I checked the FAQ and found a link or two but not what I'm looking for. I have a stencil design all made up for a window in my case but am not sure how to etch it into the glass. Do I just score the surface of the glass with my Dremel in the appropriate spots or is there a different technique I have to use?
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Please explain window etching to me
- Thread starter Skier
- Start date
You pretty much got it...to me though, just using a wood carving bit of a Dremel to draw the
outline is not a true etch.
Imagine instead of drawing a pattern on acrylic, you actually carve large crevices, in essence
using the same technique of creating a rubber stamp from a blank piece of rubber, carving a
design halfway through or at various depths of the acrylic window (like pumpkin carving) but
not actually going all the way through.
Either way you do it, I recommend using the router tool to create your etch, go slow and use
a high rpm.
outline is not a true etch.
Imagine instead of drawing a pattern on acrylic, you actually carve large crevices, in essence
using the same technique of creating a rubber stamp from a blank piece of rubber, carving a
design halfway through or at various depths of the acrylic window (like pumpkin carving) but
not actually going all the way through.
Either way you do it, I recommend using the router tool to create your etch, go slow and use
a high rpm.
The biggest trick to etching is is not melting the plastic. Usually, the way I cut plexy or acrylic is to use a dremel carbide cutter on low RPM. Sometimes I will just dig into it and later pick off the melted globs of plastic and clean up the edges with a sanding drum. Obviously this wouldn't work for etching so you need to employ a few techniques to keep the plastic from melting.
Some tricks I use:
Spray on some sort of liquid to keep the plastic from overheating
Use the lowest RPM available on my tool
make quick gentle cuts rather than a continueous long cut
Make multiple passes on a single cut to build up the depth
Sometimes I will lay an entire piece of plastic in a pan of shallow water and deal with getting wet from the spray. It's messy, but can get good results.
Some tricks I use:
Spray on some sort of liquid to keep the plastic from overheating
Use the lowest RPM available on my tool
make quick gentle cuts rather than a continueous long cut
Make multiple passes on a single cut to build up the depth
Sometimes I will lay an entire piece of plastic in a pan of shallow water and deal with getting wet from the spray. It's messy, but can get good results.
Actually, laser-etching is the best. You can get photo-realism using lasers, though they aren't the type of equipment the average modder has in their garage.twest17 said:
http://pheaton.com/view.php?id=101