What's the cheapest way to etch a maker's mark?

the best i can think of...IF u have a steady hand is a dremel ...they are cheap and if u make a little pattern our of something or sign them then it wont be hard at all thats what i use at least..but thats because its just what i have...and i just do my initials.
 
I believe so. I tried it on a stainless leatherman knockoff and it worked great on that too. You could probably do it before or after. I left it on for awhile and it's deep! Come to think of it, the piece I tried it on was just a section of leaf spring that hadn't been annealed yet.
 
the pics in the link show that the etched knife already had the handle pinned on, it musta been hardened
 
Indeed it was hardened.Marking and final sharpening are my last steps.
Thanks for posting the link Mike :)
 
Glade to help :)

I often wonder if this method couldn't be adapted to work with the stecils used for other etching machines.


-- Mike P. --
 
Beile said:
I got bored today and started playing with Glenn Moulton's idea and thanks Traxx for the link,
really works well, I just need to get some professional stencils. (Can you tell I got in a hurry?) I used a piece of packing tape with the a B and an L cut into it then remove the small pieces and leave the steel covered with the rest, pull the tape off when you're done. My solution was just vinegar and salt and dab it on and hold it and it burn right in, it goes deep! I have a 12v charger from something (I have a drawer full from throwing away stuff but always keeping the power supply.) Positive goes to the steel and negative to the q-tip. Super simple! I think the whole setup costs about 2 cents for the q-tip and about a penny for the salt and vinegar! Thanks Glenn and Traxx! You saved me about a bunch of money. Does anyone know where to have the stencils made?
Click to expand...

Would something as simple as a 9V battery and a couple alligator clips work for this? Does the negative clip contact etching solution directly, or is it a ground?

ETA: sorry for unearthing an old thread, but a Google search brought this up, and it answered most of my questions. :)
 
Yes, it contacts the solution directly, I tape the positive to the blade or clip it and the negative clip goes to the wet qtip cotton part with vinegar and salt. A 9 Volt battery might work, I haven't tried, I just get the old transformers from garage sales or keep the old ones from stuff I throw out but I still use the one I started with a year ago. This an old thread and have since gotten stencil made from Ernie Grospitch that work very well.http://www.erniesknives.com/Etching%20Stencils.htm
 
I rather like the results I've seen with this method, and I think I might do some playing with the 1095 I have coming. :) What strength of salt/vinegar solution do you use?
 
I've seen guys talk about 3 amps of current (or more) in various threads. My etcher is a 0-20V, 0-5A variable DC power supply, and anything above .3 amps -- yes 3 tenths of an amp -- ruins the stencils I bought from Ernie (regardless of voltage -- I can set the supply to clip current or voltage or both). This happens with both commercial electrolytes and home-made potions using copper sulfate and table salt.
 
Sword and Shield said:
I rather like the results I've seen with this method, and I think I might do some playing with the 1095 I have coming. :) What strength of salt/vinegar solution do you use?
Click to expand...

I just used a two ounce plastic bottle I had laying around filled it up so I didn't have to use the gallon bottle everytime and a pinch of salt, I don't even know what the salt is for, I think just using the vinegar would be OK.
 
I believe the cheapest etcher would be a small 12v trickle charger from a pawn shop. The smaller the better. Maybe a 12 volt power supply from the 2nd hand store. The computer component type. It doesn't take much and the etcher doesn't care about hardened or annealed.
 
The biggest issue is you want two different things, you want to do it as cheap as possible but look professional. I would argue that in order to do this best, you need a repeatable process with a good quality stencil (like the ones at www.tustech.com where I get mine made) I use a very nice lecroetch VT15-A power suply with a foot pedal controll and a timer, and variable resistance and I can get very consistant, repetable, and high quality etches every time, and I'm able to controll the process so that when I'm etching different metals I can change the settings as needed.

I saw somewhere the plans to build a good AC/DC power suply for etching on this forum at one point, and to do it "right" you're looking at ~60$ in parts and another 30 or 40 or so for your stencils.

If you watch ebay you can sometimes find very nice power suply units for quite cheap, and they take all the mystery out of the process.

Sure you can carve your name out of wax and etch it, but then on every blade your name / logo is going to look different, the quality of the etch can vary greatly, etc.
 
Here's a picture of my etching station. There's an old V10-A lectroetch power suply on top, and the much nicer VT15-A power suply beneath it. I bought the top one to canibalize for parts to fix the bottom one, and ended up getting them both working just fine now.

etching.jpg
 
HI,

Yes many cheapest ways to etch a makers a mark, Etch into the surface of Anything made of Metal, including Tools, Instruments, Equipment or Manufactured Parts, anything that can be Typed, Written, Drawn or Photo Processed on a Special Stencil. This includes Names, Numbers, Designs, Logos, Trademarks or even Your Own Signature. Using an Electro- Chemical principle, the New ETCH-O-MATIC can Etch as Deep as .003" of an Inch in Less than 30 Seconds or Mark the Hardest Tool Steel and Carbides almost Instantly..


Thank you..


laser engraver
 
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