I am hoping someone out there has tinkered.
I want to put a photoresist on a piece of metal. I then want to paint over the photoresist and metal. I then want to wash away the photoresist so I now have a painted metal surface AND the bare metal from where the photoresist was
If I used an airbrush and lacquer paint like Tamiya would I get crisp lines from where the photoresist was? I’m essentially doing a reverse stencil if that makes sense.
I’m trying to get some super detailed designs
I
Welcome! An Artist Supplies shop should have Masking fluid, typically used for watercolour painting. Molotow offers masking fluid pens, it dries to a rubbery texture and can be just rubbed off. The only catch might be whether it plays well with oil-based paints and/or lacquers. And whether the nib gets into the tiny areas you’re implying. (Edit - and come to think of it, whether the fluid will sit on metal)
The catch is I kind of have to do photosensitive film. The details are super crazy small and really the only way to get those is with photosensitive film and a film negative.
I’m going to try it but before I got everything didn’t want to spend forever trying if someone said it’s a dead end or not
Post your results!
What “solvent” would be used to wash away the photoresist?
What “solvent” is the paint based on?
If the solvent for the photoresist is “stronger” than the paint you would end up with clean metal.
If the solvent for the photoresist is “weaker” than the paint you would have to scratch the paint to expose the photoresist to the “washing agent”.
The photoresist is supposed to resist etching fluids (offset printing, the rubber is washed away except where it has been hardened somehow, the remaining rubber is resilient enough to print thousands of copies of a newspaper or book. Photoetching, the film protects the metal from acids and then needs to be washed away).
Thanks for replying. This kind of shot down a line of thought. I was thinking of using lacquer paints but I see that it would remove the photoresist itself.
i think my best bet is using an acrylic water based paint and airbrushing it on. A washing soda/water mixture will dissolve the mask and not effect the paint.
I took an electronics class in high school. We had to make our own circuit boards for projects. There was a tape we used to mask to keep the etchant from removing the copper. The tape didn’t seem like anything special, other than being very thin, And the edges after etching were very crisp.
So I did some tinkering with my mask and saw if I pour acetone on it it takes about 10 secs to dissolve.
it got me thinking if I lay down a layer of lacquer paint then lay the photo mask over that lacquer layer and develop it I’d be left with exposed areas that I could “wipe” away.
That is really the last thing I can think of
My question now is would lacquer paint wipe away with acetone almost immediately if I had a q tip and acetone? Like 1 wipe and gone?
Cellulose lacquer might survive, depends on how long it has hardened
but different brands have their own behaviours.
As I see it the problem is that a solvent that removes the unwanted paint
and is strong enough to also remove the photo resist also can remove the
paint under the photo resist.
The ideal would be a solvent that removes the unprotected paint without
affecting the photo resist. Then another solvent which dissolves the photo
resist without affecting the paint.
When etching metal the acid takes out the metal but not the photo resist
and the solvent washes off the photo resist and does not affect the metal.
Unfortunately I can’t point you in the right direction since I haven’t used
or tinkered with photoresists.