Marking out fluid

[John CParticipant @johnc47954]

Do a google search on:

copper sulphate marking fluid

and choose the second option (the first is this website! )

Sorry, I can’t post he link directly. 

1936 no less!

John 

 

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi John,

 

The one you suggest is actually a recipe to use copper sulphate + salt solution as an etching fluid to put initials etc on hardened steel (such as tools) a better recipe is at the third down i.e. here

 

By the way, to insert a url such as the one above, copy the url you want to post, highlight a word when typing your post (such as ‘here’ above), and click on the chain link icon at the top of the posting window (next to the smiley icon) and follow the simple instructions in the pop up dialogue box.  A good idea also is to click on the ‘Target’ drop down menu in the hyperlink dialogue box and select ‘new window’.  That keeps the ‘model-engineer’ window open while looking at the linked one.  Leave everything else blank.

 

Terry

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Hi Richard,

 

Sorry, I can’t remember exactly. Too long ago.

 

I may even mix it up with when the guys were acid etching into hard steel. That was probably sulphuric acid into which they sprinkled a tiny amount of salt. The `mask’ was wax through which they engraved via a pantograph engraving machine. The cutter would have to rub away the wax to expose the steel beneath.

 

However, John Corden and Terry’s directives fit the picture if you can find copper sul-fate. 

 

Regards,

 

Sam

PS Thanks for your guidance on URL Terry. 

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Sam,

 

Thanks for the comments, a ‘How To’ or ‘Help’ thread or Read Me First section to cover these technical bits would be very useful and help newcomers to the site.  There have been many who have suggested this before, with murmurings of approval from those ‘up there’.  However there has been no positive action.  Why am I not surprised?

 

By the way Cyril gave a source for Copper Sulphate at least for those in the UK and at £3.50 for 250 gm delivered, it’s not going to break the bank (they will deliver worldwide). 

 

best regards

 

Terry

 

 

Edited By Terryd on 27/07/2010 05:27:20

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

You might find copper sulphate as blue stone at the garden shop, its worth taking a look around the garden chemicals, just to see whats there. Ian S C

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

Copper sulphate should be no problem over here in Hungary as it is the main ingredient of Bordeaux mixture which is user to spray the grape vines. So I will try the Gazda Bolt. By the way ‘bolt’ is the Hungarian for shop so the local screw and hardware shop I call the Bolt bolt. Gazda? well I suppose it means ‘small holder’, but it is more than that.

As I remember it, the use of copper sulphate gave a problem, later on, with rust. 

Edited By Richard Parsons on 29/07/2010 07:53:22

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Thanks Richard, I was trying to remember what it was called . Ian S C

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Rocol – Spray marking out aerosol is very thin,  and it takes 3 coats to be usefull.

Chronos stuff is thin,  I have left the lid off for about 2 weeks and it is quite good now – thicker,  wash off with meths.

We used lime wash  (White)  for marking out rough castings ferrous and non ferrous.

[ivan kusturaParticipant @ivankustura28369]

G’day to all, if i cant find my permanent felt marker my old standby is plumbers pvc pipe cleaner. It usually comes in dark blue, red and pink, as i’m a semi retired builder / developer i usually have some left over from previous projects. The acetone in the cleaner also cleans up the suface to be marked..Regards Ivan..

[Cyril BonnettParticipant @cyrilbonnett24790]

http://www.copper.org/applications/compounds/table_a.html

 

Didn’t know it has so many uses

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Here’s another method for preparing (especially) steel surfaces for marking out. It could be a bit more cumbersome for larger parts, but should provide a better build-up of copper.

Sam

http://www.csiro.au/helix/sciencemail/activities/CopperCoat.html

 

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Hi Sam, thats got me thinking, I’v got 175 watt soldering iron, the copper plated tip is starting to break down, I wonder if I got some copper sulphate I could electroplate the tip. Looking through Cyril’s list  its amazing the number of uses.Ian S C

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

Usually the tips are solid copper inside, plated with I think iron to stop the copper dissolving in the solder. This works fine until the plating develops a hole, when the copper will be dissolved behind the plating, eventually leaving it a bit like a rotten tooth. You can make new tips out of solid copper, tinning them with a bit of solder on first use. They will not last as long as the plated ones, but will be cheaper, depending where you get your copper from. I suspect it would be less trouble to just make a new bit than to try to replate copper onto an old one, especially if it is already plated

 

Some of the electronic contolled heat irons have a magic piece of stuff attached to the  inside of the bit, it would not be so easy to make bits for them. (One type uses a piece of magnetic material, which must have the correct Curie temperature.)

 

regards

John in cold wet Auckland.

 

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Hi Ian,

I’ve no experience of the various (metal or other) systems/combinations being used for soldering iron copper tips.

But, like Mr Olsen in cold, wet Auckland, I feel sure that it would be easier and quicker to make a tip from solid copper, rather than via electro-deposition. No doubt our electrical engineers amongst us will explain how much time and current would be required for a reasonable thickness of copper to be deposited. I imagine too, that some scraps of copper with lots of surface area on the other electrode would be important.

I would now like to diversify even further from marking out fluids by reminding earlier ME readers of the idea once published of making a copper manifold for a four cylinder IC engine. The chap concerned made a model for the inside shape and sizes of the finished article and, priming it with an electrically conductive coating, applied sufficient current and time to cover the model with a respectable layer of copper. He was then obliged to remove the core model, similar in respects to the lost-wax process. I can’t remember what he used for the core material.

Regards,

Sam in cold, wet Melbourne.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Hi John in cold wet Auckland, from Ian in cold dry Darfield (40k west of Christchurch). The iron is a Weller 175w, and new tips are over $80, and as I bought the iron at a garage sale for $5 I’m looking for something a bit cheaper than that. It appears to be Steel plated with copper. I’v got a tame non ferrous metal supplier, so a bit of copper wont be a problem. Sam, the one I remember with the exhausts was a radial engine, can’t remember if the stubs fed int a ring or not. He used wax, think it was dental wax, its used for making the former that dentures are cast from. Another older  (1950s) model enginer had someone making lifeboats for a model ship, a wooden former coated with graphite. And another one, Fixing a small leak in a model boiler, a little dam built around the hole, think putty was used. Ian S C  The forecast  for tomorrow threatens snow not too far up the road.

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

Well, the reference I have found http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/popups/sp175.htm says that it is iron plated copper, which would be usual, the copper inside to conduct heat well and the iron outside to resist erosion. They may have put another coating of copper on top to make it easier to tin the iron, the straight iron is hard to tin. It says it is not temperature controlled, which means that the tip won’t have any fancy bits on the back, so a straight copper bit machined to fit the hole in the end of the iron should do. I would suggest using a bit of antiseize when installing the bit.

 

Incidently although I happen to live in Auckland, or at least currently in Waitakere City, I do not regard myself as an Aucklander…. It is cold and wet again today too.

 

Anything that can be removed somehow later would do for the former for electrodeposition, provided you can prime it OK with the conductive coating. 

 

regards

John

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

John you proberbly did’nt look at the price list, from over $80 here in Chch, to $18.96, great!

You ain’t in Auckland now, but you soon will be. We’d better get back on line or we’ll be getting our ear chewed.  Ian S C

[LenParticipant @len48873]

A good one for bandsawing/ bad lighting/ dark metal is a tippex rollerball type pen, stands out well.

[Author]

Posts