Anyone have experience with the Etch-O-Matic stencil makers?

Bob Ohlemann

Bob Ohlemann

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Dec 5, 2013
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Looking at my options for etching and I really like the idea of making my own stencils. I would like to be able to customize my mark to fit the design of the knife, add a date or a number. With that in mind, I don't need hundreds of marks per stencil but I would want good clean results. I will be using the stencils with a Personalizer Plus. I did a search on this and found an old post by one guy who was pretty happy with the results but not with the companies customer service. It would be nice to hear from a few others who have used this system before throwing any money into it.

Bob
 
I have used an etch-o-matic before... Don't own one. They are perfectly well made little machines IMO. Lots of accessories and such. The photoreactive stencil material they sell is hard to beat as well. The only thing I saw with them is the price of shipping and some of the items they sell being a tad high...

And how do you beat a name like etch-o-matic???

That's just so neat-o....

-Eric
 
From what I can tell, "Etch-O-Matic stencils are essentially the impregnated blue paper stencil material (like carbon paper from days of old) that you use with an old manual typewriter or a dot matrix printer. Please understand that "dot matrix printer" means one of the ancient printers that used inked ribbons and connected to computers by way of serial or parallel ports. Modern computers do not have those ports any more, so it is all but impossible to drive a dot matrix printer, even if you can find one at a junk store or a yard sale. Again, you have to understand that inkjet and laser printers won't work.

So that just leaves old manual typewriters. I will say that you can still buy old manual typewriters. You just can't be sure they will do anything useful with the stencil material. I bought one for just this purpose. It is a right royal pain in the backside to get a usable stencil from it. I do it from time to time to do things like marking the steel type, or inscribing my name on the spine or such like. It's not really a good way to go. Doesn't look very professional, and you are limited to using the font of the typewriter (unless you get an IBM Selectric with multiple font balls).

Oh, by the way, the stencil material is very fragile. I never got more than one use from a stencil. Removing it tore it to pieces.
 
Impact Stencils are meant for a quick one/twice uses. Most etcher product (including Personalizer) throw in some free sample.

I am considering this Etch-o-matic Maker, and wondering about their dura-film stencil crispness & durability in compares to Ernie's. Watching for feedbacks...

tryppyr said:
From what I can tell, "Etch-O-Matic stencils are essentially the impregnated blue paper stencil material (like carbon paper from days of old) that you use with an old manual typewriter or a dot matrix printer. Please understand that "dot matrix printer" means one of the ancient printers that used inked ribbons and connected to computers by way of serial or parallel ports. Modern computers do not have those ports any more, so it is all but impossible to drive a dot matrix printer, even if you can find one at a junk store or a yard sale. Again, you have to understand that inkjet and laser printers won't work.

So that just leaves old manual typewriters. I will say that you can still buy old manual typewriters. You just can't be sure they will do anything useful with the stencil material. I bought one for just this purpose. It is a right royal pain in the backside to get a usable stencil from it. I do it from time to time to do things like marking the steel type, or inscribing my name on the spine or such like. It's not really a good way to go. Doesn't look very professional, and you are limited to using the font of the typewriter (unless you get an IBM Selectric with multiple font balls).

Oh, by the way, the stencil material is very fragile. I never got more than one use from a stencil. Removing it tore it to pieces.
Click to expand...
 
tryppyr said:
From what I can tell, "Etch-O-Matic stencils are essentially the impregnated blue paper stencil material (like carbon paper from days of old) that you use with an old manual typewriter or a dot matrix printer. Please understand that "dot matrix printer" means one of the ancient printers that used inked ribbons and connected to computers by way of serial or parallel ports. Modern computers do not have those ports any more, so it is all but impossible to drive a dot matrix printer, even if you can find one at a junk store or a yard sale. Again, you have to understand that inkjet and laser printers won't work.

So that just leaves old manual typewriters. I will say that you can still buy old manual typewriters. You just can't be sure they will do anything useful with the stencil material. I bought one for just this purpose. It is a right royal pain in the backside to get a usable stencil from it. I do it from time to time to do things like marking the steel type, or inscribing my name on the spine or such like. It's not really a good way to go. Doesn't look very professional, and you are limited to using the font of the typewriter (unless you get an IBM Selectric with multiple font balls).

