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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #31  
Old 03-21-2001, 05:52 PM
CKDadmin
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Well, you can make the image a jpeg and send it in e-mail attachment to forum@customknifedirectory.com

Then, come over here and write up the post in a thread and I'll add your images right to the thread you made, just behind you.

Alex
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  #32  
Old 03-21-2001, 05:55 PM
Bob Warner
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OK, I'm working on it.
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  #33  
Old 03-21-2001, 09:16 PM
Bob Warner
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HOW TO MAKE AN ELECTRO-ETCH PHOTO RESIST EXPOSURE UNIT

The following text and drawings will explain how I made and use my exposure unit for making my own stencils for Electro-etching my logo as well as other art onto knife blades.

First, let me say that it took a long time for me to get the information required to understand how the process works. After I figured it out, I was disappointed that it was so simple and I felt rather intellectually challenged. However, when I would talk to companies and ask how this works, they would only offer to sell me a system for $400-$2000. Nobody would share the process and I could not find it on the Internet anywhere. I talked with several places and got parts of the process from each, then I had the entire process. I now share this with anyone that can find it useful. I hope that it will allow some of you to avoid the headache of research and will help you avoid the cost of having the stencils made commercially.

This is NOT my area of expertise so if anyone knows this topic technically, you may disagree with my terminology. However, my terminology will get the concept across to those that need it and besides, I AM SHARING, YOU ARE NOT.

What you need to make a stencil:
1. Exposure unit
2. Photo-resist (the actual stencil material)
3. Mask (your logo or artwork printed onto a clear plastic sheet)
4. LOTS of Ultraviolet light (fluorescent light)


HOW IT WORKS, THE BASICS:
The photo-resist material is a light sensitive material that is attached to both sides of a piece of silk. When exposed to ultraviolet light it becomes ?SET? or ?Stable?. What we have to do is to ?SET? the parts we want to set and not set the other parts. The way we set this stuff up is to expose it to ultraviolet light in a controlled manner and ?MASK? those areas (your logo) that you do not want to set. After masking your logo and then exposing the photo-resist to the light, you develop the photo-resist. This developing cleans out the masked area, leaving your logo open to pass the etching solution through the silk to etch your logo. When this is complete, you can use it to mark knives.


In a drawing below, you will see that I have a box. My box happens to be about 12?X12? square and about 6? tall with a hinged lid on it. Mine is made of metal but you can use any material you want. My first one was made of wood. I like the metal better but you may have difficulty finding a box that is just right.

Read this entire description before starting work. To explain the box requires me to give a description that is not a step-by-step procedure. Please read and understand the information and proceed in your own manner.

Inside the box, I made another box out of wood. Actually, I made a front and top, and used the big box for the bottom, back and sides. I cut a hole in the top of the smaller box. Make sure this hole is a little bigger than any anticipated logo/mark you plan on making.

I personally made mine big enough to make stencils that say ?In Memory? or ?Happy 25th Anniversary?. This can be pretty big but big is not a problem, you can?t make it to big so don?t worry about that.

I completely lined the small box with aluminum foil (shiny side showing), including the bottom side of the (small) box top. This is to bounce the light around in the little box and make as much light as possible go up through the opening in the top.

Next, you need to get two pieces of glass that are the same size of the little box top (or close). I used duct tape to tape one piece of glass to the small box top and another piece of duct tape to tape the second piece of glass on top of the first. The top piece of glass needs taped only on the back edge so that the tape will act as a hinge, allowing you to lift the top piece of glass.

Now a sponge or piece of foam rubber needs glued to the top of the BIG box. It needs to be a little larger than the opening in the top of the small box and thick enough to ?SQUISH? against the glass a little when the lid is closed. This will put a little pressure on the glass and block off the light around the photo-resist.

POWER:
Inside the small box, I mounted a regular light bulb receptacle for an incandescent light. I mounted a switch on the front of the box for turning it on and off and ran the power cord out the back.

THE LIGHT:
This is VERY important. The light MUST be fluorescent but small enough to fit into your little box. I bought one of those fluorescent lights that replace regular light bulbs. It is a tube but bent back over itself and is about 10 inches long. Get the highest wattage you can find. Get a white light only.




THE PROCESS:
Design your logo. I design mine on my computer, you can do it by hand if you use a marker that will not allow light to pass through it. I print my logo onto clear plastic sheets, the same stuff used for overhead projectors (at your real job). If you use a laser printer, you are done. If you use an ink jet printer, make sure you get plastic that is made for ink jet printers or your logo will smear. You can buy this clear plastic at any office supply store. If you make lines that are REAL small/thin, you may have difficulty in developing, as the thin line may not mask good enough. You will just have to experiment with your design. The bottom line here is that your logo MUST block the light from getting to the photo-resist during exposure.

