How to Make Ink Fill Brass Machine Plates! WW156
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Making Etched Brass, Ink Fill Powder Coated Machine Plates for the DIY Repeat o Meter. These plates look great for any machine restoration build project!
Ed made a small acrylic box with an agitator and heater to accelerate the etching process.
Bill of Materials:
Super Glue: amzn.to/2eKhjpV
Super Glue Accelerator: amzn.to/2uSQAO9
Brass: bit.ly/2utw7id
Lacquer: amzn.to/2tFOguq
VM&P Naptha: amzn.to/2tFM2eB
Powder Coat Gun (We use): amzn.to/2eKv8Vb
Powder Coat Gun (No Air Compressor Required): ebay.to/29vUtvc
Thanks to the Zane State Idea Lab: bit.ly/2utENou
MUSIC:
DC Love Go Go - Silent Partner
• DC Love Go-Go - Silen...
Get There - Silent Partner
• Get There - Silent Par...
Stalling - Topher Mohr and Alex Elena
• Stalling - Topher Mohr... 5 Reasons to Use a Fixture Plate on Your CNC Machine: bit.ly/3sNA4uH
Very nice results! I'll try this with my drawing robot. Thanks for the inspiration!
Or vinyl cutter resist.
AvE if you glue the sand paper to a flat work surface and rub your plate on to it you will have a cleaner paint removal on the proud spots. Love your videos.
That peroxide and hydrochloric acid mixture doesn't become cupric chloride until there is some copper etched and reacted with the mixture, hence the cupric part, then it will turn green. The initial mixture is just acid and an oxidizer, which is a very good etchant on its own, as you've displayed here. Awesome looking plates. 👍
That was cool! BITD I worked for a company that refurbished telephone switching racks. Those plates were EVERYWHERE. Until now it never occurred to me how they were made. This is why I watch your vids John! Thank you again.
Stunning. We pay a print shop to make our machine tags and these look so much better. I can't wait to show the guys at work this video. We have a laser, and the tooling to make these... Thank you for sharing this process! I always wondered about those old tags.
Mr. Mackey's best choice of tool.
This is great. I love that Tom has a good sense of humour for being joshed about his verbal tick. It used to drive me crazy, but now it just makes me chuckle. Great job! ...and +1 for Inkscape!
If you have access to a laser printer (but not a laser cutter) look up toner transfer paper for another way of creating the etch resist. How the stuff I last bought worked was that you got specially coated paper, you laser print onto it, use a heat source like a clothes iron or modified laminator to fuse the toner to the metal. The paper I bought had a water soluble coating on it that dissolved and released the paper from the toner. Pretty much the same result as burning off the paint to create the etch resist.
Laser printer on thin-glossy magazine paper, transfer with clothes iron to clean metal. Wash paper backing off in kitchen sink and etch with any acid you like.
Or use UV sensitive photoresist and print on transparent plastic sheet.
I just did my first metal equipment plate using exactly your instructions. It turned out better than I expected and I learned a lot. I’m sure I can get closer to perfection after a couple more tries. Thank you very much for a very detailed and wonderful video.
Wow John that looks like it was bought right out of the Starrett catalog, very nice
that was super cool! great tips on acid to watah & the heat gun for powder coating! thanks!
Great tip about powder coating with the heat gun. Thanks for the video.
And for those of us who don't have laser engravers, CNC mills, big shears, and spray guns....
There's photo etching, hand shears, files, model paint, and patience.
BTW...I have an old degree wheel, for timing cams.
It was made by photo etching the markings on a printed circuit board.
But the board was tinted blue, so you have copper markings on this blue fiberglass material. It's really cool looking.
I don't need a degree wheel anymore, I'm gonna turn it into a clock.
Nice project, it's one of the things that's almost impossible when restoring an older machine. I found a fifty lb base for a 40's bandsaw but looking for nameplates for a year!
Looks great
I’ve done similar using stencil spray ink as a resist and electrolysis etching instead of the acid
Aaahhhh... Did I detect a hint of a DIY laser printer kit? I'm in!
Great video and impressive results. Ed is a natural for NYC CNC videos. More!
That was awesome. Turned out great and looks vintage.
LOL he can't say burn and laser without cheesing. That is a man that loves what he does!
