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Hello all, I did a search and did not come up with any results, so I thought I would start a thread. Has anybody here tried making custom parts using photo-etch? I know that dafi has, so perhaps he would like to chip in. I have done some googling to find out if it is possible to make parts for a ship I would like to build. The fittings that come with the kit are rather chunky and I have been thinking about how I would replace them. I think PE is the solution. It is possible to do photo-etching at home, as per these links: http://www.steelnavy.com/etching.htm http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/fh_pe.htm ... and you can buy your own PE kit here: http://www.micromark.com/micro-mark-pro-etch-photo-etch-system,8346.html HOWEVER, it requires an investment in machinery (if you do not already have these): laser printer, fluorescent lamp, heat source, laminator. It also requires consumables, including some toxic chemicals, a glass plate, and so on. In the end, the investment sounds pretty substantial for making a small run of parts. My next thought was to look at businesses that can do it for you. So far I have found a few: http://www.ppdltd.com/web_site_3/page_1_intro.html http://www.photo-etch.co.uk/page1/page6/page6.html http://www.photofab.co.uk/ http://saemann-aetztechnik.de/ http://www.orbel.com/photo-etched-precision-metal-parts I have not looked in detail to see if any of these companies would be happy to do a one-off project. It appears that as a minimum, you need to supply your artwork in vector form, either AutoCAD format or CorelDRAW format. A pixel manipulator (like Photoshop) will not work. Does anybody know of any free CAD programs or vector drawing programs that can output to AutoCAD format or CorelDRAW format?
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