I need to replicate the lower rocker panel finish mouldings on my FV . The original panel is made from a polished anodized soft aluminum sheet (.030) that has a lined pattern photo chemically etched/milled into the panel . I was able to laser cut the pattern into some stainless but the stainless gives the panel to shiny of an appearance and the vendor only will work with stainless. I have talked to several vendors that have the ability to do the etching/milling process here in Chicago but there is a problem in that their tanks are only 48" long and the panels are 80". They have told me that they are unaware of anyone with larger tanks anywhere in the midwest. Does anyone have any expierence with this process or know of anyone capable of helping. Is this etching/milling something that can be done by myself without to much of a problem. Will post photo shortly Thanks Larry
You could ask the etching guru on this site. Forgive me but I've forgotten his screen name - he is often on the art forums, and recently had a thread about getting some local ink for his INCREDIBLE tombstone etching. Check it out. Hope this helps.
Chemical milling is a pretty neat special process, it is used extensively in the aerospace industry. You can mill just about any alloy if you have the proper acids. Caustic and nitric acids are used for aliminum and titanium etching and milling. You protect the area not to be milled with a spray on protectant, you can mill various depths by removing the protectant in stages. The Quality Assurance Lab in most aircraft plants, verifies the strength of the acid at various intervals, it tells the operator how long to sumerge the marerial to erode away however much material you wish to remove. Getting a commercial job into the Lockheed or Boeing plant might be an issue, but most commercial non-destructive testing shops have etch tanks as well. Anyone that does magnetic particle (magnaflux) or dye penetrant work, might be able to help you out. They would have the etch tanks but might not have the spray-on masking material. The aircraft plants have huge tanks, they chem mill all the aircraft outer skins to save weight. Try an Air Force Reserve wheel and tire shop, they use acid tanks to strip the aircraft wheel periodically to test for cracks.
Larry: I memory serves me correctly, aren't those areas about 1/4" wide and the length of the panel? If so, would it be possible to get some sign painters spray mask and lay it out and lightly sandblast the stripe into the panel? I know it wouldn't be authentic, but might work visually.
I've thought about something like that but thought I'd give it a last effort to try to remain as original as possible. Lines are 1mm wide etched every 5mm. The panel width is approximately 10 1/2 " tall by 80" in length. Larry
not in the midwest, but i've talked with these guys before. you might try them. don't know what their capabilities are, size wise. http://www.techetch.com/
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