsing I found that it is possible to do with salt water and a bit of electric current. That seemed like a better idea than to be using toxic chemicals (and then trying to dispose of them).

The first couple of prints failed because I was trying to print an Australian flag, but the detail was too fine. My very first print I rubbed the paper too hard and it ripped, so I scrubbed that one. The second one had many defects of missing toner or details covered by paper pulp. I used magazine paper, and that wasn't blank so some of the toner from that ended up filling in what was meant to be blank spaces.

For my third attempt at a print, I opted for large lettering, but even that was fairly dull and blurry once transferred onto the ali.

The setup … looked dodgy as anything!

Basically running a 5V DC power supply. A bit dodgy to have a stainless steel knife in a salt water bath along with the piece of aluminum being etched. I could see it not taking much fort things to shift around and get a short.

I did tape the knife to the side of the container to try and reduce the risk. Long term, I'd like to maybe get a holder 3D printed or something in order to make it safer and eliminate the chances of a short. But that's a long term thing - right now I'm trying to keep my costs down to a minimum. Current spend: $2. Not counting prior items that I already owned (such as a multimeter to check the polarity of the wires).

The result … is less than what I was hoping for.

I'm 95% certain that the reason for the failure was not enough toner on the print. I needed to use a destructive method (soaking in water) to remove the paper backing, I may need to explore other methods to get a cleaner deposit of the toner onto the aluminium. A pretty decent etch (depthwise, I mean) for only a few minutes of effort.

The end goal is nice crisp writing, and I think I am going to either need better transfer medium to get the toner onto the ali, or a better printer. I think buying toner is going to be my next step, unless I can find another option of paper I can use. Fingers crossed!

Start of 2019

I only managed 41 posts to my blog in 2018. That's well below my peak of 116 in 2015 (but well above my lowest of 4 in 2014!)

Projects for 2019: my Mum gave me a nifty little camcorder for Christmas, so I'm going to be trying my hand at doing a vlog on YouTube because I can. What I won't be doing is advertising it, I doubt anybody will be too interested in my ramblings. I have a plan to build a mini clapper board when we get home in case I need to sync sound and video.

Writing I'm going to be trying to work on. I don't get as much satisfaction out of it as I would have thought, which is probably why I don't do as much (or sit there staring at a blank document when I try).

Drawing I'm going to see how I go; it is one of those things that I like doing sort of, but don't have the passion to do it enough to get better at it. I used to be pretty good when I used to draw all the time as a kid, but lost the skill when I stopped.

I want to get some kind of physical hobby. I like the idea of painting but would much rather do it digitally as there is no "undo" with real paint if I stuff it up, plus I can't afford paints and stuff. I like working with my hands and making stuff, but I don't have the space to set up a workshop (or money to buy tools and materials). I really like remote control and would love to get into remote control cars and tanks and planes and stuff... but don't have the money for it (I'm seeing a trend here). RC cars need repairs and maintenance when they crash, planes need to be pretty much rebuilt or replaced if (when!) they crash, other rc stuff get really expensive the more rare they are. An rc sub would be awesome, but there aren't many places it can be used.

We'll see how I go. I don't do new years resolutions, this post is just me writing down things I'd like to do. But this is going to be a busy year with work, so it will be interesting to see how much (if any) I actually manage to get done.

FaceBook

If FB wanted an idea for a future feature, how about being able categorize friends? As in assign people you know into groups so the people who are important to you, you see all their posts and stuff they like. While people you just keep on your friends list "because" (such as a co-worker in another department you need to contact once a quarter, or that weird relative you don't really tolerate), those people you don't really see their posts and stuff.

Not sure I explained that very well... :/

Repost

I'd done a post earlier this week but hadn't posted it. Here it is:

So, the latest (rehashed) creative idea is to write out short stories, then create storyboard videos to upload.

Since I'll be recording all the dialogue in house (or on my phone) then there shouldn't be any copyright issues there. Music will be a bit harder, I don't really have a way of generating decent music. Might need to re-find that old site I found before for background music that is royalty free. Good old classical music should be a good source too.

Images shouldn't be an issue as I'll be (badly) drawing everything myself. And I won't be advertising it, this project is primarily for the fun of it.

I foresee the drawing part taking the longest, that would be the most time intensive part of the creation process. Short story ideas are easy enough to generate. So initially I'll stick to making them all stand alone stories that don't tie in together, but the long goal is to make a series of stories that interconnect in some way.

At least, that's the plan.

Again.