Sorry about my confusion on the air vs water pumps. But, maybe I have
something else(?) On my first spray etching tank, I used a
swamp-cooler water pump. Now, wait a minute, U say(?). The housing
was plastic as was the impeller. The shaft was steel. But the shaft
was not long enough anyway. I mounted the motor at the top of the
tank, and got a long plastic shaft and replaced the metal one. The
new plastic shaft was, If I recall, it was over 25yrs ago, about 12
inches long vs the original 6in shaft. For those that don't know, or
those with different terminology, A swamp cooler are those large water
coolers with large filters on 3 sides. Water is pumped up to the top
of the filters, and the water falls thru the filters. A squirl cage
blower sucks the outside air thru the water-laden filters, cools it by
adding moisture, and blows it into the house. The pump is usually in
the bottom 4inch water resivoir(sp). The pump will have a floating
ball like a toilet tank to turn off the pump when the incoming water
reaches a certain height. This pump worked great for me for over 5yrs
of etching. I still have the original tank. It's the one in the
etching tank files. It was totally redesigned on the outside and now
uses a magnetic drive pump on the bottom. But the original tank and
support frame are the same. Talk about recycling!! LOL!! Stay
etched!! afn T
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, lothar baier
<microwaveengineer1968@...> wrote:
>
> he wasnt talking about the airpump he was talking about a water
pump, the problem was with the bushings of the aquarium pump, the
etching solution especially when its warm will erode the bushings over
time , the pump i used came out of a commercial washing machine,
dishwasher pumps will work fine too
>
> --- On Sat, 10/18/08, TonyB <tbarros@...> wrote:
>
> From: TonyB <tbarros@...>
> Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: aquarium water pump for chemicals ?
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Saturday, October 18, 2008, 12:15 PM
>
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> Hi PBB DIYers. Thought I'd comment about bubble etchers using
> aquarium pumps. I've been using the same aquarium pump for over
> 20yrs for my little bubble etcher. I use dry ferric chloride that I
> mix up myself. I used to use a bubbler stone to help disperse the
> bubbles. But, after about 15yrs, the stone I was using disintigrated.
> I bought another, but, it seems it was made of a different material,
> and disintigrated almost immediately! So, now I just use a T fitting
> and attach multiple outputs off of it. Then, so the tubing will not
> float, I set a clay brick on it. I sometimes add
> more clay bricks to the bottom of the 5gal bucket that I use for my
> bubble etcher. They help to displace the liquid and save on the FeCl.
> When the etching gets slow, I add 1 cup of muratic acid (HCl) to the
> bucket and let the bubbler work for 24hrs. The FeCl gets thicker, but
> now has more CL in solution, so it can etch more Cu off the pcbs. I
> haven't used the bubbler in quite some time since i built my spray
> etcher. Pics of the spray etcher are in the photos area. I used to
> buy one lb of dry FeCl for $1. A few years ago, the cheapest I could
> find was $9ea + shipping. QUITE a change!! Hope all your etches turn
> out clean. afn T
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, Adam Seychell <a_seychell@ ...>
> wrote:
> >
> > lothar baier wrote:
> > > tried that, didnt work, what workes is a pump like used in washers
> or dishwashers, they are normally fairly resistant to chemicals
> > >
> > >
> > What parts didn't survive in the pump that you tried ?
> >
> > I'd suspect dishwashers use stainless steel parts in contact with
> > liquid. Alkaline dishwashing water wouldn't touch stainless steel.
I'm
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> > pretty sure persulfates are ok with S.S, but forget ferric chloride.
> >
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