Laser Cutting Techniques Uncategorized

Etching Aluminium with Ferric Chloride

Had to make a dog tag. Only had aluminium available, and, as it turns out, Dry Moly lube marking doesn’t work at all on aluminium. Having no other idea, I just painted the dog-tag matte black with some spray paint, then laser etched the design off, then applied some Ferric Chloride (used for making printed circuit boards) with a syringe. Left it there bubbling for about half a minute (until the chloride turns transparent/silver as opposed to the original yellow), then cleaned it off. Awesome results:

Edit: Bonus Ferric Chloride bubbling GIF:

bubbling