Advantages of Metal Photo Etching
Photo etching provides a fast, flexible and relatively inexpensive way to produce a wide variety of precision metal parts. We can etch many different types of metal, including specialty materials like molybdenum, soft magnetic alloys, and metal-clad ceramics, rubber and Kapton. Applications for etched components range from aerospace, medical, and electronics to Christmas tree ornaments and scale models of railroads, villages and ships.
Chemical Etching Advantages:
Inexpensive, quickly-produced tools
Phototools, used in photochemical machining, replace conventional steel tools and dies. Phototools can be generated in a matter of hours from a customer-supplied CAD drawing or data file. Most tools range in price from $185 to $350. Phototools can be rapidly and inexpensively regenerated to accommodate revisions to parts. Prototyping cycles can be reduced from weeks to days compared to hard tooling.
Complexity made simple
Photo etching has similarities to a printing process in that the part designs can be immensely intricate without having an impact on the tooling or production process. Photo etching can produce complex parts that would be either impossible or impractical to produce by stamping or laser cutting. The etching process produces parts that are free of burrs and mechanical stress.
Clean and free of contaminants
Raw materials are thoroughly cleaned before imaging; after etching, and after stripping and before and after any subsequent metal finishing processes.
Material Properties Unaltered
Photo etching imparts no mechanical stresses on metal substrates. Where stamping, punching and die-cutting impart shearing deformation and laser and water-jet cutting can leave ablative deformation, photochemical machining simply dissolves the unneeded metal, leaving a flat and burr-free part.
Tight, consistent tolerances
The phototool, which operates like a stencil, is the foundation of accuracy with light being its only working exposure, ensuring that there is no “tool wear” that needs to be monitored. Phototools are produced on a heavy gauge and dimensionally stable mylar using an 8000-dpi photoplotter. The locational tolerances for part features typically meet the nominal dimensions of the specification.
Dimensional tolerances are a function of the thickness of the material. Typically, dimensions can be held to +/- 10% of the thickness of the material.
Ideal for Many Alloys and Gauges
Photo etching is suitable for a wide range of metal gauges. The practical range of thickness for ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and molybdenum, is .0005” to .065”. Conard has developed a specialty in etching aluminum alloys in gauges up to .100.”
Fast and Flexible
From initial tooling to finished parts,
the entire photo etching cycle can be completed
in 3 to 5 days. Given a normal backlog,
typical lead times for new parts are 3-4
weeks. Often, repeat orders can be processed
more quickly, especially if the
raw material is in stock. Prototype orders
may be done in 2 weeks. Additional time
is required to accommodate secondary operations
such as plating, forming, heat-treating,
silk screening, assembly, or the addition
of surface components.
Photo etching is a very versatile process. The list below represents some of the most commonly used alloys. New alloys are being developed continuously. If you have an application for something that is not on this list, please contact us.
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About PCM
Photo chemical machining is known by a number of names including PCM, photo etching, Photo etching, and chemical milling.
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How Does it Work?
You send us data files (dxf, dwg, etc.) so that we can generate the phototools. We can work from paper drawings or sketches...
