has anyone used the micro mark etching kit?

[Smart-Resins]

I am considering investing in the micromark's etching kit. Has anyone used this? Is it worth the price/ can you do PE parts at a reasonable price? How easy or hard is it to create the image to use for the PE? Thanks. Jody

[Guest Davkin]

I owned one for a short time, never used it. I read the instructions and packed it away and then sold it. The complexity was just amazing. I know some people that have had success using a product called "Press N' Peel Blue" that's marketed to hobbiests that make their own circuit boards. You make your artwork one way or another, (I am a big fan of CorelDraw) and then copy it to the PnP Blue using a laser copier then iron the image from the PnP blue to the metal you want to etch and that makes your resist. Then you just soak it in ferrachloride to remove the unwanted metal. Like I said, some have had success with it, some have said it was hit and miss and not worth the hassle so now they send their artwork out and have pro's do the etching for them. If the PnP Blue method is not worth the hassle I'd imagine the MicroMark kit is that X10! The MicroMark kit uses a true photo-resist so there are a lot more steps to it.

David

[CAL]

I had an auto etch for a while, nothing that hard to do. Just very time consuming, and you have to be careful throughout the process. There are many steps to making a good PE sheet and you have to be pretty exact with everything, and need to be proficient with some kind of Illustrator program, have a connection with someone who can do matrix printing, and some dark room/photography experience is helpful.

[James W]

Go to Radio Shack and check out their system for circuit boards. Check price of materials and availability on the spot, see if it is worth the bother.

Like was said before, the key is the artwork.

[CAL]

  James W said:

Go to Radio Shack and check out their system for circuit boards. Check price of materials and availability on the spot, see if it is worth the bother.

Like was said before, the key is the artwork.

Yup if you don't have decent artwork and a real good neg you're just doing the dog.