Homemade PCB

RE: Homemade PCB

gelmi — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 18:50:43 GMT

I usually use B327 (sodium persulfate) - be sure to keep the temperature between 35-50 oC. Back in the dorm, we had special, modified fish tank with water pump and heater. With new B327, the etching took 10 minutes in that tank. I always use sand paper to treat the copper (circular moves) and then alcohol before I iron the layers. If you are patient and you have correct ironing temperature, good laser printer and some practice, 10 mils is easy to achieve. For me the really weak part is when you have 100 vias to do by hand [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-38153741-8052-49b7-afc5-cef74d91a957/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16] That is why I only etch small boards for myself. Bigger ones I order. Although, I have seen some people who make metal vias at home.

RE: Homemade PCB

vsluiter — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 18:16:07 GMT

Nice! I've done 'homemade PCB's' myself a few times, but wasn't able to get good results consistently (especially with everything smaller than1.27 pitch), and etching took far too long... What etchant are you using? One of the critical steps I found was to clean the board with acetone to make the toner stick better.

RE: Homemade PCB

fustini — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 17:12:01 GMT

Very cool - I've always wanted to make my own PCBs and didn't realize how simple it could be, thanks!