Making My Own Head Badges

[axsepul]

decided to to do a little experiment today with aluminum

[rico]

Man you are going crazy axsepul

[axsepul]

i've been experimenting with painting the badges. kind of cheating since i painted it while it was still covered by the vinyl. i think what i painted black is suppose to be blue but i think it looks better this way



painting methods from here
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12021&start=15

[NewOrleansFlyer]

Nice job with the aluminum. Did you use the same chemical ratio?? 1:1 ?? I just picked up some aluminum today....

[axsepul]

Yes same ratio but it takes about 45 seconds to etch. Lots of smoke and bubbles but quick. You really have to practice since it will lift the vinyl and etch all the way thru if you fool around

[axsepul]

It has come to my attention that the auto cycle badge has rare hole spacing at 2 7/8. Well that's not going to work for me.

Auto cycle badge coming soon!

[axsepul]

the one on the left fits like a big schwinn badge and the one on the right fits like a pre war excelsior badge

[NewOrleansFlyer]

Man those are good...

[NewOrleansFlyer]

OK, so I'm trying this myself and I keep getting the brass plated with copper????? I know it sounds weird, but anything not covered by tape or toner is ending up copper plated??? No electricity involved, just brass, Peroxide and Muriatic Acid????? What am I doing??

[B607]

Brass is an alloy of copper, zinc, tin, and lead. I'd say the copper you are seeing is what's in the brass. The acid is effecting the other metals and the copper is effected less and showing through. Is your muriatic acid a fresh batch? Maybe not strong enough? Just a guess. I'm no chemist, by the way. Gary

[CycleTruck]

Two other factors affect the etching process. Time & temperature. The colder your solution is, the more time it'll take to etch.

It doesn't take much heat to speed up the process. I've used aquarium heaters in tall containers to warm the solution while etching printed circuit boards. I've also put the etching solution in a Tupperwear type container and then dunked the whole thing into a 5 gallon bucket of hot water from the sink to warm the etching solution.

It sounds to me like your process is working, just slowly.

[NewOrleansFlyer]

2 good thoughts, thanks. I'm using an old Mr. Coffee to keep things warm....it's the price I pay for living in Montana in the winter. Anyway, last night, when I pulled a piece out, I noticed that the etching was copper where the piece was in contact with the bottom of the pot, and brass where the piece was away from the bottom. I also heard that putting steel wool in the solution will help "absorb" (for lack of a better term) the excess copper ions?? I'm going at it again today and will keep you posted. ITMT, if anybody has any other answers, I'd appreciate it. Thanks

[axsepul]

2 good thoughts, thanks. I'm using an old Mr. Coffee to keep things warm....it's the price I pay for living in Montana in the winter. Anyway, last night, when I pulled a piece out, I noticed that the etching was copper where the piece was in contact with the bottom of the pot, and brass where the piece was away from the bottom. I also heard that putting steel wool in the solution will help "absorb" (for lack of a better term) the excess copper ions?? I'm going at it again today and will keep you posted. ITMT, if anybody has any other answers, I'd appreciate it. Thanks

You use the wool to clean the brass after it has been etch. Putting the wool inside the solution doesn't sound right

[axsepul]

peerless headbadge, guess which one is the original



majestic



and to install on a rollfast pedals

[axsepul]

WESTERN FLYER COMBO