I'm pretty sure I got a deal on this.  Picked it up for $165 after shipping.  Did I make a good score or am I missing something?  






 

Wow, you got an amazing deal! I do a lot of etching and I'll post a little more on it when I get home.

 


 

I do a lot of etching for selector levers on my AK builds and for marking little things, like tags for machinery that I have. I'm about to start making form 1 suppressors so I'll be doing it for those as well. If you're going to be doing one off stencils that you'll throw away after one use you can look into getting a vinyl cutter like the KNK or Silhouette cutters (or just using a sign shop). These will allow you type up whatever text you want and have it quickly cut out into a sheet of vinyl. You then stick the vinyl on whatever you want to etch. The downside to the vinyl cutter route is that you're limited to how small you can go and the detail of designs.

There are other options like the one you mentioned where you can get photo resist paper that you expose to UV light, but these will last for multiple etchings. This is the method that I use, but my stencils are standard symbols for AK's so I can use them many times. The gear that I use for this is fairly expensive if you buy it from the company (got it cheap on Ebay as well), but etch-o-matic makes a cheaper kit:

http://www.etch-o-matic.com/440.htm

Here's an example of an etch I did using a vinyl stencil and a set of instructions on how to do it (simple). As you can see, you get the etch VERY deep using a quality machine like you won. I use an IMG-Electromark SS-851 that could easily etch right through an AK's sheet metal receiver:



Here's the instructions. That guy may even be willing to make you one off stencils:

http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2133665#post2133665

One thing I want to mention that differs from the instructions that I posted. He suggests using salt water as your electrolyte, but I've found that purpose made solutions for your material is best. For those you can pick up IMG-Electromark made solutions here:

http://usaknifemaker.com/etching-supplies-c-53.html?SID=cb476bc117a5b45deb7bf02f975db3b5

Make sure that you neutralize the material after you've etched or it'll rust like crazy.

 

sounds like a HTF party?