ahmedjaber
New Member
I'm printing Oathkeeper, a sword in Game of Thrones. My favorite trick with non-metal blades is to cover them in a layer of sanded aluminum foil tape because it's easy, quick, and there aren't many better ways to make something look like metal than giving it an actual metallic surface.
What makes Oathkeeper unique compared to the other swords I've done is that it's made of folded steel. Originally I was just going to give it a flat aluminum foil finish and call it a day, but I've been thinking: if I were to print a wavy Damascus steel pattern on thermal transfer paper (the stuff you mask PCBs with), bond it to strips of aluminum tape, then soak them in ferric chloride, it should create an etched surface with a good approximation of the look and feel of folded steel. Possible complications that come to mind include:
1) Ferric chloride will probably eat the tape's adhesive backing. Will have to test that. If it's a problem, I can try floating the tape on the etchant's surface aluminum-side-down or I can stick the tape to the blade before soaking. But the latter method raises the question of...
2) How badly will ferric chloride mess with ABS plastic?
3) I'll have to figure out the minimum soak time to produce an effect versus the maximum soak time before I get holes in my foil. I'm hoping the margin won't be too tight.
Has anyone already tried doing this? I'd love to cut the trial-and-error phase and get straight to the fun stuff.
Thanks for reading!
What makes Oathkeeper unique compared to the other swords I've done is that it's made of folded steel. Originally I was just going to give it a flat aluminum foil finish and call it a day, but I've been thinking: if I were to print a wavy Damascus steel pattern on thermal transfer paper (the stuff you mask PCBs with), bond it to strips of aluminum tape, then soak them in ferric chloride, it should create an etched surface with a good approximation of the look and feel of folded steel. Possible complications that come to mind include:
1) Ferric chloride will probably eat the tape's adhesive backing. Will have to test that. If it's a problem, I can try floating the tape on the etchant's surface aluminum-side-down or I can stick the tape to the blade before soaking. But the latter method raises the question of...
2) How badly will ferric chloride mess with ABS plastic?
3) I'll have to figure out the minimum soak time to produce an effect versus the maximum soak time before I get holes in my foil. I'm hoping the margin won't be too tight.
Has anyone already tried doing this? I'd love to cut the trial-and-error phase and get straight to the fun stuff.
Thanks for reading!
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