How can i make a PCB at home ?????

+diy protect +pcb from moisture +paint

Just a "me too", but I was making PCBs we used in 'one of a kind' production test equipment. I used the positive photo resist type. I tried several direct transfer methods with no success. Here's some of the things I found through trial and error:

I used overhead projector transparency sheets in a inkjet printer. I couldn't get a laser-printer to make the dark areas uniform enough. It created very fine breaks in my tracks. You must get the right transparencies for your printer. They use peel off tape in the right places for each type of printer to activate the optical paper sensors the printer uses to sense and place the paper. Laser transparencies will not work with ink-jet (I tried!), it has to do with laser fusing powder to the sheet as opposed to spraying ink in an inkjet. The transparencies are available at any office supply as overhead projector transparencies.

For an exposure lamp I just used one of those cheap ~18" florescent lamps and a UV bulb from the hardware store. I made some 6" legs for consistent exposure distance. I found that as long as you turned off any lights (including direct sunlight) hitting your work directly, you don't need a dark room. I just turned off the overhead lights and I'm still not sure that was necessary. Exposure time takes some experimenting, that's why a consistent light distance will help.

A piece of Plexiglas or glass works great to hold the transparency flat against the board. I made a Plexiglas fixture with alignment pins so I could do double sided boards. A couple of holes in the board and the masks works great for lining things up.

Developing the etch mask, at least on the positive type is just some type of alcohol and only took a few minutes to do. The chemicals are safe for pouring down the drain when done.

Warm etchant works best because the longer it takes to etch, the more likely you are to have hairline breaks in your conductors. I used ferric-chloride and added almost boiling water. The relative 'strength' of the etchant is less important than the temperature (WITHIN REASON). Strangely, the side of the board facing down etched faster than the top. I have no idea why. Agitate!

I tried to use spray on board sensitizer. I never got good results. It was clear so you couldn't see if it worked or if your exposure was right. Also, the pretreated boards came with colored resist making it easier to check your quality.

No matter how you make the boards, ohm out all the tracks! Hairline cuts in the tracks were a constant problem.

After saying all that, you can use the 'rub-on' resists to make a decent board as well, but etchant leaking under the tape or rub-on was a constant problem, minimum track width is limited, the seams between the rub-ons, and the tape does not like to turn corners without leaving a void (hairline cuts again).

Also, you can get boards made as cheaply as $50 US, at least here in the US. Of course, that spoils the fun. There are several places that will make them cheap.

All that, of course, depends on how much you are going to spend and how many boards you will make over time.

ONE LAST WARNING....Ferric-chloride stains cloths! It's worse than blood (same problem, iron-oxide).

Sorry to be long winded. I hope this helps.

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The board etched faster on the lower side becouse that blach thing that is created in the proces is heavy and falls down, revealing copper beneath. When making one sided PCB, place the bord to float on ferric-chloride, with etching side down. Do not sink it in, it will slow the process down.

JohnJ, have you ever overheated ferric-chloride? What happened then?

I heat NaOH to 40deg centigrade to develop Positiv20, if it is too hot, it washes all away, so I never tried to heat FeCl3 to more than 50degrees.

how to make a circuit board with developing fluid

I didn't mention that I did try the fish tank heater that Allied Elec. sold and an "etchant tank" with an air pump (companies' money!). They made it a little easier, but made up for it by being a pain to clean. I don't really think either was worth the money.

The worst problem I've had with overheating ferric-chloride is smell. I'm no chemist, but I'll bet you could release chlorine gas if you boiled it. The hotter you get it, the worse the chlorine smell.

What I found was that heating any more than the hot water does didn't really improve things, and made it difficult to handle the boards and the etchant pan.
Then there is also a safety problem with working with caustic or toxic liquids that are too hot to handle! :!::!::!:

pcb etching using sticker

by far the best method
is a home made photo etch system

you only need a good old uv lamp from a charity shop
{i use a philips from the 70's} cost was £5

then some acitate A4 film

print on the film 600dpi or better bmp files
size it first with normal paper

then use the unit place over the board with your film
and expose check first for the orientation of the film to make the right way up transfers {about 5-7mins }
making sure the film is completely flat and the uv is directly above
or youll get track slew

this way you can do double sided board just choose two holes and drill thru

the transfer films on both sides at the hole
and use a small pin to hold it down while its exposed then turn it over and repeat

this way your paying out for developer photoetch board and copper solvent solution

but its worth it
most i made was a 4 layers bouble sided
board using thin .5mm pcb
and it works well


if you can find fish tank parts you can make your own bubble
etch tank for a few quid

make apcb using epoxy

hello,
i definitively love photo process, sure this is a small pcb but larger pcb will not be a problem. i have a low cost uv box.

