Enlighten me...An electro etch question.

T

techna

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Dec 10, 2005
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Well after almost destroying my latest blade with my tang stamp, I have vowed to never use it again. The design was amateurish anyway, being more reflective of what I thought was "cool" when I was a 22 year old. I have decided that I want to mark my blades with an etcher now, and need the advice of those that use them. What I would like to know about is the Etch-o-Matic. These things cost like only 85 bucks or so, but do they work well? Do they work at least as good as the home built rigs I have seen the various tutorials discuss? I really have very little interest in building my own even though such a project is something I could accomplish easily, but I would do it if the home builts perform on the order of the vastly more expensive models I have seen. If an 85 dollar electro etcher provides the same quality mark as a home built, then spending the money is an easy choice over building. If the results are at least 95% of a 400 dollar unit, then again, Etch-O Matic it is for me. On the other hand, I will either build, or drop the "big" bucks to obtain a significantly better end result.
Any input or thoughts from someone having been down this road would be greatly appreciated.
 
I use a unit I bought off of ebay and get very servicable etches. Its all about dwell time and allowing the stencil to cool down after every 15seconds of etching.
Chris
 
I use an Etch-O- Matic. The machine woorks well. I highly recomend getting professionally made stencils. I was ready to trash mine, got some new pads and pro made stencils now it works well.
 
I get my stencils made from http://tustech.com/ and they're always very fast service and GREAT quality. Their stencils are designed around being used in automated etchers for thousands of etches each.
 
I use a Personaliser etching machine with stencils I had made up by Ernie Grospitch. Both work great for me, and Ernie is a really pleasant fella to do business with too.
 
Thanks everyone for the responses.
Patrice,
I remember seeing that tutorial once before, and I must admit that after scanning it again, I am more amiable to building than before. I knew it was a simple process, but for some reason I expected the resulting device to be simplistic. Looking again, I see the completed machine is really nice. Better still, the potential exists to build a very polished and professional (as in stupidly overbuilt) machine. That just may present the kind of challenge I cant ignore. :) I do need to do more than scan the tutorial, but it looks as though there are no specific instructions for using that particular etcher. I am assuming that they would mirror those in the tutorial that Mike posted earlier in the thread?

Any more input on homebuilts? Heavier transformers? Anyone?
 
I built and use the Crawford etcher as well. I added a switch into the plans that allows me to switch from 24V (as it is wired in the tutorial) to 12V. I seem to burn through my stencils less on the 12V setting, and the etches are just as nice.

The way it's wired up in the tutorial has the negative lead being red and the positive lead being black. Kind of confusing, but as long as you use it correctly (negative to the etching pad and positive clipped to the blade), you will be fine. I use a light salt water solution as etching fluid. I also use Qtips for a little added control and improved gassing off. dip the end of the Qtip in the fluid, dab away excess wetness with a towel and clip the negative lead to the damp cotton tip. I make a pass dabbing briefly to the blade (probaby 1/2 second) about 4 times per area of the Qtip over the entire stencil, repeat, and then switch to AC for a similar process. Others use felt etching pads with longer holds. Play on some scrap to determine what works best for you. You usually have some bleed through of the etching fluid with discoloration around the edges of the stencil, but it's nothing that doesn't clean up really nicely with a high grit paper on a hard backing. If you have a polished blade, you'll have to change the cleanup a bit. Be careful as the black inside the etch will easily be removed if you're not careful.

--nathan
 
Patrice, Ill see if I can find the schematic I used. It wasn't hard at all. It just uses a different lead off the transformer with a switch between the two. I'll post it this evening if I can find it.

--nathan
 
I used one of these switches...

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16081+SW

http://www.knives.mlogiudice.com/knifeshop/etcher/electro-etcher_circuit.pdf

Theres the schematic so folks can follow along.

The transformer has 3 lines coming off of it and the schematic tells you to use the outer one and the middle one for 12v output (assuming you have a 24v transformer). The outer line goes directly to one AC side of the rectifier, and the middle goes to the other AC side, right? Instead of hooking the middle line directly to the rectifier, I ran a line from the opposite AC side of the rectifier to the center tap on the switch, then take the middle line from the transformer and hook that up to one side of that switch... Then take the unused outer line on the transformer and hook it up to the other side of the switch. The way to remember which one is which is the three wires are 12v, 0v, 12v across. So, you get 12v when the switch in flipped to the center line, and 24v when flipped in the other direction.

Hope I explained it so folks can understand.
 
Last edited:
Longstrider said:
I use a Personaliser etching machine with stencils I had made up by Ernie Grospitch. Both work great for me, and Ernie is a really pleasant fella to do business with too.
Click to expand...

+1 I use a personalizer and Ernie's Stencils. I mark my stuff DEEP and have no issues.
 
That's the schematic I used as well, Gixxer. Thanks for posting so I didn't have to search tonight :).

--nathan
 
I built the crawford etcher and had the same problem of burning up stencils. I also found the schematic that Gixxer and Silver Pilate are using. 12 volts with a qtip is what I do and it works great.
 
if you are looking for a cheap etcher, then buy a 6 or 12 volt battery charger at wal-mart. you can even get 2 or 6 amp option in same charger.
 
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