A professional who etches specified portions of metal parts and materials used in manufacturing aircraft, using immersion equipment, templates, handtools, and precision measuring instruments. Responsibilities include:

• Reads work order, blueprints, and process specifications to determine location of etch, finished dimensions, and method and sequence of operations.
• Cleans surface of parts and materials to ensure uniform adhesion of maskant.
• Applies maskant to surfaces to be etched, scribes etch lines, using template, and removes maskant from etch areas.
• Immerses parts and materials in etching solution for specified time, manually or using hoist.
• Removes objects from etch solution, rinses objects with water, and removes remaining maskant.
• Measures etched parts and materials for conformance to specifications, using micrometers, scales, and other precision measuring instruments.
• May immerse parts and materials in successive baths and rinses to perform surface processing in addition to etching, such as pickling, chromodizing, passivating, degreasing, and stripping, and be designated process equipment operator.