It's does put a smile on my face..Well done sire!! Superb work!
Love your podcast with "the other John". And that's how I've found your videos. Cheers!
Long ago and far away, I spent some time at a graphics manufacturer where etched tags were a weekly task. A small difference in their process may be applicable and speed your results. Don't remove the resist after the etch; paint over the entire plate. After the color is applied, soak, dip, scrub the plate in resist remover. At least with the enamel we used, the paint separated cleanly at the resist line. Using this technique, we were able to highly polish the tag first and protect that polished surface through the entire process, revealing it at the end with resist/paint removal. May not work with powder coating.
Looks very professional.
Very cool project! I just bought my first machine today, a vintage Brown & Sharpe #2 surface grinder. It will need some love and TLC to include restoring the plates. I think I may be able to use some of the processes you guys used.
BTW, Happy HASS day John
Brilliant short video: very interesting to watch an learn from.
Great technique to polish off custom projects! Thanks so much for sharing. Looking forward to reviewing Wednesday's Widget, have a special project for that great tool. As always appreciate the quality and key unsight you bring to your channel.
looking for paint application ideas and although it looks amazing, that is a labor intensive process for such a small imbellishment on a product!
Wonderful how-to guys. Thanks for sharing with us!!!
Really cool! Also if you're in a pinch, baby powder can work as an accelerant for CA glue.
Also baking soda, but do a little testing because it can cause very fast (read instantaneous) hardening. I've used baking soda to create a filet filler for a strong corner joint, then add the super glue- instant hard, strong corner joint.
jup, works like a charm when you dont mind the white seam
Same with baking soda. Hardens like a rock, but creates unsightly lump. Works instanteously, i.e. no working time.
That's a real touch of class!
Frank Ippolito is so damn talented! I wish i had his creativity and artistic ability. Hes one of those people that is annoyingly good at everything he tries. He also seems like a genuinely nice guy. I sound like a school girl with a crush lol.
That really does look like a professional sign.
Nice work Ed! Looks great
Great video John very useful information for real world use. Thanks
Good video. Very clear.
That really came out good
Those are gorgeous.
very cool project ! this should also be possible with stainless/inox somehow ! Cool cool cool
Very cool project! I wonder how well this method would work using a vinyl cutter rather than the laser. I'll have to give it a try and report back!
Justplanecrazy25 It's very difficult for vinyl cutters to cut cleanly below 3/8". New/sharp blades are a must, and a v-e-r-y slow speed.
Nice plates, cool to see the process!
Laser ablating black paint is a really handy technique for all sorts of stuff. I use it to etch copper clad board without bothering with any of the messy photographic stuff. It's awesome.
20W is probably overkill, though. My 6W diode laser does great. You could probably do it with less than that if you slowed the laser down enough.
Diodes and CO2 lasers are different beast so its hard to compare based on wattage. But you are likely correct in that 20W is more than enough. It just allows the machine to move faster.
They're definitely different, but mostly just in the "CO2 is better" way. Diodes produce horrible beam profiles, usually a long, thin rectangle with wings. The frequencies are also usually not well absorbed by most materials, being visible and all, so you _must_ use black paint.
CO2 lasers produce nice, circular beams with 10.6 um wavelengths that are absorbed nicely by just about everything. So anything a diode laser can do, a CO2 laser can do with less power. But I'm pretty sure 20W is about as small as CO2 lasers come.
Awesome John! Been super busy lately and it looks like I have some catching up on NYC footage to do!
Looks great! Nice work.
That name plate! SOOOO GOOOD! Please tell me your sending a unit to Tom with that plate!
Very beautiful
Looks like one more awesome thing I need to try! Thanks John.
That was excellent!
ATB, Robin
Nice, straight and clear. Thank you for sharing
Nice project.
That's pretty awesome. Now, I'm going to put a plate like that on the CNC router that I built. My only wonder is whether I can get rid of the lacquer with multiple passes on my little 3 watt laser. I'll just have to give it a try and if it doesn't work, it'll be the perfect justification to build the CO2 laser I've been thinking about...LOL
2:10 "cupric chloride, which is a mix of (...) hydrogen peroxide and (...) muriatic acid"... Yeah, that doesn't quite seem right?
