<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Very neat! And scary! Any ChemE know of an alternative to HCl? Supposedly, for etching copper, you can use vinegar (and a lot of extra patience), and it's about the safest way to etch, and probably makes watching paint dry look fun. It would seem to me that aluminum might be a little pickier than copper though.<br style="" class=""><br style="" class="">Not being experienced with solder masking, what's the advantage of this over a plastic mask? Just durability?<br><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal"><br style=""><span style="" class=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica
Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal"><span style="" class="">Also, you can find aluminum flashing at Lowes in the roofing/gutter section that has a similar consistency to soda cans. I don't know how well it would work for a mask, but I know first hand that it works well with toner-transfers, I used it to make the capacitive touch buttons on this:</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal"><br style="" class=""><span style="" class=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal"><span style="" class=""><a style="" class=""
href="http://bytecruft.blogspot.com/2011/03/good-times-part-1.html">http://bytecruft.blogspot.com/2011/03/good-times-part-1.html</a></span></div><div class="yui_3_13_0_9_1399425892625_45" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal"><br><span style="" class=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal"><span style="" class="">It's been so long that I don't remember the prep work that I had to do, but it wasn't much. I think there is a slight coating, but I think it''s less than a typical soda can.<br style="" class=""></span></div><div style="" class=""><br></div><div style="" class="">Also, the aluminum flashing mills pretty well on my CNC, I just never
tried to do something so small and precise as what you would need for a mask. I also don't know what long term effect that has on the expensive end mills, so I've kept it limited. I'm sure it dulls them faster than the MDF or PVC I usually use. But that could potentially be much safer and faster than the toner transfer.</div><div style="" class=""><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class=""><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class=""><br style="" class=""></div> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue,
Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt"> <div style="" class="" dir="ltr"> <hr style="" class="" size="1"> <font style="" class="" face="Arial" size="2"> <b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-weight:bold">From:</span></b> Pete Soper <pete@soper.us><br style="" class=""> <b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-weight: bold">To:</span></b> triembed@triembed.org <br style="" class=""> <b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-weight: bold">Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, May 6, 2014 6:32 PM<br style="" class=""> <b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-weight: bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: [TriEmbed] DIY Metal solder paste stencil for SMD<br style="" class=""> </font> </div> <div style="" class=""><br style="" class=""><div style="" class="" id="yiv2789904960"><div style="" class="">
Fascinating. <br style="" class="" clear="none">
<br style="" class="" clear="none">
I'd like to add one additional warning about those chemicals. <a style="" class="" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammability_limit">Acetone</a>
will ignite at twice the air/fuel ratio of gasoline and it's very
volatile, so at higher temps like described in that how-to it might
be possible to set yourself up for something extremely unpleasant
with an open flame or spark in the vicinity. A very, very good mask
would be a given, of course. But the hydrochloric acid/peroxide
mixture made my hair stand on end. I didn't read must past that, so
I don't know if they call for heating that mixture...<br style="" class="" clear="none">
<br style="" class="" clear="none">
Around age 11-12 I was casting zinc/sulfur solid rocket propellant
and doing other insanely dangerous things. But now days after
reading this the hundred dollars for a stainless steel stencil seems
completely reasonable. :-)<br style="" class="" clear="none">
<br style="" class="" clear="none">
-Pete<br style="" class="" clear="none">
<br style="" class="" clear="none">
<br style="" class="" clear="none">
<div style="" class="" id="yiv2789904960yqt37154"><div style="" class="">On 05/06/2014 04:02 PM, Shane Trent
wrote:<br style="" class="" clear="none">
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<blockquote style="" class="" type="cite">
<div style="" class="" dir="ltr">Pete,
<div style="" class=""><br style="" class="" clear="none">
</div>
<div style="" class="">Here is the article I mentioned last night about making
metal paste stencils. I do not recall if this has been posted
here so I thought I would post it. I am enjoying many of the
projects at LowPowerLab.
<div style="" class="">
<br style="" class="" clear="none">
</div>
<div style="" class=""><a style="" class="" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://lowpowerlab.com/blog/2013/02/11/diy-smd-metal-stencils-the-definitive-tutorial/">http://lowpowerlab.com/blog/2013/02/11/diy-smd-metal-stencils-the-definitive-tutorial/</a><br style="" class="" clear="none">
</div>
</div>
<div style="" class="">
<br style="" class="" clear="none">
</div>
<div style="" class="">Shane</div>
</div>
<br style="" class="" clear="none">
<fieldset style="" class=""></fieldset>
<br style="" class="" clear="none">
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</pre>
</blockquote></div>
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</div></div><br style="" class=""><div style="" class="" id="yqt90998">_______________________________________________<br style="" class="" clear="none">Triangle, NC Embedded Computing mailing list<br style="" class="" clear="none"><a style="" class="" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:TriEmbed@triembed.org" href="mailto:TriEmbed@triembed.org">TriEmbed@triembed.org</a><br style="" class="" clear="none"><a style="" class="" shape="rect" href="http://mail.triembed.org/mailman/listinfo/triembed_triembed.org" target="_blank">http://mail.triembed.org/mailman/listinfo/triembed_triembed.org</a><br style="" class="" clear="none">TriEmbed web site: <a style="" class="" shape="rect" href="http://triembed.org/" target="_blank">http://TriEmbed.org</a><br style="" class="" clear="none"></div><br style="" class=""><br style="" class=""></div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>