Acid etching Complex, highly accurate precision metal components

What is acid etching?

etched speaker grills created through chemical etching

Acid etching, also known as photo etching, chemical etching or chemical milling, is a sheet metalworking technology which uses acid etchants to machine complex, highly accurate precision metal components.

The process offers a fast, low-cost alternative to stamping, laser and water jet cutting when machining complex, accurate components from almost any thin gauge metal to 1.5mm thick.

Read the design engineers guide to etching

Acid etching benefits

Acid etch tooling is digital, meaning component designs can be set-up quickly and optimised without financial penalty.

No heat or mechanical force is used during etching, meaning material properties are unaltered and components are produced burr- and stress-free.

Almost limitless part complexity is achievable, with accuracy to ±0.025mm

Benefits at a glance:

  • Unlimited complexity – you only pay for the first hole
  • No expensive hard tooling required
  • Low-cost design iterations – fast
  • Burr and stress-free – metal properties unaffected
  • Lead-times in days, not months
  • Virtually any metal
  • Accuracy to ±0.025mm
Compare etching, stamping & laser

What metals can be acid etched?

We can etch almost any metal. Typical stock metals include:

We also work with customer supplied metals. Please contact us for more information.

Acid-etched components