Cheap, Friendly, and Accurate PCB Etching Blondihacks. A simple and easy way to make precise PCBs. UPDATE Theres a new and much more detailed version of this article here. This is still a good quick overview, but the details are better here. You cant throw a rock without hitting a tutorial on etching your own PCBs. Theyre everywhere, and there seem to be as many techniques as there are hackers. So why am I bothering to write another oneWell, there wasnt any single procedure that met all my goals, so I decided to synthesize a process from everyone elses ideas. This is what I came up with. My goals for the process are Cheap. Whatever I do needs to cost as little as possible. Clean. I want to minimize nasty chemicals that are difficult to use, store, and dispose of. Tidy. I dont want to invest in bulky equipment like laminators or laser printers. Precise. I want to be able to use small traces, and make compact boards. The first step is to make a board layout. You cant do much better than Eagle, although the learning curve can be a bit steep. The Spark. Fun tutorials are a really good place to start. Snake Bite First Aid Treatment Pdf'>Snake Bite First Aid Treatment Pdf. Faster Than Light 2012 Pcb' title='Faster Than Light 2012 Pcb' />After that, read the manuals that come with the software. Heres my board, in Eagle. Note that I tell the autorouter to use 0. This etching technique works well on traces that small, and you can make a much more complex board without resorting to dual layers or lots of jumpers. A layout grid that is double the resolution of the component grid solves a lot of routing problems, in my experience. I hide all layers in Eagle except the bottom traces, then print it to a PDF. This works great because its very high pixel density. Back to PrinterCopierFax Repair FAQ Table of Contents. Printer and Photocopier Technology Dot matrix printer operation These are the only type of impact printers. Thats critical to getting small traces to work. Many tutorials will tell you to use the Image Export operation, but that generates pixelated images that mess up small traces. Next, I bring that PDF to Fed. Ex Office formerly Kinkos, and print it on regular paper. I then photocopy it to overhead transparency. Kinkos self serve printers will not let you print to acetate, but they will let you photocopy onto it. Faster Than Light 2012 Pcb' title='Faster Than Light 2012 Pcb' />The self serve printers are a tenth of the cost of going up to the counter, so this two step method is well worth it. Why not print it at home Printers are bulky, ink is ridiculously overpriced, and Kinkos self serve is 1. Thats a lot of PCBs for the cost of owning a printer. If any part of the printout isnt totally opaque, use a Sharpie to cover it up. I got a bit sloppy with mine while touching up the three large pads. You can see the result of that in the final product. We have a number of resources ranging from video discussions with our scientists, virtual tours through google hangouts to live streaming of our public lectu. Faster Than Light 2012 Pcb' title='Faster Than Light 2012 Pcb' />Next, I use the photoresist method to transfer the pattern to the board. This tutorial from Jameco explains it far better than I could. Plus, Collin Cunningham is hilarious. You only need to watch up to the 4 1. After that, his process is different than what Im describing. Youll need Positive Developer, as well. A polychlorinated biphenyl PCB is an organic chlorine compound with the formula C 12 H 10x Cl x. Polychlorinated biphenyls were once widely deployed as. I noticed that on ebay you can purchase UV curable paint for creating solder masks on your home etched PCBs, but the attached instructions that it comes with are. BU409 Charging Lithiumion. Find out how to prolong battery life by using correct charge methods. Charging and discharging batteries is a chemical reaction, but Li. Disassembling Apples diminutive inchcube iPhone charger reveals a technologically advanced flyback switching power supply that goes beyond the typical charger. This is the one and only unpleasant chemical involved. As much as I like Jameco, this stuff from Mouser is 1. As shown in the video above, I apply the acetate to a presensitized PCB. These are almost as cheap as regular copper board, and extremely easy to work with. You can expose them with a regular lamp and an old picture frame. It takes only minutes, and because its a photographic process, its exceptionally precise. Far more so than the song dance people do with laser printer toner, magazine paper, a clothes iron, and water soaking. I expose the board for twenty minutes with the lamp about as close as I can get it. Once the board is exposed, sloshing it in a solution of 1. Developer reveals the pattern in all its glory. This takes under a minute. Now were ready for the real work the etching. For this portion, I cant give enough thanks to Stephen Hobley and his etching process. Ill embed his video here, but I strongly recommend reading his site, where he goes into detail on what this is and why it works. Yes, you can etch a PCB with nothing more than hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and salt This mix is so benign you could almost eat it. Please do not eat it. Senator Of Mind Control on this page. If you do eat it, please do not tell the judge I told you to eat it. Your Honor, if youre reading this, I explicitly told people not to eat it. Off we go With Stephen Hobleys mixture of 1 part peroxide to 1 part vinegar, the board is etching happily in the substance that we didnt eat, right. As Stephen explains, dump some salt in there to start, and as needed to keep the bubbles going. Also, open a window, because it smells a bit funky. If this nearly edible PCB mixing method seems too good to be true, well, there is a catch. Its slow. The board will require about an hour of soaking, with occasional sloshing and adding salt. Sure, the ferric chloride or muriatic acid methods are faster, but those chemicals are nasty and expensive. With this method, you can etch a PCB on your kitchen counter, with stuff you probably already have in your cupboard. As slow as this is, its sure faster and cheaper than sending away to a PCB house. Once all the unwanted copper is gone, a quick wipe with nail polish remover and cotton balls will clean it up and get it ready to drill Isnt it purrrtyTo drill the normal component lead holes, I use a 6. Dremel. Use larger bits as needed for switch terminals, etc. In my experience, you really dont need a drill press like everyone says. Just hold the board by the edge with one hand wear gloves, and drill with the Dremel in the other hand. Wear eye protection and a paper mask Fiberglass dust is nasty. Here you can see the damage caused by my sloppy Sharpie work on the three large pads at the bottom. Well, better too much copper than too little Ill be more careful next time. One other tip for holes larger than 6. Starting with larger bits will make too much heat and melt the fiberglass. Downloadable Bb Gun Targets there. There it is All drilled, soldered, and functioning perfectly on the first try. Yes, I forgot to add a couple of vias, so there are two under board jumpers. Oh well, live and learn. So what is this device, you might askWell, thats a story for another time.