2 mm to expose
5 mm to develop
5 mm to etch

i think it's a good deal. comparing to toner transfert process, your atwork will be usable later.

pcb sheet shop

thankyou cyber1
the pdf found to be very acurate and i too designed a pcb using the same method. and qayyoum's method is also very accurate although little bit more discriptive. h**p://www.5bears.com/pcb.htm this site seems to be really nice and working

making of pcb using marker pen

One more thing, I used EAGLE software. I went on to design boards for my job and still use EAGLE! I just print directly from EAGLE to the overhead projector trasparancies.

printing pcb at home

mvdeepaknair said:

thankyou cyber1
the pdf found to be very acurate and i too designed a pcb using the same method. and qayyoum's method is also very accurate although little bit more discriptive. h**p://www.5bears.com/pcb.htm this site seems to be really nice and working

Click to expand...

Hi, Nair,

where do you get these positive sensitized PCBs in INdia and how much do they cost, say for 4x6 inches size and single sided paper phenolic 33micron

can you help me sourcing positve coating fluid so that we can sensitize our copper clad at home.

Regards
Sarma

print pcb at home

Anyone hv tried this Photopolymer resist film, looks easy enough to process.

https://www.warapcb.com/index.php

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I have read the pdfmaking.pdf in this topic (page 1) and in the third picture says this:
"Inkjet Glossy Photo Paper glued over the PCB artwork. Just glue the side going into the laser printer".
this means that you have to put glue in one side of the paper or just saying that the paper is already glued, I am confused.

Thanks..

cd printer pcb

Hai Everyone

I am using OHP (paper used for Over Head Projector) Which gives me excellent results. Keep exprementing with heat until you settle with the correct heat setting.

Nandhu

how to print a pcb using white paper

transparent sheet is very good!

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You guys actually use OHP sheets for toner transfer ???

how to - build a home pcb router

Though most of the ideas shared are enough for newbies trying to etch their board but here are a couple of tips:
print the layout in mirror mode on a paper, put a carbon between paper and PCB manually trace the layouts, after that draw on PCB by a permanent marker and throw it in the Fe(Cl)3
for toner transfer transperancies is not a good idea, better would be HP Photoprint paper and fairly good quality PCBs could be made by this method.
For photoresist boards you could try RS Component, they have good quality boards at reasonable prices as for UV exposure it may just be a hoax that you specially a UV light, a normal table lamp (with an exposure of 10-15 minutes) could do the trick easily.

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@abidr

I had the same intution about OHP sheets..

But I have heard people doing TT using normal A4 paper !!

Anyone here done that ?

toner transfer normal a4

I have done that i.e. via paper transfer, first one has to understand the whole process toner is basically plastic when printed on a paper and transferred to PCB it tends to stick more to paper than the PCB resultant quality is not good, however, if you could get your hands on a very thin paper one could transfer it to PCB with paper itself transferred to PCB....
Trick here is to use verrrrrry thin and shiny paper one type is available here in drawing papers but finding good quality in it is pretty difficult job, so if I could get an HP photoprint paper (A4) for 60 cents then why waste time in finding ordinary paper. OHP TT is possible but when u put iron on it while trying to transfer toner to PCB the OHP-T itself gets wasted at times.
I ll try to upload a few JPGs of comparative results using different techniques of T.T. may be tomorrow or during the current week.

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@abidr

The comparative study will be great !

how to photo etch glass useing pnp blue paper

Now here are some comparison

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@abidr

You a member of HombrewPCB club ?

Why don't you upload a video tutorial on PCB Making ?

how to make a pcb board using transparent paper

When I started learning mcu few years back same time I joined a few discussion boards and posted a few threads, kind of flames i got from there convinced me to keep most of my hobbies to myself.
Same goes to PCB stuff.
I guess experiences could help others , if they are shared in a positive way.

Right now I intend to complete a PIC based High End Pre with Photo boards and discuss the same for publication in some magazine.