The copper comes from the brass. Once you've made this echant, you can keep using it over and over again by adding oxygen to recharge it (either add a little hydrogen peroxide or bubble air through it).
Good video, We use automatic chemical etching machines, its fast, cheap and easy to make plates without use of skill people, We use Etchcut machines from India, hope it helps
Cool! You could maybe also use Photoresist when you dont have a laser. Its very common for etching circuit boards :)
very long process but looks really good at the end!
Nice video format John! I bet its freed up a ton of your time taking on someone to do your editing for you!
That is really slick! love it!
Damn, that turned out amazing!!
Great technique - I must give this a try!🤔👍
I need a laser now.... Great job Ed!
That was cool! Loved it.
Best Matt
I'm doing that either with Fe2CL3 or engraving bits. You do not need a laser if you use a photosensitive spray and some printed clear film. UV lamp it and etch it.
Another great video. Very cool. I like using the new tech to remake old tech parts to keep the machines original, or original looking.
You mentioned "Maker Space" . Is there a directory of Maker Spaces across the country where someone could take their projects to work on them and either use other people's equipment , or hire other people to perform needed procedures for projects?
Take care. Keep up the interesting content.
Love the idea of using lacquer as a resist, lots of other applications are pouring in to try...
Few questions, I will end up trying if you do not.
How would the powder coat react to the laser.
If the powder coat does not burn off, how about painting instead of powder coat?
My thoughts are as follows, leave the labels on a whole sheet.
Use a template/jig to position sheet in laser engraver.
Include a 1mm cut line to etch, then after etching, re coat with paint, then burn off cut line, this time with some dashes to hold labels together and re etch.
then place in laser jig and burn of paint over text and borders etc.
might save time on setting up router/mill, let us know if you give it a go.
Another idea, FYI I do not own a laser cutter/engraver, yet.
I saw a guy lowering his laser power to heat perspex to a point that it bends bends under its own weight.
have you tried fusing the powder coat onto the plates, even adding additional colors for borders or text and baking them with the laser?
That was sweet........ Love the video.
Very Nice!
was the back side of the brass plate coated with lacquer, or did you just etch that away when you did the front?
Mmmkay ... Tom's gonna love that! priceless!
Did you paint the back to stop it etching? Or only the front
Serious style points.
Enjoyed....awesome
Outstanding fellas !
kind regards
dave
With proper alignment you can etch the front mask like you did and then on the back mask etch the outline and screw holes. Once both sides are etched by laser proceed to acid etch as usual. This would give you a profile and cut out in one step. Its a common technique in photo chemical machining.
Thank you for showing CNC engraving on brass but CNC machine can engraving on any object like wood, acrylic, SS,brass, aluminum, hardboard, paperboard anything but I want to see your sheet sharer or sheet cut off machine.is it hydraulic driven or hand driven. thank you very much.
Nice! So basically all you need is a factory and you can make signs just like they do at a factory! 😜
These kind of plates have been in use for a very long time, when there were no CNC or lasers available. How was it done back then?!
Question:I like the idea of heating the powder coat with the heatgun. But the powder coat paint I have says it needs to be baked for 20-30 minutes after it flows out to properly cure (cross link they call it). So I assume it worked ok for you and was properly hardened with such a short application of heat??
Neat stuff.
What type of laser was that? I really enjoyed this video
If you don't have access to a laser, masking can be done with photo-lithography using a normal inkjet printer, transparency film, dry film photo resist and a laminater
Can you add a bit more detail to this please, cos it sounds like my level of attainability!
I learned when using (rattlecan) clear polyurethane on polished brass, the brass will still tarnish below the poly, within weeks. Using clear lacquer, it won't tarnish for years.
Very interesting! I have used lacquer for this in the past. IIRC that is what is used on Brass instruments as well. We'll see how the clear powder coat holds up.
Acetone is nice to clean paint with, but Graffiti strip and prevent does a neater job. You spray it on, and rinse it with water.
Also, if no laser access is found, one can do the path of the PCB trace. Find out how PCBs were made, do the extra etch and you'll get the same result. IMO it actually looks more authentic than the perfect laser etch.
