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Etching tank heater

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Is there any reason why I can't use a fish tank heater in an etching tank I have made? I mean should the heater stand up to the solution?
 
Thats what I have been using with Ferric chloride. I have used it a few times in the last 6 months, and have not noticed any corrosion. I wash it really well after use. My top where the control nob is ( I guess like most) is completely sealed in plastic, no exposed metal. Sam
 
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works for CuCl and Ammonium Persulphate as well. I'm not sure the plastic top is that well sealed. I did get some leakage when I rinsed it off one time.

One thing you will have to do is disable the over-temp protection. the one I got (Top Fin) has a thermal breaker set for about 100F. I wanted 130 or higher. I was going to clip it out and jumper across the leads but just bent it out a bit and then twisted it so the leads were shorted. Crude but effective. I was going to set up a temperature controller but discovered that my 1L tank reaches about 135F and stays there with the heater always on. You will probably need to control temperature if you use a higher wattage unit. I'd just get a lamp dimmer and use that.

you will also want a bubbler or other method of circulating the etchant.

edit: in case you think 100F is ok, the breaker takes a while to reset - maybe 10 minutes or more. so you will actually never maintain 100F, more like about 80F or so, depending on ambient temperature.
 
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What wattage was is your heater? I just got a cheap 2nd hand 50watt and it took hours to heat 10 litres of water up to it's max, I bent the bimetalic switch inside and i'm going to see what temp it reaches but I think I want a better unit that'll reach temp in 10 mins or so.
 
spondootre said:
What wattage was is your heater? I just got a cheap 2nd hand 50watt and it took hours to heat 10 litres of water up to it's max, I bent the bimetalic switch inside and i'm going to see what temp it reaches but I think I want a better unit that'll reach temp in 10 mins or so.
I'm sorry, I thought I had noted the wattage. It's 50W. I assume the 10L was for a fish tank and not etching. My etch tank is 1L and it takes about 20-45 minutes to reach 130F, depending on the temperature. I usually plug it in just before I run the laminator for toner transfer. By the time I have the paper off and any touch ups done, the tank is ready.

They make 100 and 150W units but I'm pretty sure you will need to use temperature control. You might be able to modify the bimetalic strip switch but there wasn't very much room in mine. I played around with it a bit but it wasn't very easy to get right.

picture of tank attached.
 

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sam2 said:
Thats what I have been using with Ferric chloride. I have used it a few times in the last 6 months, and have not noticed any corrosion. I wash it really well after use. My top where the control nob is ( I guess like most) is completely sealed in plastic, no exposed metal. Sam

Question: How much improvement in etching time would one expect to see by using a tank heater? And what temperature do you set it at?
 
Well actually the etch tank holds 10 litres, but at the moment it only has about 7 litres in it which is around its max working volume. I may look out for a 300W heater and then control it's temperature externally. The "mod" worked on this 50Watt heater but it's not powerful enough. It was only 6 months ago I stopped keeping a marine reef and had loads of spare kit including heaters and pump but alas they have all gone!!

**broken link removed**
 
spondootre said:
Well actually the etch tank holds 10 litres, but at the moment it only has about 7 litres in it which is around its max working volume. I may look out for a 300W heater and then control it's temperature externally. The "mod" worked on this 50Watt heater but it's not powerful enough. It was only 6 months ago I stopped keeping a marine reef and had loads of spare kit including heaters and pump but alas they have all gone!!

nice looking tank. that must take a huge amount of etchant, though. I really like my little 1L tank. I can etch up to 6x6 boards no problem.

Is that polyprop tubing? if so, how did you bend it?
 
Rolf said:
Question: How much improvement in etching time would one expect to see by using a tank heater? And what temperature do you set it at?

With ammonium persulphate, I get 5-7 minute etch times at 130F. at around 100F, I was seeing basically double the time. At room temp I recall taking upwards of 30 minutes. This is particularly important as the etchant wears out.
 
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