Cut out your logo (MASK) and place it between the two pieces of glass (so that you can read it).


Cut a piece of photo-resist big enough to hold your logo and leave some area around it to protect your blade. If your logo is ?? X 1? I would cut my piece about 1 ?? X 2?. This will give you enough left around the edges to tape your stencil to the blade.

Put your photo-resist material on top of the MASK and make sure it is all lined up and centered. Put the top piece of glass down on top of them both and make sure nothing moved. If you are happy with the setup, close the lid on the big box; ?squish? the sponge a little. This holds everything flat and firmly in place.

Turn on your light and keep track of the length of exposure time (more about this later). After exposing is complete, turn off the light and remove the protective plastic coating that is on BOTH sides of the photo-resist material. Put you exposed stencil into the developer (more about this later also). After the stencil is developed, rinse it off in cool clear water and pat dry with lint free cloth.

You now have a stencil ready for use.


NOTES:
The exposure time is difficult to determine. It all depends on how bright your light is, how close it is to the photo-resist, how well the light bounces around inside the little box, how sensitive the photo-resist is as well as other possible influences. I would recommend about three minutes exposure to start and you can then determine through experimentation how to modify for better results.

Developing time is equally difficult to determine. I would suggest about four minutes and swish the developer around the entire time to wash the unexposed particles away. Modify for results as required.

These unspecified times are not that difficult to determine. I made about three small stencil attempts before I got it right. Make your first tries small so you don?t waste photo-resist, as it is quite expensive. Record your times on every try and you will zero in quickly.


THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Yellow light does not set the photo-resist material. Use a yellow incandescent light when cutting and setting up your stencil in preparation for exposure. Mine is mounted right over my stencil making area and I turn off all other lights and cover my windows throughout the ENTIRE process from start to finish. Sunlight will set the photo-resist that is why the windows are covered.
Protect the completed stencil from future UV rays or it will get brittle. Store it inside a light-blocking container.
Protect your unexposed photo-resist. I keep mine stored in the same container it is sent to me in. This is usually just black plastic wrapped around it and taped to a piece of cardboard.



This process works well for me and I get stencils that I can use repeatedly. I make the special stencils if they are asked for, charging a little more. I tell my customers that I will have to create a stencil that I will never use again (?Happy Graduation Bill,? is an example). They never seem to mind paying a little extra for the stencil.

I hope that this explanation is clear enough for you to follow. I have had a friend of mine who is a beginning knife maker read it and he seems to understand it so hopefully everyone else will understand it as well. The picture should help clear up any possible confusion that the text does not explain. If there are any questions, please post them on the forum AND e-mail me so I will be sure to know about them. I will answer them on the forum so everyone can see the answers.

I would appreciate feedback on this sharing of information so I will know how completely I conveyed my thoughts and to see how useful the information was to the other knife makers out there. If anyone learns more information on this topic or improves the method in any way, I would appreciate that you share it also. I also think that there may be others that don?t read the forums here that may be interested in this information so please feel free to ?COPY AND SHARE? this information as you wish.

I DO NOT claim any copyright at all to this text or diagram; it belongs to the knife making community of which I am proud to be a part.




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  #34  
Old 03-22-2001, 07:27 AM
Bob Warner
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Mike,
Thanks for your offer of assistance in getting the picture up. Alex took care of it.
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  #35  
Old 03-22-2001, 08:33 AM
Don Cowles
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Thanks, Bob. Great contribution for those who want to pursue the "do it yourself" path!
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  #36  
Old 03-22-2001, 04:06 PM
george tichbourne
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I have been successful for the past year using an incadescent lightbulb for burning in screens. Exposure takes a bit of time to get right. If you encounter trouble washing out screens after exposure reduce your exposure times.
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  #37  
Old 03-22-2001, 04:56 PM
andy gascoigne
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As the person who started this thread I would like to take the oportunity to thank everyone for the Great Information.
I don't have enough hours in a day to complete all my projects as it is. As soon as one new tool's completed you guys come up with another idea and i'm of again !!!

Keep it up guy's..


Andy..

