Uli, thank you for the input. The place has been added to the link list
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Guido, the numbers are rough ballpark, depending on what kind of equipment you get. If you get a professional UV exposure device (unless you are lucky on ebay and get one for <100€) they can easily go from 200€ upwards. But you could also build your own from an old A4 scanner case, add some UV lights to it, or dismantle one of those UV nail gloss cure things womenfolk fancy (relatively cheap on ebay). Your exposure area is limited, but if you're going for 1/43 or 1/24ish you should be good anyway. Then there is the etch bath. Of course there are professional solutions with pumps to keep the fluid in circulation to enable better etch results, but - yes, you guessed it, those can be relative expensive. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can find old circuit board etching machines (with holding mechanisms for the etch sheets) for cheap on the big E. Otherwise you will just need the chemicals, a few plastic tubs for the liquids (1 for the etching, another for the cleaning) and do it in a "ghetto" fashion. If you go down that latter route, I'd say you could get by with maybe less than 200 for the devices. Of course, add to that the chemicals and the etching sheets. Sadly the Saemann page is being redesigned / updated at the moment, so no prices available and my last catalouge is from 2017 or older (if I can find it)... but yea. That's why I was asking if Uli is using sheets from them. Because some people even create their own etch sheets. Take a metal plate, add some UV-sensitive lacquer to it (that is being cured by the UV via the parts where it is not masked by printed template you designed, where as the other not cured parts will be washed off and leave the metal exposed -> hence susceptible to the etching liquid) and there you go. However, the result can be a mixed back, depending on how you apply that UV-sensitive lacquer - which is why most people don't DIY that
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As for 3D printing being clean.. well I recently saw a guy on LSP complain that his 3D printed part, once he had drilled into it, still contained liquid resin - a nasty surprise he didn't expect
. The good thing with etching is - it is easier to design. You just have to remember a few things - i.e. layer thickness and minimum dimensions (=width) of individual lines that you can etch. Smaller that that limit and it will be lost in the etch bath. Think of a mesh. If the structure is to fine, you will likely end up with a patchwork of holes where you didn't want them or a big hole instead of the mesh. To an extent you can control that via the time you leave the part in the etch bath, but still. Etching is not done at the same speed on every area of the sheet. Which is why you should either stir the liquid or use a pump. Also fresh chemicals help, but of course are a biohazard, so it's not like, open the toilet, flush, problem solved - just as Uli said!
Sorry for the excursion into this. I'm more at home layering "2D" stuff to create "3D" shapes, so PE is easier for me to design that 3D models, so that is why this interests me a lot
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Anyway, I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment of this thread and looking forward to seeing these parts making it into the car.