I have a small CNC plotter that could attach a laser module. What is the minimum laser power to burn the coating? What is the minimum thickness in the drawing (= detail) you can get out of this laser? Thanks
The lacquer looks black when you sprayed it, is clear or black. Great video….
How to make brass plates, a process that is doable in any tiny home shop, with machines nobody has at home!
Thanks for the awesome video! I have been avoiding etching my own circuit boards because I don't know how to dispose of the etching solution. How do you guys dispose of it afterwards?
As more copper is dissolved the solution self-regenerates. Just re-oxygenate via additional peroxide, or by running the bubbler for a few hours. When disposal is finally needed, I just add aluminum to precipitate the toxic copper out of the solution, neutralize with baking soda, and store it in a 5 gallon bucket until chemical collection day. Be careful adding aluminum to this, the reaction is quite exothermic!
Ed Rees thanks! I think I've got it.
'making at its' core' IS the hacked together, home shop project.
What happened t the rest of the repeat o meter build? Seem to have jumped to the end with all the in between goodness missing?
What is the font used? Looks so retro
It seems like the long and labor intensive way to do this but the results are pretty damn good. I'm wondering if you could get a similar result using a engraving end mill on the 440 rather than the mask, laser and etch. The finish in the bottom is going to be filled with powered coat anyway, so you just need clean edges. Also could you use a mill to take off the powder coat rather than sand by hand?
I love the idea of using a heat gun to powder coat. I think I'll have to invest in a powder coating gun now.
NYC CNC True. I occasionally make these small epoxy infilled plaques for a friend's amplifier builds:
wrbl.tumblr.com/post/159564517290/a-hi-fi-buff-friend-of-mine-was-commissioned-to
The end mills I use can be as small as 0.3mm - a world of ballache when they start breaking..!
Those look fantastic! I love the font and overall aesthetic.
Thanks Ed. Very kind of you to say so. (Font is Moonshiner by Mattox Schuler).
Waldemar, what CNC machine do you have?
Hi Gerard - I have a couple of home built machines, a small mill you can see here:
wrbl.tumblr.com/mill-build
and a larger gantry style router you can see here:
www.mycncuk.com/threads/11266-3-Axis-900x500mm
I'm soon to re-build the larger router (adding a second ball-screw to the long axis - it's racking a bit)
SMW CNC router kit! Arduino controller 18" yep sign me up pre-order/beta test:) 1k$;) would let us hobby machine/maker types use Fusion better than a Gryphon or a real Tormach which requires a bank loan since my wife wont let that one slide by. Kit would help since I like many I suppose, dabble in learning Fusion, messing with CAD, doing machining but don't get to play without doing what This Old Tony did and make your own. Love to but it's the time thing. I bet you could sell a bunch to the youtube gang. Think of the maker market also, where something like the MaslowCNC gets you a 4x8 foot wood CNC router for $300, something that would work in metal would be awesome!!!
Sweet!
LOL looks like John's next purchase will be a laser engraver. Actually I've been looking for one myself here at home. I've seen some fairly decent desktop size 15 - 40 watt ones available on ebay between $290 to $430
Excellent. How many watts of laser power does up take to burn the lacquer?
20 watts with Co2 laser works best in my experience. Too hot will start to affect the surrounding area. Not sure how that wattage would translate to a diode laser.
Thanks, Ed. Most diode models top out at 1 watt.
*With thousands of dollars of tools, you too can make this brass plate!*
Would it be possible to fill the plates with nail polish? It comes in a wide arrange of colors and there are iridescent, glitter and shimmer varieties.
AWESOME!!
lower risk chemical method would be salt water and 9v battery and scrap of steel for electro etching (+ to work piece, - to scrap of steel) vinyl cutter can be used to make the resist. ensure that all areas not to be etched are covered including rear of plate.
I really like the font that was used on this project, what's the name of it? Great video by the way!
What about doing like a textured faux leather type print in the inside where it's red? I think I remember seeing plates from the 60s like that.
Did you cover the back of the metal to prevent the etching liquid from etching the back?
I wonder how many of these mmmkay-o-meters they are planning on making. If they are going to make a lot, a simple coining die could stamp these tags far more simply.
Instead of acid/laser method, I use vinyl decals and electro-etch aluminum. Just an alternative.