Brass plaques are eye-catching because no one makes them on a whim. They are more costly than wood or plastic, and processing them is proportionally difficult. [Becky Stern] picked the medium to honor her brother, who enjoyed coffee, motorcycles, and making things by hand. She made some playing card-sized pieces to adorn his favorite brand of hot bean juice and a large one to hang at his memorial site.
The primary components are a vertical salt water bath, DC power supply, metal to etch, scrap steel approximately the same size, and a water agitator, which in this case is an air pump and diffuser stone. You could stir manually for two hours and binge your shows but trust us and take the easy route. The video doesn’t explicitly call for flexible wires, but [Becky] wisely selected some high-strand hook-up leads, which will cause fewer headaches as stiff copper has a mind of its own, and you don’t want the two sides colliding.
There are a couple of ways to transfer an insulating mask to metal, and we see the ole’ magazine paper method fail in the video, but cutting vinyl works a treat. You may prefer lasers or resin printers, and that’s all right too. Once your mask is sorted, connect the positive lead to the brass and the negative to your steel. Now, it’s into the agitated salt water bath, apply direct current, and allow electricity to immortalize your design.
You can use a similar method to cut spring steel. Just paint with etching primer and scratch the outline. Great for making replacement read valves for your pulse jet. You do have a pulse jet? If not stop wasting time reading and get to serious industrial noise polluting. Your neighbors will thank you. Especially any old brits that survived WWII.
Don’t remember where I saw it, could have been here.
That plaque doesn’t look sufficiently nailed down. It will be ‘recycled’ by some bum. Suggest security screws, perhaps an integrated taser. Will save hurt feelings. People are scum.
https://hackaday.com/2016/10/19/fail-of-the-week-cutting-steel-with-baking-soda/
Putting an engraved brass plaque up makes it so official. It was a dangerous day when I discovered the local trophy store will make one for a whopping $14. I can’t get into details, of course, but let’s just say there are now several $14 upgrades around my environment that showed up one day, and have been there totally un-questioned for years now. Yield this power wisely.
Please share!
Ok. Know how you occasionally run across a plaque on a chair at an auditorium or something? where it implies you donated an obscene sum of money? Two things. The plaque is only $14 and no one fact-checks how much the “victim” (see below) donated. Also, fun fact. If you put that person’s name plus something like 1979-2018, it also makes them quite dead and certainly no one is gonna fact check that. And so on in that fashion. I also realize that comes off extremely tacky in an article where a very real and tragic event resulted in said plaque. so. Sorry about that.
“Historical Marker
At this site on
August 4th 2022
Nothing of significance occurred!”
or,
“Private Sign
Do Not Read!”
When I said, “no one makes them on a whim,” I wondered if someone would prove me wrong. Second comment.
“An out of control car”, not “an out of control driver”.
(Lest any be ‘judgemental’.)
@PJ Allen said: `“An out of control car”, not “an out of control driver”.’
Exactly. @Becky Stern beautifully etched in brass: “Benjamin Day Stern … was struck by an out-of-control car”
I truly feel your loss Ms. Stern. I recently lost my very spry & 100% healthy (but no Spring-Chicken mind-you) double-vaxed, double-boosted, always double-masked, and always in self lock-down Mother to COVID-19. Who’d-a thunk it? Really it’s true, I would never joke about something like that.
Back on-topic. I am curious… I’ll bet it was NOT the “car” that ended your brother’s life, but the Human that was driving it instead. But you never know – a Tesla on Autopilot gone rouge maybe?[1] Some odd mechanical failure? Arguably, mechanical failures are a factor in 12% to 13% of all auto accidents.[2]
For-the-record, please clarify exactly what exactly happened. Was it the car, or the Human driving it that took Benjamin Day Stern from us?
Thank you.
* References:
1. Tesla Autopilot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Autopilot
2. Auto Accidents Caused by Mechanical Failures
https://www.aa1car.com/library/auto_accident.htm
I have a first gen brass plaque that says Please turn out the lights when leaving room, around 100 years ago. Brass tarnishes too quickly in the bathroom though. On a train though, passengers please refrain…