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#1
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Ferric Nitrate
I give up! I can only find this stuff from one place and they want to sell
me a kilo at a time (at £101 for the privilege)! I only need a cup or two for now just to see how this etching silver thing works and hopefully make a few birthday and Christmas presents! Can anyone shed some light on a good UK supplier that will sell me just a little and not try and rip me off? Charlie. |
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#2
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Charlie wrote:
I give up! I can only find this stuff from one place and they want to sell me a kilo at a time (at £101 for the privilege)! I only need a cup or two for now just to see how this etching silver thing works and hopefully make a few birthday and Christmas presents! Can anyone shed some light on a good UK supplier that chuckle That's just the nature of the business everywhere. There's a place down the road from me that would be happy to sell me some sulphuric acid -- in one of those waist-high drums. If I want a reasonable amount for pickling jewelry, I have to drive into town and then to the other side. And I'll be paying a huge mark up. The same goes for having it shipped in. will sell me just a little and not try and rip me off? Most pure chemicals are nasty and expensive to handle. The suppliers of small amounts are earning their keep, IMO. If you can't find a small amount of ferric, I suggest the cheaper nitric acid. Spend a fraction of the leftover savings on safety glasses, a rubber apron, and chemical gloves. Nitric etches very nicely, indeed, and can be used for bright dip, to boot. -- mbstevens http://www.mbstevens.com |
#3
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Charlie wrote:
Can anyone shed some light on a good UK supplier that will sell me just a little and not try and rip me off? Charlie. I've used Silverprint near London Waterloo station for some chemicals http://www.silverprint.co.uk/ Select "Chemicals" then "Raw Chemicals". You may have to declare that you are using the chemicals for photo processing. Andy |
#4
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Charlie wrote:
I give up! I can only find this stuff from one place and they want to sell me a kilo at a time (at £101 for the privilege)! I only need a cup or two for now just to see how this etching silver thing works and hopefully make a few birthday and Christmas presents! Can anyone shed some light on a good UK supplier that will sell me just a little and not try and rip me off? Charlie. Ferric Nitrate, or Iron nitrate? aldrich chemical co. 0800 71 71 81 Customer and tech services. 500gms £15.60 plus vat and p&p. |
#5
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Acquiring chemicals can be difficult. I needed a small amount of silver=20
nitrate. Ebay worked quite well for me in this regard. You may need to=20 check the listings for a few weeks though. I THINK there is now a place=20 where you can list REQUESTS for items as well. good luck! Carl 1 Lucky Texan Charlie wrote: I give up! I can only find this stuff from one place and they want to = sell me a kilo at a time (at =A3101 for the privilege)! I only need a cup o= r two for now just to see how this etching silver thing works and hopefully m= ake a few birthday and Christmas presents! =20 Can anyone shed some light on a good UK supplier that will sell me just= a little and not try and rip me off? =20 Charlie. =20 =20 =20 --=20 to reply, change ( .not) to ( .net) |
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But isn't nitric acid like, mega dangerous? I thought I'd read that
somewhere. Would you just use it in exactly the same way? Charlie. "mbstevens" wrote in message ... Charlie wrote: I give up! I can only find this stuff from one place and they want to sell me a kilo at a time (at £101 for the privilege)! I only need a cup or two for now just to see how this etching silver thing works and hopefully make a few birthday and Christmas presents! Can anyone shed some light on a good UK supplier that chuckle That's just the nature of the business everywhere. There's a place down the road from me that would be happy to sell me some sulphuric acid -- in one of those waist-high drums. If I want a reasonable amount for pickling jewelry, I have to drive into town and then to the other side. And I'll be paying a huge mark up. The same goes for having it shipped in. will sell me just a little and not try and rip me off? Most pure chemicals are nasty and expensive to handle. The suppliers of small amounts are earning their keep, IMO. If you can't find a small amount of ferric, I suggest the cheaper nitric acid. Spend a fraction of the leftover savings on safety glasses, a rubber apron, and chemical gloves. Nitric etches very nicely, indeed, and can be used for bright dip, to boot. -- mbstevens http://www.mbstevens.com |
#7
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Charlie wrote:
I give up! I can only find this stuff from one place and they want to sell me a kilo at a time (at £101 for the privilege)! I only need a cup or two for now just to see how this etching silver thing works and hopefully make a few birthday and Christmas presents! Can anyone shed some light on a good UK supplier that will sell me just a little and not try and rip me off? Charlie. Are you sure you want ferric nitrate? Because its ferric chloride thats used in the printed circuit board industry to selectively remove the copper to make the circuit tracks. to speed this up they may well use a reverse plating current. If you want to etch out or through metal theres lots of different ways to do this. you need to do a lot more research before you throw money at your ideas. hope you get on ok with this project. |
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On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 08:04:22 -0700, in |õ Ted Frater wrote:
Are you sure you want ferric nitrate? Because its ferric chloride thats used in the printed circuit board industry to selectively remove the copper to make the circuit tracks. If Charlie is wishing to etch a copper based alloy, then you're correct Ted, ferric chloride is the right stuff. But for etching silver, and a number of other metals, then ferric nitrate is the one. In both cases, these are safer to use salts of respectively, hydrochloric, and nitric acids. HCl doesn't work well to etch silver, and neither will it's salts. The salts, in addition to being safer to use (primarily in that they don't produce the same level of nasty fumes in their concentrated forms), also offer a more uniform etch with generally fewer problems with undercutting and lifting of resists. Peter |
#9
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On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 08:01:22 -0700, in ôõ "Charlie"
wrote: But isn't nitric acid like, mega dangerous? I thought I'd read that somewhere. Would you just use it in exactly the same way? Charlie. Cencentrated Nitric acid is indeed a highly corrosive material to be handled with care. But it's not like the bottle will explode in your hands if you jiggle it. It can cause dangerous burns to skin, and its fumes can be very bad for your lungs and eyes. But you're not using the concentrated fuming form to etch. Etching silver or other metals is generally done with a 5 to 10 percent solution of the acid. In that form, it's not all that different, safety wise, than the correct concentration of ferric nitrate you'd also be using for the same purpose. The straight acid is a bit more aggressive, and won't give you quite as clean an etch. And you will need to pay a bit more attention to good ventillation. When not actually puring concentrated nitric acid from it's bottle, the bottle stays tightly closed, and needs to be stored somewhere where it will be safe from falling over and breaking, or access by kids, or the like. And you need decent ventillation when handling it. Also, and this is critical, NEVER pour water into any concentrated acid. Instead, pour the acid into water. Small amounts of water in contact with larger amounts of acid heat up very quickly, and can spatter or almost explode as it turns to steam, and THAT's dangerous. When the acid is poured slowly into the water, the heat generated has somewhere to be dissipated (in the greater volume of water), and you have no problem. Wear an apron, rubber gloves, and eye protection just to be safe. THAT APPLIES AS WELL, TO HANDLING FERRIC NITRATE. The dry chemical is not the same danger in terms of splashes and fumes like the concentrated acid is, but it is still a highly caustic material and can also cause burns to skin, eyes, or lungs if the dust is inhaled. As with the dilute acid used to etch, in a modest solution, it's not so dangerous, but again, you still need to be prudent and cautious with ANY acid capable of etching metals, as it generally will also be able to hurt you i you're careless. Eyes in particular are at risk, as are your lungs if you have improper ventilation. The point is that while the concentrated acid does indeed require more care, the salt of that acid isn't exactly table sugar either. Read up on proper lab techniques for handling acid for either material. Both can be used safely. But both can be dangerous if your not properly prepared or take safety just for granted. Peter Rowe |
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