Submersible etchent resistant heater?

Thread Starter

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
I am building a device that is going to agitate the etchent. I use hydrochloric acid in my etching process.

I want to add a heater that will warm the acid. The heater should be submersible. I really don't know how many amps I might need. That is one of my questions.

The other question is ideas on how I can make this heater.
 

ElectricSpidey

Joined Dec 2, 2017
2,758
Perhaps you could encase a small cartridge or strip heater in a plastic resin, or some liquid rubber like flex seal.

You could also try using a TEC to heat the pan, I have used them to heat water and they do a great job.

I doubt you will need very much in the way of wattage, but I have no idea how much acid you want to heat, what temp you want to heat it to, and the ambient.
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,708
Heat the etchant in a standard glass container.
Then use a peristaltic pump with tygon tubing and spray the etchant onto the board held vertically in a plexiglas tank.
 

Thread Starter

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
Then use a peristaltic pump with tygon tubing and spray the etchant onto the board held vertically in a plexiglas tank.
I have bigger plans. I have an old scanner I have been wanting to hack for some time now. After etching a few dozen boards, I finally decided to start the project. The scanner will slosh the etchent back and forth.

Yeah probably over kill but it seems like a cool fun project and has been the catalyst for me to learn about stepper motors.
 

-live wire-

Joined Dec 22, 2017
959
I am building a device that is going to agitate the etchent. I use hydrochloric acid in my etching process.

I want to add a heater that will warm the acid. The heater should be submersible. I really don't know how many amps I might need. That is one of my questions.

The other question is ideas on how I can make this heater.
I have an idea. Just make sure you know what you are doing and take necessary precautions. You know how graphite (which you could get from pencils) has a very low resistance, but enough to generate substantial heat and glow red? Well, you could get some graphite rods from pencils, and connect them in a series. If the resistance is to great, do a series/parallel combination. The resistance should be about 50-100 ohms per rod, though measure it with a multimeter just to be sure. Obviously, series vs parallel will greatly affect the resistance. You ideally, the resistance would be low enough to draw substantial current.

Then, send about 40-50 volts through them (or just enough to get ideally 1 amp), from a power supply that can safely supply a lot of current. Maybe even use a supercapaciator bank. They should glow red and, if they were still in a pencil, they would set it on fire. I know from experience. Just don't burn yourself. Then, you can work on making a metal enclosure or something, as I imagine HCL and graphite and metal leads would react.

This should be relatively low-cost, is more DIY, and would probably be good for your purposes. Again, please be safe, and don't electrocute or burn yourself.
 
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