In the manufacture of automotive speaker grilles, special detailing requires to display even the smallest elements of the drawing. To achieve the quality of the composition, you can use the photo-etching technique, which creates clear, relief on the metal surface.
Thanks to its use, speaker grilles and medals can cover delicate ornaments, inscriptions and small-size images - in a word, anything a product designer wants to bring to life.
Photo-etching is the chemical method for making indentations on a metal surface. The grooves on souvenirs are with acid, which provides the effect of disappearing lines and diminishing details. Subsequently, the recesses with enamels give the image a subtle and striking performance.
A metal plate with blanks of souvenir products shelters with a special photographic emulsion according to the layout.
The automotive speaker grilles immerse in acid, which eats away the metal that is not covered with the emulsion. The etching depth depends on the time the wafer is held in the acid.
In the end, the semi-finished products cover with enamels and polished to a mirror finish. Instead of enamels, you can use gilding or silvering.
The distinctive features of speaker grilles made using photo-etch technology include a wide outer edge (from 0.8 to 1 m) and a small thickness, not exceeding 1.2 mm.
Photo-etching is one of the most demanded methods in the production of commemorative signs from our company. In production, we use modern equipment and produce products in any edition. You can order both single copies and large consignments of goods from us, which make at a high professional level.
Photo-etching of models involves the use of the method of chemical etching of elements from a metal sheet (no more than one and a half millimeters thick).
automotive speaker grilles kits allow you to replace is oversize items that cannot be accurately made from polymer materials; sometimes there is a need to supplement the model with elements that are absent in the basic configuration. For example, rails for model ships, dashboards for aircraft, antennas, sights, landing shields.
The technique itself is common even by people who have recently entered the field of modeling and do not have many years of work skills; basic skills in prefabricated models made of plastic are enough.
However, this technology involves many subtleties, which we will discuss in this article. Note that among the advantages of photo-etch parts: ease of processing, no need to fit the elements to each other, a large selection of sets.
On speaker grilles made of steel, you need to draw contour lines; special colorful substances are common. Then the automotive speaker grilles send to the pickling bath, where the metal, which in the place cover with a layer of paint, remains and dissolves on the unpoints ones.
Then the paint layer washes off. The algorithm repeats several times: having processed the product from several sides, it is possible to obtain speaker grilles with a small relief layer.
A protective layer is applied using one of three methods of photo-etching in modeling:
Traditional. It usually means the photo-etching procedure. A photoresist is put onto the surface layer - a special agent, the composition of which changes when expose to ultraviolet radiation. Next, a template is applied, which contains areas that differ in transparency and opacity.
The exposure takes place under an ultraviolet lamp (or the part places under the influence of sunlight). Then the exposed automotive speaker grilles manifest themselves in a sodium hydroxide solution and wash. There are negative and positive photoresists; it depends on the type of substance whether it remains in the irradiated and protected places. Usually, this method is common in the industrial production of models.
A stricter name is the laser-ironing method. A template using laser equipment (printer, copier) print on coated paper or backing for the self-adhesive film. Then the resulting print will need to apply to a metal surface and heated with an iron.
Toner will slightly melt and stick to metal (it sticks to it better than to a paper surface); it also performs the function of protection. The simplicity of the automotive speaker grilles ensures its popularity (this method call photo-etching at home), but in terms of efficiency, it is much inferior to the "traditional" one.
If you do not want to waste time and energy, use the least effective, but extremely simple technique. This method is suitable for making a single element or correcting deviations of the laser-ironing method. In addition, with its help, you can apply the second and third masks after etching the relief.
Photo-etch photo - etching of models takes place in several steps. Here are special photo-etch kits tailors.
For example, aircraft dashboards; sometimes supply with a self-adhesive backing in advance.
The hardened elements are to create a three-dimensional structure. For the photo-etching procedure, you will need tools such as a knife a cutting surface (a sheet of polystyrene is suitable), a sturdy steel ruler, and small tweezers.
You will also need cyanoacrylate glue, a flat profile with a small notch. Drills are helpful to bend automotive speaker grilles. You can buy materials in our catalog.
Conclusion
Adhesion can only be easy to carry out using an adhesive base on cyanoacrylate since conventional adhesives can only act on polymeric materials. Before gluing, the surface degreases; if the latter is even a little bit dirty (for example, it has fingerprints), you will not be able to get a reliable joint.
Finally, we can understand the way speaker grilles help different audio industry businesses. If you own such business, you must rely on durable parts only. This will increase your brand strength as well as company reputation.
