Hi Folks,
I’m an artist who’s working on manufacturing a piece I’ve developed that uses fine lines etched into metal to reflect light in specific directions. Here’s a demonstration: https://youtu.be/jIL7kxZhObU
The issue I’m running into is that I’ve produced my original prototypes on a CNC, where it takes 10-30 hours, making it prohibitively expensive. I commissioned a photochemical machining shop to make me some samples using chemical etching (ferric trichloride), which sort of works, but they’re around 5 to 10 times less reflective than the CNC etched samples. I think this is because of the microscopic texture of the metal post etching - matte rather than shiny. I’ve tried stainless steel and brass, and tried gold plating as well. The etch lines are 0.1mm wide and around 0.7mm deep.
My questions are:
1. I have some flexibility on what metal I use. Is there some combination of metals and etching process that produces a shiny surface?
2. Is there some form of post processing that can make the surface shiny? Say electroplating. Obviously the challenge here is not destroying the etched texture.
3. If not, is there some other manufacturing method that might work?
Appreciated.
I’m an artist who’s working on manufacturing a piece I’ve developed that uses fine lines etched into metal to reflect light in specific directions. Here’s a demonstration: https://youtu.be/jIL7kxZhObU
The issue I’m running into is that I’ve produced my original prototypes on a CNC, where it takes 10-30 hours, making it prohibitively expensive. I commissioned a photochemical machining shop to make me some samples using chemical etching (ferric trichloride), which sort of works, but they’re around 5 to 10 times less reflective than the CNC etched samples. I think this is because of the microscopic texture of the metal post etching - matte rather than shiny. I’ve tried stainless steel and brass, and tried gold plating as well. The etch lines are 0.1mm wide and around 0.7mm deep.
My questions are:
1. I have some flexibility on what metal I use. Is there some combination of metals and etching process that produces a shiny surface?
2. Is there some form of post processing that can make the surface shiny? Say electroplating. Obviously the challenge here is not destroying the etched texture.
3. If not, is there some other manufacturing method that might work?
Appreciated.
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