Strong recommendation to go with muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide as the etchant instead of ferric chloride. Cheaper, faster, reusable, and can be made safe for pouring down the drain if you dissolve aluminum foil into it until all the copper falls out of suspension and becomes solid (having ben replaced in the liquid by aluminum). It's also is clear and remains so during etching, which males it much easier to check your progress. The only caveat is to use a chemical respirator and goggles (or work outside with safety glasses), or you may experience some irritation from the fumes. Store in a plastic or glass container, as the acid will eat metal and the fumes will make all ferrous metals around it rust over time. I bought an old coffeemaker with glass carafe from goodwill to use as my etch tank, works great to heat the etchant a little and speed up the reaction, and the big handle makes it easy to swirl while etching. Both the pool acid and peroxide are available widely (big box hardware store and pharmacy, respectively). I believe I used to use 4 parts of the strongest available acid (usually 35% or so) to 1 part H2O2. As the mixture takes on a deep green color and starts to saturate with copper, just add a little more acid to refresh it for more uses. Just remember the old saying from chemistry class - "do as you oughtta, add acid to water" (or in this case H2O2). Mixing in the opposite order can potentially cause a violent reaction.
In comparison, FeCl takes 3-4 times as long to etch, costs far more, is harder to find, can only be used once before performance drops sharply, and requires special disposal as a hazardous material.
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