The biggest design problem is that the design requirements for photo etching are not widely understood. The five most common etching design problems are:

1.  Choosing metal that is thicker than need

 Specifying material thickness in excess of what the application requires.  It is not uncommon to see drawings asking for much heavier gauges of metal than the part?s function may require.  Frequent situations include parts that do not have functional or structural roles being designed with 18 or 20 gauge steel because the designer thought it was common.  Heavier gauges are common in sheet metal applications, but are not suited to photo etching.  In stainless or carbon steel, 20-gauge (about .036?) is the upper limit.  In aluminum sheet, the photo etching process can handle up to 12-gauge (.080?). In copper sheet, the etching limit would be 14-gauge (.065?).   Understand that with every mil (.001?) of thickness comes another fixed increment of etching time.  Use the lightest material suitable for the process.

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