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annealing photo etch


plimsol

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Personally I don't as my disability could produce catastrophic results if I did. I do find that natural heat through my fingers helps but I have to give the brass a good wash afterwards to get rid of the grease!

Tony :clif:

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Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't, depending on what I'm doing with the brass. If it's just a straight forward fold, I usually don't bother - particularly if the part is quite large, as I'd rather keep the structure more rigid & less prone to bending if possible. If it's a complex job with a number of bends & possibly some curves too, I'll anneal it. Horses for courses :)

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Just to jump in here.... but what do you use to anneal the PE? I have a gas soldering iron kicking around that can be used as a flame jet if needs be. Would that work or would it be too hot?

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As Gerald illustrates, a candle works great. I learned the hard way, taht after heating your metal, you shouldn't try to rush the cooling process by running the part under water. I tried to bend the part, and it snapped. It seems tempering and annealing are two different things.......... :rolleyes:

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Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't, depending on what I'm doing with the brass. If it's just a straight forward fold, I usually don't bother - particularly if the part is quite large, as I'd rather keep the structure more rigid & less prone to bending if possible. If it's a complex job with a number of bends & possibly some curves too, I'll anneal it. Horses for courses :)

:ditto: Mike's expressed it exactly - it depends entirely on the size of the piece and what you intend doing with it. :pipe:

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I like mike look at the application of the etch and see what it requires i only ANEAL if its a complex part the requires rolling bending to compound curves etc... i do always sandthe parts mating surface and painting surface if its free of raised detail to improve glue/paint adhesion . and i do spometimes heat the metal gently and briefly not so it glows though ,on smaller parts to get rid of any photo agents etc... ,

Edited by sonofjim
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  • 1 year later...

Just come across this thread and I would endorse all the above comments, especially that annealing is only required for curved parts. Though I personally temper the part after I have got the required shape, just re-heat to red heat and immediately quench in cold water. This 'sets' the shape and returns the metal to its original hardness. This achieves two things. It removes any tendency the part might have to spring back to its original shape and makes it easy to handle as it is much harder to distort. I make a few machine guns for 1/32 and 1/48 biplanes which have perforated tubes around the barrels and found out the hard way how easy it is to put dents in them if you don't quench them

Edited by deadahead
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  • 7 years later...
On ‎4‎/‎20‎/‎2009 at 3:56 AM, Tony Frey said:

As Gerald illustrates, a candle works great. I learned the hard way, taht after heating your metal, you shouldn't try to rush the cooling process by running the part under water. I tried to bend the part, and it snapped. It seems tempering and annealing are two different things.......... :rolleyes:

9 Years on and Photobucket is no longer available.

I have an an electric hotplate and also a gas soldering iron.

Which would you recommend?

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I just turn to my gas cooker...…………….turn one of the hobs on and watch for the colour change...………...been doing it for over 30 years without problems...………….as above, I always use insulated pliers

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