Oh, by the way, the stencil material is very fragile. I never got more than one use from a stencil. Removing it tore it to pieces.
Click to expand...

This is not how these stencils work. They are photo-reactive and are exposed with a UV light and then washed in a developer. There are some videos on youtube that show the process. Pretty much any black and white image can be turned into a stencil.

Bob
 
The problem I have with the EoM stencil maker is that it seems to me they're charging a heck of a lot for basically a UV bulb in a box with a timer...

Someone brought this up a couple months ago and was going to look into building your own light box, but never got around to it as far as I know.
 
james terrio said:
The problem I have with the EoM stencil maker is that it seems to me they're charging a heck of a lot for basically a UV bulb in a box with a timer...

Someone brought this up a couple months ago and was going to look into building your own light box, but never got around to it as far as I know.
Click to expand...

Your exactly right. I use a big 100 watt sunlamp bulb in a spotlight clamp light over a table to expose the stuff. Lay on the cover stencil (transparency) and lay a piece of glass on top of it and you are good to go. Then just develop and wipe away. No need for any of thekr equipment. That is my problem with them too. And the shipping charge for what amounts to a bunch of thin sheets of paper...


-Eric
 
Makes sense to me. I've never made an etching stencil so far, but I "made" about a gazillion litho plates in my former career as a printer, so... I'm not real impressed with their marketing model. *shrug*

;)
 
Similar process... And yes, their marketing model sucks. And their shipping and handling fees are downright criminal... You can get the photoreactive stencil material other places, but you have to be creative in your Google-Fu.

I have been obsessed lately with trying to build a better mousetrap on this one. Well, a cheaper one anyway... I started with the pcb etching stuff, their paints and the like, but moved on to screenprinting emulsions and mesh substrate. I wanted a stencil I could use more than once but only have a dollar or two into it so I could do one-off's as well. I discovered for our purposes the emulsion needed to be way thin on the mesh... A hard thing to do and keep even. So I discovered Ryocap emulsion sheets while talking to a friend who owns a promotional materials shop... Much finer results can be achieved with it. Below is how the standard speedball emulsion on 300+ tpi meshnhas been turning out. The Ryocap is much much cleaner but I've yet to photo the whole process. As soon as I see how it holds up I will do so.

The best part of all the screenprinting stuff is that it is cheap. They are looking for materials to do square yards of fabric. We just need a few inches... That means $10-15 can get you enough emulsion and mesh to do 5^2 yards of the stuff... The expensive part for any of it are the laser printer transparency sheets. But if you watch Amazon and Ebay closely, a pack of 50 can be had for $10-12... A lot for what it is, so print your mask on white paper first to check it then on the transparency... 50 sheets should last you a long time though...

3de777036e6e8cc78195ba094a2e1533.jpg


-Eric
 
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I like the way you think, Eric. That makes a great deal of sense to me.

I'm pretty happy with the stencils I've gotten from Ernie Grospitch for my maker's mark, but it would be nice to be able to pop one off for a prototype model, put someone's name on a gift knife, etc.
 
RangerBobTX said:
This is not how these stencils work. They are photo-reactive and are exposed with a UV light and then washed in a developer. There are some videos on youtube that show the process. Pretty much any black and white image can be turned into a stencil.

Bob
Click to expand...

Good to know. Thanks. Looking forward to seeing how this "develops". ;)
 
RangerBobTX said:
Great info Eric! Looking forward to hearing how this works out.

Bob
Click to expand...

james terrio said:
I like the way you think, Eric. That makes a great deal of sense to me.

I'm pretty happy with the stencils I've gotten from Ernie Grospitch for my maker's mark, but it would be nice to be able to pop one off for a prototype model, put someone's name on a gift knife, etc.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliments and encouragement guys. I'm lucky enough to have wormed my way into a friendship with a promotional shop owner as stated before. They do a lot of screenprinting on lots of materials. They also etch chemically, electro-chemicallly, and laser engrave... For their electro-chemical etching they use an outside stencil source for then stencils that will see a lot of use. But use the photoreactive film for quick one-offs. But, like I stated before I'm trying to beat the price of those sheets... And if one sheet gets accidentally exposed, you are out a few bucks. If a bit of emulsion gets exposed you are out a few pennies. And I am pretty happy with the results so far. I will get to the final pics Monday when I'm back off shift again...

-Eric
 
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