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After seeing that post with the Micro-Mark photo-etched brass creating kit, I almost impulsively bought one. Because I need a lot of photo-etched brass parts? Because Micro-Mark is one of the coolest stores on the planet and I am impulsive as hell? Little from column a, little from column b. Fortunately for me, Mrs. Ghidorah was sitting about 5 feet away, which is easily in striking distance.

So, looking at the price tag of $130-ish dollars (after shipping), I had to release my hostage, the Checkout Now button. My question is, how much it will yield for that amount of money? I will ultimately need 13x4 different patterns to go on my Jetbikes, plus upwards of 6-11 for my various Jetbike HQ choices (with options). I seriously doubt that that kit from Micro Mark with net me that many parts. Possible, but I wouldn't bet on it. Not when you factor in the miscasts from the learning curve, etc.

It figure I might be able to get the whole enchilada custom-made by a company for nearly that amount or a tad more. I don't know much about the inner workings of that particular industry, but it seems like sound logic to me from looking at available p-e brass parts for model warships. They're smaller sheets and FAR more plentiful parts on each sheet. Seems to me that fewer parts with less intricate cuts would be easier to design and fabricate, thus lowering the end cost to me.

Then again, I stomp and breathe on things to destroy 'em.

But I can fly so, nyah-nyah.


Anyway, does anyone know of any company(ies) that take special orders for custom photo-etched brass sheets? I searched the web a bit this morning but I couldn't find anything.




Ghidorah
who is waiting for the "Google is your friend" reply

I wasn't able to find one in the time i had to look this morning but try looking for a company doing laser etching instead of photo. Everything’s better with lasers, probably cheaper to less consumables

google wasn't my friend when i looked hopefully you will have better luck

Yes, please do the leg work so that we may all benefit!

Please?

It occurs to me that you might be better off just getting your own kit, as opposed to buying from elsewhere, that way, when you need to make more photo etched pieces, you can just get yourself a sheet of brass and be done with it.


Consider this: Your recurring costs for custom photo etched pieces come to about $63 for 6 6"x12" sheets, or a little more than $10 a sheet, which can be mitigated by purchasing your brass and chemicals from another supplier.

http://www.epiloglaser.com/

buy one of those and start your own custom laser etching business

I sometimes design and buy metal etched parts for my job. They are relatively cheap, but $130 won't get you far. They make a tool which is a photomask for your pattern and then on top of that they probably have a minimum run. You can probably get a tool for $200-300 and then another $200-300 for the minimum run of parts. Fortunately the minimum run of parts will probably cover all that you could ever possibly want/need for yourself. The trick with photoetching is you pack as many parts onto a sheet as possible.

Laser etching is not feasible for what you want. Firstly low power lasers like from epilog will have trouble even making a mark on metal (unless it is specially treated), lasers that can cut metal are much higher powered and more expensive. Also for a lot of parts lasers are going to be much slower and therefore more expensive on a time basis as well. They have to individually cut out each part after all.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Ghidorah wrote:...

It figure I might be able to get the whole enchilada custom-made by a company for nearly that amount or a tad more. I don't know much about the inner workings of that particular industry, but it seems like sound logic to me from looking at available p-e brass parts for model warships. They're smaller sheets and FAR more plentiful parts on each sheet. Seems to me that fewer parts with less intricate cuts would be easier to design and fabricate, thus lowering the end cost to me.

...

Anyway, does anyone know of any company(ies) that take special orders for custom photo-etched brass sheets? I searched the web a bit this morning but I couldn't find anything.

You are thinking about the process incorrectly... with metal etching, no matter the number or complexity of the features the process is the same. They put on resist, expose under a pattern, and then put it in a chemical bath to eat away the exposed areas. The process expense is identical no matter the number of parts/features or complexity. Again the trick is to use the biggest sheet the vendor can handle, and pack as many parts on to it as possible to get the most bang for you buck with etching.

I am guessing it's not going to work out financially but if you are still interested here are some vendors I have worked with in the past. I'm not going to put links I figure you can google those yourself:

metrigraphics
fotofab
tech etch
vacco industries
pcm products

There are a lot more I have at least gotten quotes from but I can't remember names for some reason this morning. If there are some that specialize in hobby type etching on a small scale I am not aware of them.

lanman wrote:http://www.epiloglaser.com/

buy one of those and start your own custom laser etching business

Like Asmith said after your post, none of the Epilog machines will CUT brass. They will only mark it and, only after they been treated with some solution.

asmith wrote:- a bunch of stuff, including some stuff I said -

Thanks for that list. I will look them up in a little while. Give me something to do while at work.
I see exactly what you mean about my think about the process all wrong. I do recall seeing a show where they made some photo-etched brass pieces and I recall the acid bath (or whatever), now that you mention it. Thanks a bunch for the info. It's very helpful and informative.

Dronze wrote:It occurs to me that you might be better off just getting your own kit...

I suspect you may be right.




Ghidorah
who is lazy enough to pay somebody else to do it.

Well if you do get one I'll be needing some nice big Inquisitorial =][='s for my Valkyrie fleet, so I'll happily buy them.