Precision Chemical Etching

Faster Production

Photochemical machining (chemical etching) typically takes less than a day, often less than an hour, to complete. This means your custom, brand new parts are ready to ship the same day.

Standard lead times are between 5-7 days from the order date, with an optional expedited service available.

Inexpensive Tooling

Pricing for the majority of phototools used in photochemical etching is thousands of dollars less than the cost of using hard tools for stamping equivalent metal parts.

Higher Precision

Fotofab uses state-of-the-art digital imaging machines to precisely map designs onto the metal sheets and eliminate variations so production remains consistent – as do we.

• Photochemical Machining or Chemical Etching has the ability to produce complex geometries within very strict tolerances, and the good news is that increased part complexity is very rarely a cost driver.
• Production Volume – We have the capabilities to help with your prototype and high-volume production orders.

The Photo Etching Advantage

Photochemical etching produces precision metal parts more precisely and with tighter tolerances than metal stamping, laser cutting, CNC machining, and wire EDM.

Chemical etching (photo etching) is a photo-lithographic process whereby a phototool is used to block UV light from exposing the area of a sheet of metal that has first been cleaned and laminated with photoresist. The sheet is then developed to wash away the unexposed photoresist leaving a very precise mask of hardened photoresist behind. This patterned sheet is fed through concentrated etchants which dissolve the exposed material leaving exact-to-print parts.