S100 - Prusa i3 - Custom Aluminium Frame - Part 1

 This week I designed a pattern to go on the frame of my Prusa i3. I am doing two different surface treatments - etching and CNC engraving. Today, I cut the vinyl sticker on the vinyl cutter for the resist and etched the aluminium.

I had to piece some of the edges together due to scale in Sure-cuts-a-lot being different than Rhino. 

Frankie helped me mix up a batch of root kill, salt and water to etch the aluminium. After agitating in the solution for about 5 minutes, we took out the frame and the results are below. 

Rinsing off all of the reddish-brown build up from the solution. 

Peeling the resist off of the frame was tedious but well worth it for the results. 

I'm really pleased with the level of detail the etching gave me. The natural oxidation of the aluminum is also a nice variation. I'm not sure If I will keep it until the end - but I will definitely wait to see what it looks like with the CNC engraved details before I clean it up. 

To be continued...