Photo etching Industry-leading photo etching service providing complex, burr and stress-free component solutions

What is photo etching?

etched speaker grills created through chemical etching

Photo etching is a metal engraving process which utilises a combination of ultra-violet light and corrosive chemicals to etch a desired shape into metal. Also known as chemical etching or photo chemical etching, photo etching is a preferred method in modern metal machining due to its ability to produce complex components from a wide range of metals.

We offer a market-leading photo etching service, specialising in the co-development of photo-etched component solutions for leading companies in more than 30 countries.

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Photo etching benefits

Using digital phototooling, we can produce and modify prototypes extremely quickly, ensuring low-cost, risk-free design optimisation.

When component integrity is critical, etching is often the only suitable metal machining technology as metal properties are unaffected.

No mechanical force or heat is used during our etching process, meaning components are free from stresses and burrs.

Photochemical machining is the most economical option for producing custom parts with complex designs as cost rarely ever increases with design complexity.

Company logos, part numbers or serial numbers can also be photo-etched into the surface of the parts during etching at no additional cost.

Full range of benefits:

  • 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
  • Micron accuracy
  • Company logos, part numbers or serial numbers at no additional costs
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What metals can be photo-etched?

Our photo etching service allows us to manufacture precision components from almost any sheet metal.

Typical materials include:

Looking for something specific?

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Photo-etched components