PHOTO ETCHING LABEL PLATES

Presented without any warranties expressed or implied

observe safety precautions when using chemicals like ferric chloride.

SUPPLIES NEEDED :
Rubber gloves
( I use regular non sterile latex exam gloves )

Ferric Chloride ( FeCl)

( AKA PC board etching solution
This is available from most electronic component suppliers
I use the premixed liquid.)

Dry photosensitive masking film

( This is available on Amazon or eBay, search for : photosensitive dry film )

Ink jet transparency film - Fixxons is one brand

Inkjet printer
( It is important that the inkjet printer will print opaque blacks
pigment inks are better than dye inks. I use a Canon Pixma xi1680
printer, more on this later )

Trays to catch/hold the the FeCl solution

Running water

Acid or disposable bristle brushes

Washing soda
( Also known as Sodium Carbonate, available supermarkets
I use Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, this is the developer for the
dry photo resist )

EQUIPMENT
Photo contact printer

OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT
Document Laminator
UV light box
CREATING YOUR ARTWORK
Keep in mind the artwork when printed will be your negative that you will use
to expose the photo resist.

Think along photographic negatives, Black will mask exposure, I will be using
photographic terms throughout this DIY.

Make sure your art has all the alignment marks that you will need for post finishing work,
example center marks, alignment marks or borders for cutting...
Now is good time to address the opaqueness of the blacks your inkjet printer will
produce,
dye based inks are transparent, where as pigment based inks are opaque ( sort of, not truly
opaque ).
If your printer cannot produce opaque blacks you can double up* the negative, or spot the
negative if you have broad areas of black with opaque black retouchers paint.

Line weights - If you're using an illustration program I find a .5 point ( .006” ) line will
give a fair to poor result
this is because of the light bleed and transparency of the inkjet inks.
A 1 point line ( .013” ) gives better results but you’ll have to play with exposure times.

PRINTING THE NEGATIVE

You'll have to pay attention to which is the emulsion side and base side of the
inkjet transparency film, one side of the film has a 'emulsion' that will catch and hold the
ink,
the base does not. You can moisten a finger and touch either side, if it sticks that's the
emulsion side,
old darkroom trick is to use your lips, they’re just the right dampness to detect the
emulsion.
Most inkjet printers are a straight pass through paper path, so the emulsion side is up
when
loaded in the printer and emulsion side up when printing is finished .
For sharp line photoresist exposures you must have inkjet transparency emulsion to
photo resist emulsion contact, so the artwork may have to be flipped, so it's reading
wrong
on the computer screen.
Some printer drivers have an option for T Shirt transfers, this will auto flip your artwork.
Print in grayscale or black if available.
*If the printed inkjet transparency isn’t opaque enough you can double them up, this is
where alignment marks come into use.
MATERIAL SETUP AND APPLYING PHOTO RESIST
Make sure the metal you're using has no surface defects, and large enough for the artwork
and for post finishing, it should be as flat as possible, sand flat then clean the metal,
then clean it again, you want the photo resist to adhere properly, dry and set aside.
Cut a piece of photoresist larger than your metal you wish to etch.
The photo resist is a basically an emulsion sandwiched between two carrier films,
one side is a very thin mylar the other a soft plastic carrier film, use painters tape to get
the soft carrier film to start peeling.
I work with the photo resist in subdued LED bulb light, it is sensitive to UV light
so you shouldn’t work with it under bright fluorescent lights.
Once the photoresist carrier film is peeled back it is very tacky, expose enough
of a strip to tack it on your metal.

Do Not remove the mylar film carrier…

Preheat your clean metal to about 120º - 150º F, have the photoresist peel started and
ready,
when the metal has reached temp, remove and carefully start applying the photoresist
from
one end burnishing with a piece of cloth towards the direction your peeling the carrier
film making sure you don’t have air bubbles trapped.
Reheat and burnish well again.

If you mess up, the photoresist can be removed with acetone or lacquer thinner,
use a strong duct tape to peel off as much of the photoresist as possible and
clean the remaining photoresist off with acetone or lacquer thinner.
Repeat the beginning metal prep step.

If you have access to a document laminator, that does the job quite well
with .020 - .040” thick metal no bubbles and without preheating,
run it twice thru the laminator.

Set aside in a dark place.

EXPOSING THE PHOTO RESIST
I built a UV light box to expose the photoresist, but I have done it with sunlight
and a photographic contact printer if you don’t have either one, you can
use 2 pieces of glass, some weak spring clamps and some padding ( black craft paper )
to do your exposure in sunlight. A bright sunny day works better than a cloudy day.
Scotch tape the neg to the photoresist applied metal, trim the negative if needed .

The photoresist will change color when it’s exposed, the photoresist I use
the unexposed photoresist is a light blue, when exposed it’s a dark blue.

The opacity of your negative and exposure time affects whether you’ll get exposure thru
the black,
or bleed because of a too thin a line.
Too long a exposure time the light will bleed around and you will get a fuzzy line
that may not develop properly.

Caveat : I do not remove the mylar carrier because of the emulsion on the inkjet
transparency film
which is designed to grab the ink, it will grab and bond to the photoresist emulsion.

EXPOSURE TIMES
These are approximate…
Bright Sunlight - 2 - 4 min
UV light box - 2-3 min

DEVELOPEMENT
Washing soda ( sodium carbonate ) 1% -2 % solution
It’s really not development, it’s more removing the unexposed photo resist.
Remove the mylar film and submerge the exposed metal in the solution,
you can use a soft brush to agitate and lightly scrub to speed the development
along a little quicker.
When done you should have bright metal where the photo resist has washed away.

POST EXPOSURE
Re expose the photoresist, this is to fully harden it, 3-5 min should do.
Check for pinholes or broken lines, I find the Dykem metal markers
work well for pin holes, broken lines or peeling means the metal wasn’t clean,
metal not hot enough, or not enough burnishing.
ETCHING

READ AND HEED THE WARNINGS ON THE FERRIC CHLORIDE ETCHANT !

Have good cross ventilation when etching !

I use the Ferric Chloride ( FeCl ) straight out of the bottle, the reaction on brass
is less aggressive than aluminum, I submerge the brass to etch, but for aluminum
which has a hotter and a more aggressive reaction, I brush the FeCl on,
let it react ( bubbling ) while using a soft brush to sweep the
etch residue away, rinse, repeat, till I achieve the depth of etch
I want, it is important to rinse, the reaction can get hot enough to loosen
the photoresist, rinsing stops the the reaction and cools down the work.
Too deep an etch and you’ll start undercutting, where the FeCL will start
etching behind the resist.

FINAL STEPS
Wash and scrub the finished etch under running water with a wire brush, you won’t
remove much of the photoresist it’s more to remove any remaining trace of FeCl.
Acetone / Lacquer thinner will remove the remaining photoresist.