DIY PCB etching - (how I do it) - VIDEO

[wattnotions]

Hey dudes - I've just started making youtube videos, let me know what you think!

[TheDirty]

Nice.

I use toner transfer, but everything is very similar.  I use a desk lamp light bulb underneath my plastic ferric chloride etching tub.  It warms it up and the light from underneath allows me to see exactly when the etch is complete as the light shines through the board itself.

Looked at your channel and noticed that I had already watched your K40 cutter video about a month ago.  I'm really planning on getting one of the cheap 40w cutters, but I'm just a bit worried about hassles with the DHL shipping here in Canada.

[cponcsak]

I liked the video, your voice is clear and the explanations detailed with minimal cutting. If I had to make a suggestion it would be to increase the volume of your audio. I had to turn mine up to over three times what I normally use for youtube.

[awallin]

Printer: for this and other purposes I've found that the scale in the direction that the paper is rolling can be off. Try printing a 100mm x 100mm square and measuring it with calipers. The 'across' direction is usually much better. Maybe it isn't an issue as you seldom require 0.1mm accuracy over a long distance such as 100mm on a PCB.

I didn't catch the chemicals you were using.

FWIW at uni we were using NaOH 'tablets' dissolved in hot water for the developer - saturated solution i.e. keep adding NaOH until it doesn't dissolve anymore.
For the etching IIRC it was 1/3rd HCl, 1/3rd hydrogen proxide, and 1/3 rd water. These are from memory... some common concentration (10M ?) for the HCl and similar for hydrogen peroxide. In a home environment I would worry about how to dispose of the chemicals, especially the etching solution containing Cu.

Removing resist and coating: I've used steel wool to remove the resist and give the board a polish, then a wipe with alcohol, and then a coat of PRF202 clearcoat (you can solder through it) containing flux.

For drilling by hand I recall leaving just a small etched circle at the center of each hole. This acts similarly to a spot-drill and centers the drill to the hole.

[wattnotions]

Nice.

I use toner transfer, but everything is very similar.  I use a desk lamp light bulb underneath my plastic ferric chloride etching tub.  It warms it up and the light from underneath allows me to see exactly when the etch is complete as the light shines through the board itself.

Looked at your channel and noticed that I had already watched your K40 cutter video about a month ago.  I'm really planning on getting one of the cheap 40w cutters, but I'm just a bit worried about hassles with the DHL shipping here in Canada.

Thanks - the light under the acid thing is a cool idea. I normally take it out of the acid and hold it up to a light source to see if it has etched properly. Your way means the board can stay in the acid. About the DHL thing - I'm not sure what the deal is with DHL is in canada, but if you buy the laser cutter with a credit card you have buyer protection (probably) so if it arrives all banged up you would at least have some protection - this is what I did.

I didn't catch the chemicals you were using.

Removing resist and coating: I've used steel wool to remove the resist and give the board a polish, then a wipe with alcohol, and then a coat of PRF202 clearcoat (you can solder through it) containing flux.

D'oh! I forgot to mention the chemical names in the video. Just so you know the developer is sodium metasillicate sold as 'Universal Developer' by Radionics and the Acid is Ferric Chloride (I'll add in annotations in the video)

I liked the video, your voice is clear and the explanations detailed with minimal cutting. If I had to make a suggestion it would be to increase the volume of your audio. I had to turn mine up to over three times what I normally use for youtube.

Thanks for letting me know. When I was editing this vid the sound was a bit too loud so I reduced it - must have reduced it a bit too much.