Photofab - Chemical etching and milling design guidelines

Etching – Design Guidelines

The chemical milling process is highly versatile when working with thin sheet metal. With nearly 50 years experience, we can offer chemical etching services including:

Etching – Design Guidelines Benefits

High accuracy
With forming capabilities
Of virtually any metal, from 10um to 1.5mm

From our experience, we have put together the following information to help you with your component design:

Metal thickness

Metal thickness suitable for etching foils a few microns thick up to 2mm thick sheet (0.010 to 1.5mm). Thicker metals when etched will have a noticeable profiled edge “cusp” as detailed. Metals of any thickness can be surface etched.

Design tolerances

In certain instances, tolerances can be improved. Please contact our engineers for further information

Forming

We can form components using hard tooling or using jigs for a small quantity. We can “half-etch” to create fold lines, so that the component can be formed by hand. Our engineers will be pleased to advise you on specific components and costs.

Metal Flatness

This is determined by the standard provided by the steel mill. Tension levelled material is available when required. We operate within British Standard limits and offer flatness on metal of +/-10%.

Technical Advice

We are here to help solve your problems. Call an account manager with your problem and we will provide the solution. We have produced over 60,000 components in the last 40 years, so it is unlikely you problem will be a new one to us.

If you have any further technical queries, then please call one our account managers for advice on 01480 226699, or complete the below contact form.

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Photofab can bring your chemical etching project to life, call us today on 01480 226699 or contact us using the form. Join us on social media for the latest news and updates

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Chemical Etching – Design Guidelines

Etching – Design Guidelines The chemical milling process is highly versatile when working with thin sheet metal. With nearly 50 years experience, we can offer chemical etching services including: Etching – Design Guidelines Benefits High accuracy With forming capabilities Of virtually any metal, from 10um to 1.5mm From our experience, we have put together the following information to help you …

Chemical Etching – Benefits

There are many benefits to using Photofab’s etching solutions: Low Cost Tooling Tooling is created via CAD quickly with no long-winded mechanical processes involved. In the unlikely event of the tooling wearing out, a replacement is provided free of charge. Low Cost Design Changes The Photo Chemical Milling process allows the designer to do practical experiments at low cost. Rapid …

Chemical Etching – Process Tour

Just a quick tour of our chemical etching process The below video is an overview of our etching process, including design and advice service, plotting, metal selection and preparation through to lamination, etching and packaging. Design AdviceAt all stages of the chemical etching process, our engineers at Photofab will offer advice both to improve the product and reduce the costs. …

Chemical Etching – Tabbing Guidelines

Our etching tabbing guidelines In order to further increase the precision of components and the ‘flawless look’ of decorative parts, Photofab ‘tab’ parts into sheets of metal. Tabs are slivers of metal, that serve to retain parts in sheet form. In other words, once completely etched, the components are not ‘loose’ parts, but instead are held into sheet form using …

Metals Suitable for Chemical Etching

The foundation of the component is the metal. Photofab take great care in the selection of the right metal for the component application. Wherever possible, Photofab use a special photo-etching grade, which is more uniform in thickness and flatter than normal stock. Our engineers and metallurgists will be pleased to advise on the grade of metal suitable for your application. …

Chemical Etching - Design Guidelines

Etching – Design Guidelines

Etching – Design Guidelines Benefits

Metal thickness

Design tolerances

Forming

Metal Flatness

Technical Advice

Learn more

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Keep up to date

Chemical Etching – Design Guidelines

Chemical Etching – Benefits

Chemical Etching – Process Tour

Chemical Etching – Tabbing Guidelines

Metals Suitable for Chemical Etching

Chemical Etching – Design Guidelines

Chemical Etching – Benefits

Chemical Etching – Process Tour

Chemical Etching – Tabbing Guidelines

Metals Suitable for Chemical Etching

If you can draw it, we can make it in thin sheet metal.