Not using nitric acid is part of the reason I'm interested in electroetching - silver nitrate is quite a lot nicer to handle.
How well do your bronze plates stand up to the roll printing? Are you sandwiching them with anything?
Not using nitric acid is part of the reason I'm interested in electroetching - silver nitrate is quite a lot nicer to handle.
How well do your bronze plates stand up to the roll printing? Are you sandwiching them with anything?
I had intended to sandwich them Peter but couldn't find anything (and I'm not the most patient of people). Obviously, I can't keep doing it this way cos it won't do the mill any good (apart from any other considerations). Even unsandwiched I can get a good four impressions out of them, so sandwiched should give around half a dozen I suppose? I do etch them fairly deeply because I like the sharpness of the registration I get. I use 0.9mm brass and submerge (vertically) for around 3 hours, although there is a registrable etch after half that time.
Di x
Unless you're rolling steel for roll printing (in which case sacrificial brass plates are essential to protect the mill), my understanding was that the sandwich was just there to give you a bit more life to the plate... The depth of print you're getting is gorgeous.
As for patience - well, it's on my to-do list... Way, WAY down the list
Added - you may already have seen this, but Durston have roll printing info here.
where do you get your P'n'P from, Di?
Mine arrived from here today :-) [URL="http://www.ronlin.co.uk/pressnpeel.html[/URL]
I'm hoping to achieve cleaner more defined edges and finer detail than I have with stop-out, fingers crossed!
cheers Tabby!
You're welcome!
Yesterday we mucked about with saltwater and 12V battery chargers...
We also did a few plates in steel using that method; although they were only mild steel, they were still hardened and tempered for subsequent roll printing. Contrary to the common belief, mild steel still has enough carbon to be slightly hardenable - nothing like a tool steel, but it is tougher for it.
well, I would say that's a successful test. Now I'm more at ease with myself playing with metal the old nerdy Di has come out to play and I'm constantly trying things 'just to see.' I might have to get meself some battery chargers ;-)
Di x
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