Custom photoetch, anyone?

Ahh.. That would have good to know about in your first post, lol..

http://www.ppdltd.com/web_site_3/page_1_intro.html

http://www.rbmodel.com/index.php?action=products&cat=c_ep&set=en

http://www.chemical-etching-machining.com/

Might get ya started in your search...

Also, don't rule out ads in Scale Auto Modeling:

http://www.scaleautomag.com/

Forums

http://cs.scaleautomag.com/scacs/forums/

Thanks to everybody for all the advice but, as usual, all the discussion of home photoetching has my head spinning. That's why I'm really looking for someone who does custom work. I use "off the shelf" etch when needed but what I have in mind is definitely not commercially available and probably never will be. My special interest, among many, is Studebaker automobiles. Particularly the Hawk line that was made in various forms from 1956 to 1964 and has been totally neglected by model manufacturers. I'd like to have the scripts and logos needed to create any year or model of Studebaker Hawk. Not a huge commercial appeal to something like that!

Hello!

My friend at work is a railroad modeller and does his own PE, even once made a little fret for me with five US pioneer tool racks in 1:35. His process looks like this: First he draws a layout of the parts in CorelDraw. While doing this you have to actually draw two times, one time for every side of the sheet, and they both will be etched to half-thickness of the material. You also haveto place markers to help align the sides later on and there are also lots of design constraints, like what's the minimum width of a part, or how much material you have to add in for bends and so on. Once the Corel drawings are done, he goes to a company who prints the black and white drawings on a special transparent foil. Offset printing also used to utilize such foils. They have black and clear fields. Then my friend sprays a sheet of brass with a photo-sensitive solution, attaches the foils and exposes the whole thing to ultraviolet light. The portions of the solution which have been under the clear fields get exposed to ultraviolet and can then be washed off, the solutio that has been under the black fields stays put. Then the brass sheet is immersed for etching in an etching solution, that can be bought at an electronics store, for making printed circuit boards. My friends controls the temperature and timing of the process carefully. After etching you just have to wash off the remaining photo-sensitive solution and you've just got yourself some unique PE. I, for myself, used to make printed circuit boards in a similar, although far less crude way, so it can be done - the most difficult part is to do each step of the process in a sure and neat way, because lots of things can go wrong otherwise.

Hope it helps, have a nice day

Paweł

Hans von Hammer

I'd wager, after giving the process some thought myself, that's it would be far more cost-effective to buy what you need off the rack, rather than make you own...

If it's something you need a lot of and often, like model ship railings, or 1/48-1/32 German, US and British rudder pedals, or seat and shoulder harness hardware and the like, it might be well worth it.   But if you just going make a P/E panel and throttle-quadrant levers for a certain kit one time, there are way to many of those already out there.. Better to buy off the shelf and "mix & match", IMHO...

It's fairly easy to make certain super-detail parts out of strip-stryene, also fine wire and solder, so explore those routes as well..

Buying PE off the rack is fine if you only build popular subjects.  However, I like to do some of the more obscure stuff, and it is unlikely anyone will do PE sets for that stuff.

I do a lot of scratch detailing, but sometimes, especially if the model as a lot of some fitting, like latches, or complex stuff like gratings, PE is the only reasonable way to do it.  If it is a larger, 3 dimensional part and I need a bunch of copies, I will do a resin mold and castings, which I find far simpler than homemade PE.  But for those small, thin things, a custom PE business would sure be welcome.

Years ago, I worked in an electronics lab and made prototype custom  photoetched printed circuit boards.  I had lots of very specialized, expensive professional equipment available there to do it.  While I got good results with that process, I cannot imagine doing it successfully in a modeler's shop at home.  I suggest you avoid it.

I'd wager, after giving the process some thought myself, that's it would be far more cost-effective to buy what you need off the rack, rather than make you own...

If it's something you need a lot of and often, like model ship railings, or 1/48-1/32 German, US and British rudder pedals, or seat and shoulder harness hardware and the like, it might be well worth it.   But if you just going make a P/E panel and throttle-quadrant levers for a certain kit one time, there are way to many of those already out there.. Better to buy off the shelf and "mix & match", IMHO...

It's fairly easy to make certain super-detail parts out of strip-stryene, also fine wire and solder, so explore those routes as well..

I have been thinking of approaching some companies that do custom electronic circuit boards, since it is the same process, but just have not done it.

As to making your own, I have tried everything I have seen about making your own, and avoid it like a plague.  The non-photographic processes (toner transfer and such) do not do as sharp and detailed parts, and the Micro Mark set that is  a photo-lithographic method is really tedious and time consuming.  So if I find someone who will do custom PE from my graphics at a reasonable price, I'll sure use them.

To me it sounds like accepting customer graphics for PE is a lot easier than custom decals. I assume the only hitch would be to make sure customer art has all parts connected to fret so pieces do not fall out in the etching bath :-(  Also, enough pixels to ensure sharp detail.

I have no special knowledge, but...

#1: /themes/fsm/forums/thread.aspx?ThreadID=11237&PostID=98998&PermaPostID=98998 "How do you make photoetched parts at home?" (Dec 2003)

#2: How to Build Scale Models, Scale Modeling Handbook No. 15 (1992), pp 71-73: "Photoetching for modelers"

The references were two Kodak information pamphlets: No. G-184, Photofabrication with Kodak Resists, and No. G-185, Characteristics of Kodak Photoresists. Amazon says: "Out of Print--Limited Availability." (I demand time for alternate explanation to qualified verifiable facts.)

In the words of David Bowie, “My brain hurts a lot.”