Metal Etching
Don’t try this at home..
Not my home, anyway.
Not again.
To produce copper springs in bulk, we experimented with a metal etching process using muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The basic steps, conducted very carefully with respirators and neoprene gloves in a well-ventilated area, included:
Spray painting a copper surface on both sides
Using a laser cutter to ablate spray paint where etching was desired
Using a mixture of muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide to dissolve unwanted copper
Rinsing final springs in IPA to remove residual spray paint
Ultimately this was an experiment that showed promise, but offered less control than we would have liked over the final product. Instead, we committed to production-level quality and used a company called FotoFab to manufacture our parts in bulk. And they turned out beautifully:
