Photo resist paint for enclosure etching

[rocket88]

Alright, I know there are a few of you waiting to hear the results. So far I've got nothing good. Everything I've done has just created a solid black mass, no image. Just sent Art an email to try and figure out what's going on and get things working right. Got high hopes he and I are going to get it all sorted out. Hopefully I'll have some good news and progress in the next few days after New Years. Stay tuned gentlemen.

[Sensei Tim]

Sounds like either  the mask is too thin/not opaque enough or you're overexposing.

Edit:  or do you mean it's not exposing the image at all?

[rocket88]

i'm getting no image or text developing at all. been following the directions to a T. could be exposure time, but so far i've done 90sec and 60sec, 60sec is what is in the directions.

the mask should be alright, going to try to make another. i actually got a printer specifically for this and have it set at the suggested settings, and got special waterproof transparencies used by screen printers. how can you tell if the mask is too thin?

edit: was messing with the printer settings again and got it darker. will try again tomorrow.

[Sensei Tim]

Hmmm if you're not getting anything then it might be that the mask is too thick and not exposing all the way thru, exposure is too low, or the clear acetate is actually absorbing the uv.

Are you using plastic or glass?

[Sensei Tim]

I'd do a quick test: out the paint onto your enclosure and the. Expose the whole thing without a mask and try to develop it.  If it works then you've narrowed down the issue to the mask

[rocket88]

clear glass on top of this film. i think it's the image wasn't dark enough. compared the one i was using before to the one i just printed out with adjusted settings. the first one let light through, though i thought it was thick enough and would resist the UV light. guess i was wrong.

gonna use aircraft stripper to remove the paint from last time and give it another go with the new darker mask. hopefully that's the kink.

[Sensei Tim]

That's the problem with uv exposure and using toner. Sometimes the toner looks opaque the eye, but you can never tell how much uv is making it thru.

I suppose you could put the mask on a white tshirt and see if you get phosphorescence in the dark areas when you expose it with uv light...