Printed Circuit Makings

[xanatos]

Hi,

I've been out of the circuit making area for about 10 years now. When last I made my own PC boards it was still kind of a pain - getting the mask transferred, exposing, washing, etching with ferric chloride... so much fun.

I'm just wondering, now that it looks like I'll be making my own PC boards again for varoius laser projects, if there are any better methods for PCB creation that have come onto the scene in the past few years? Anyone have a favorite method that creates really nice clean boards without the hassle & waste of the methods I was using?

Thanks,

D

 

[dingle]

I know you can mask easily /w a laser printer (no pun intended, but laser printer ink works best) and their photo paper.

Iron it on and use that as a mask, then acid wash it. Other than that i think you can use a CNC machine to carve off the top layer but then you have to buy the machine.

There are companies that do it professionally to and will give you a quote, but non bulk orders won't be that cheap.

 

[xanatos]

Hmmm... this sounds interesting - you mean use the tee-shirt style iron-on things they sell in Staples? I thought that transfered the entire sheet including the clear layer to the shirt? If not, this sounds VERY promising. Can you provide me a little more detail on what you're using- this would save me many labor-intensive steps.

Thanks!!!

Dave

 

[Daedal]

It all depends on the toner/printer you have...

There are these cost-effective blue sheets that i found on ebay. They are made so that the toner goes off easily. They're quite cheap too.

Another suggestion is to get yourself a $25 hot laminater from WalWart... the one they have is good enough to feed thick PCB through there and is hot enough that you could get a perfect transfer in about ~10 passes or so... Use the hot setting.

Results will vary depending on the toner/printer you use. But this only works with a laser printer.

GL;
DDL

 

[dingle]

http://electrons.psychogenic.com/mo...cuitBoardPCBHOWTOAnIllustratedGuide.php#laser


Found by googling:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="laser+printer"+"printed+circuit+board"&btnG=Google+Search

It isn't teeshirt transfer paper, but normal photo paper.

 

[xanatos]

Thank you all!

D