Faceplate Materials

[dorrisant]

That is where I take it another step... Spray it with black paint and then block sand it.

[Stevem]

If your looking for a unique starter material for a face plate go check out the Precision Drum company site.

There in NY and stock 50 different types of drum coverings.

Here’s one I just got for a project.

It’s one of there Flame types.

[Thegrateoz]

@yeahyeah

I don‘t know where you live and if you have access to a lasercutter (Fablab, School, Makerspace, …)
At the moment I‘m working on faceplates and use the following method:
Take an aluminum piece of needed size
Spray it with normal matt black acrylic paint, two layers
Let the laser go over it 2 times. I use 100mm/s at 25W
Spray the piece with gloss varnish Acrylic paint.
The needed software to make the laserfiles comes with the laser you are using…
The picture shows a test run without gloss varnish.
I use the crosshairs to mark the drill holes.
Off course you can make a negative to have black letters on aluminum.

image.jpg

Interesting approach! I have a CNC4N CNC with a 7 watt JTech Photonics laser. I'm really interested in what is used for the gold plexi faceplates.

[Thegrateoz]

it look like this when you use brass sheet. After lasering, I galvanically deepened the letters. This is quite easy to do in a small cup with copper sulphate solution, then positive pole to the front plate and negative pole to the liquid.

IMG_1026.jpeg

At the end the black varnish is removed and the brass is covered with Zapon varnish.
The letters can then be seen as an indentation. If you like, you can fill the indentations with color, but I leave it like this. I think it looks great and unusual.
You have to be careful not to scratch the brass surface. Once the varnish is on, you can relax

Dude! That looks great! I would love to see this process in detail. I get the laser part, but when you bring chemistry in my mind is blown.

[Raja_Kentut]

ist not so exotic.
Buy Copper sulfate, it‘s a beautiful blue powder ( CuSO4 Kupfer(II)-sulfat in german ) in the old times it was used e.g. as wood protection against fouling… and as emetics
Grab a plastic tub that is big enough for your faceplate.
Buy a sheet of copper that covers one side of the tub. Solder a wire to this sheet. This is your MINUS connection.
Solder a wire on the backside of your faceplate. This is your PLUS connection.
Cover BOTH sides of the faceplate with spray paint, make sure the edges are good covered and the solderpoint is good covered.
Do the laser.
Use protective glasses and gloves.
Dissolve the copper sulfate in Water, it should be a saturated solution. If you buy a kg you‘ll have enough for a lifetime…
Pour the solution in the tub, the copper sheet at the side must be dive into the liquid
Put the faceplate in the tub, connect the wires to a DC powersupply. Adjust the current to 1…2A. (you need a DC powersupply with adjustable current and voltage. You will see a voltage of <<12V)
The free parts of the brass turn now into black, use a soft brusch and wipe under the liquid carefully away the black deposit. Do this until you think it is deep enough etched. (15min… )
If you like you can reverse the current direction, then you see that copper deposits in the etched parts of the faceplate.
Wash the faceplate, keep the washwater because its poison because of the dissolved copper. If you let evaporate the water you get the copper sulphate back…
You can use the solution over and over again, it does not wear out.

[dorrisant]

You can get the same result without electrolysis by using sodium persulfate or ferrochloric acid. Put it in a container and wait... Maybe a little bit of stirring/agitation.

Raja_Kentut, not to take anything away from your results. It looks fantastic!