Etch Aluminum Control Panels

This clever Instructable demonstrates how to etch beautiful aluminum control panels for electronics projects. We like how similar this process is to DIY circuit board etching. Both abide by the same technique and use blue transfer paper. The primary difference is in the use of muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide for etching aluminum.

11 thoughts on “Etch Aluminum Control Panels

  1. Muriatic acid works quite well to etch aluminum, even dissolve it entirely.
    Only thing to remember is to do it outdoors, even if you have a decent hood it might not be enough. It smells like rotten eggs/sewer gas REAL bad – as a kid we used to take driveway cleaner (it had muriatic in it) and mix in aluminum scrap for a neighborhood sized stinkbomb!

  2. if this is a simple aluminium plate, let’s say 3mm in thickness, i don’t understand how you know when the acid has “eaten” enough of un-protected aluminium? how do you control the depth of etching?

  3. I already use ‘muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide’ to etch my PCBs. ;o (In fact, made some rather nice ones yesterday.)

    It was my understanding though that dissolving aluminum in Cupric Chloride put out all sorts of chlorine gas. ;o (Though I might have been thinking about Ferric Chloride etchants.)

    If it’s safe, I’d love to try it. I have plenty of aluminum plates and stuff sitting around.

  4. Sodium hydroxide works also very well with aluminum. You just need to make sure you don’t use a too concentrated solution as the reaction is very exothermic and can run away. The same applies for the hydrochloric acid/oxygen peroxide mix.

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