Hello!
I'd like to use this post to introduce myself and also ask my first question.
I'm a printmaker and also an electronics enthusiast from Chile. Most of my projects usually involve some sort of automation, temperature control, microcontrollers and refrigeration (don't know why but is what I like). Today I have a project with my wife (also a printmaker) intended to replace the classic etching techniques (similar to etching a pcb with acid) with an electrolytic process. Basically this technique consist of masking a copper plate whit resin and then placing it in a tank filled with of Copper Sulfate and distilled water. Inside this tank there is a stainless steel mesh placed parallel to the copper plate. A low voltage (0,3V to 0,5V) and high current is applied to the circuit, the copper plate being the anode and the mesh as the cathode.
This is the set-up. The mesh is closer to the camera and two copper plates are being etched at the same time in the back.
This electro-chemical process removes copper atoms from the copper plate etching its surface where is not masked with resin, but here we have a problem: Isolated lines and lines closer to the edge of the plate are etched way more aggressively than clustered lines or lines closer to the center, making for an uneven etching. I'm quite certain this is due to those isolated lines having greater current density that the others sharing the same area.
This is a copper plate etched with this method. Darker lines are deeper and closer to the edges of the drawing.
Does anyone knows a way to mitigate this effect, or maybe point me to the right literature?
Do you think there is even a solution to this problem?
Or should I ask somewhere else?
Thanks!