Thread: Silhouette cutting machine to make blade etching?

http://www.silhouetteamerica.com

Tool Review: Silhouette Electronic Cutter @Craftzine.com blog

Basically it's a printer that has a metal cutter in it instead of ink, it will cut through paper and thin plastic and vinyl.

Today I just began reading up on how to etch blades, when a light bulb came on, and remembered that my mother who is into arts and crafts and owns one of these printers.

Her user manual says one of it's supported purposes is glass etching. but I am trying to figure out if it would be good for metal etching. I know it can create a silhouette in adhesive vinyl and other materials, I am thinking instead of using the supported glass etching solution, that I could use whatever is used for metal, I still need to do the research on that.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of device or metal etching in general? of course the easy thing to do is head over to moms and try to print a design and see what happens. but from you guys in the know and have done it before, what should I buy/learn before I start?