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  #38  
Old 03-23-2001, 09:13 AM
Mike Conner
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For anyone who is building the etchers, there is currently some graphite block material on ebay. They are selling lots consisting of 5 pounds of graphite blocks that range from 1/2 to 1 inch thick. Seems like you could get a lot of etching blocks from one of these lots. Just food for thought.
Mike
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  #39  
Old 04-20-2001, 12:34 AM
Frank Niro
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Assuming you have a stencil and the proper electrolite for the type of steel a very simple very effective etcher can be made in the following manor. Cut a piece of 416 or 3o4 about 3/8" x 1" x 2" long. Certainly you can clean up the whole thing but be particular about the 3/8" x 1" area and go to a polished or near polished condition. In the opposite end attach a softer type piece of wire 18" or so in lenghth. Take a piece of copper of say 4" long 1"x1/4" and attach another piece of similar wire and lenghth to one end. Place a strip of felt- the kind that is common- 3/8" wide over the polished end of the stainless steal with an elastic band. Placing notches on each side of this wand can help. Attach the wire of the wand to the minus ( - ) side of a 6 volt flashlite battery or charger. Attach the end of the wire from the copper plate to the plus (+ ) side of the battery . Place the knife on the copper plate attach the stencil with scotch tape. Moisten - do not soak- the felt pad on the wand . Bring the wand end in contact with the stencil, and count 1,2,3, and remove the wand. Do this probably three times, check your transfer by lifting the end of the stencil and repeat if necessary. Flooding the area out to the edges of the stencil will produce an etch around the outside edge. Not lifting the wand will burn the stencil and smudge the image. Heat is created! Sure simple isn't it and it sure works swell. Afer several uses the polished end of the wand will be darkened with a slight etch. Simply clean with some fine steel wool. Lots of voltage will also cause stencil burn out and smudged images. Frank.
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  #40  
Old 08-05-2001, 05:54 AM
Robjenk
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I would also like to make an etching machine so that I can mark the tools that I make. So if you get these plans scanned would you send me a copy please.
Rob
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  #41  
Old 08-06-2001, 09:07 PM
Frank Niro
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Etching machine


You can build a fine. simple to operate and shock free machine for about $15.00 max. I posted this before but it was sort of hiden. Anyway you do need a stencil and the proper type of electrolyte. Yuo can buy those sort of rubber type stencils that the etch o matic uses-a very poor operating short lasting machine by the way.
Get a 6 volt flashlite battery- the kind with the knobs that screw down on the posts and attatch soft type pieces of wire about 18" long ( just for convienience of use) to each post. On the end of the wire that comes from the +(plus) terminal attach a ground plate of say copper 2" or 3" long. To the wire attatched to the -- (minus) post you need to attach a small hand piece. You can make this up out of a piece of 304, 416, 316, or probably Ats-34 or 440-C although I haven'tn tried the last two.The hand piece should not be large- a good working size is sa 3/8 x 1" x ! 3/4" long. The one end shold be finished down nicely- I like to polish this end. About 3/16 up from this finished end cut a grove on each end. A strip of felt is cut to cover this end and that will reach up each side far enough so that an elastic band or "0" ring can be used to keep the felt on. If you thread a screw into the opposite end it will be super easy to attatch that minus lead. Place your blade on the ground plate, position your stencil with some scotch tape , wet the felt with electrolyte but do not get it sopping wet, Now bring the hand piece down on the stencil and count 1,2,3, slowly and raise the hand piece and repeat twice more. Lift the edge of the stencil and check your print. You can lower the stencil and sort of touch up a lite spot if neccesary. The best of stencils can be used with this system without fear of destroying them however here are a couple of things not to do. If you leave the hand piece down to long you will more than likely get a blurded print and you can also burn your stencil. Lots of voltage will do the same thing. So much electrolye that it speads around the stencil will cause an etch all around the edge of the stencil. This is simplicity plus designed by a friend of mine who was an electrician.Electrolyte made for stainless steel will etch carbon steel to a blur so get the one for the job . As I said you won't get shocked with this either. Frank Niro
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  #42  
Old 08-06-2001, 09:15 PM
Frank Niro
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Etcher


Well I guess In my wish to help out I doubled up. I wish that was the only mistake I made today. I appologize to you all Frank Niro.
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  #43  
Old 08-07-2001, 06:54 AM
Robjenk
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Re: Etcher


G'day Frank
I did see your original message and I thank you for your help But I really wanted to make a more up market modelwith a few more bells and whistles. So I was hoping some one might have a set of plans that I could borrow.
By the way Guys this really is a great site, Being new to the internet I am finding the amount of information you can get is really amazing. I can also see that I'm very soon to be hooked on knife making
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