Anyone do anything of this sort? I've just started playing around with this in anticipation for creative ideas... Here was my first proof of concept (in a sense) which is .040" mill finish aluminum.
Acid etching on gl*** is very easy.....not sure about on metal. Hobby Lobby sells the stuff for gl***. Carl
We did this kind of stuff in school, honestly the acid is very fickle, each metal requires a different type and the depth of the etch is minute. If you're just trying to get a different "color" or finish with the etch sandblasting is much easier. The cut masks are fairly inexpensive and you can actually get a deeper etch to it which will allow you more artistic freedom.
Here's another great tech on a different forum: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=360205
I used cut vinyl as the mask (since I work at such a shop) and then poured 31% HCl onto the piece. This was exposed for maybe 2-3 minutes. I think if leave it go for a good 10-15 minutes I'll get the depth I'm looking for. My brother races a dirt car and I always do the graphics for the car, and I'm sick of the wraps and vinyl cut decals so we we're brainstorming different ideas to be different, since he does all of the fabricating work himself. We came to the conclusion that doing the car body in this, putting the mask down and then acid etching would be pretty unique. I'll make a paste out of the HCl and then we can brush it on rather than submerging or pouring. I could probably do this sandblasting but I'd have to replace the mask a few times during the process where as the acid wont eat through the vinyl in such a short time. Afterwords I was thinking of rubbing in some sort of paint or something that over the course of a couple of months would slowly start to run tarnish the sides a bit more. The end goal won't be readability, or clarity, but uniqueness...
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