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Build your own circuit board?

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Mishael

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i have tried to understand how copper sheets, acid, and just the plastic-whatnot material with holes in it makes circuits but i havent gotten it yet, then ive also used (improperly) the board with holes and copper contacts that dont touch but im not sure how to use them right so, how do i use them right?
 
Well, you need a couple of other things:

1) Solder and a soldering iron.
2) A more specific set of questions, rather than a generalized "blurb".

:)
 
i have the first and i know how to solder as well. i made a simple LED circuit on a switch but the only way i could connect everything together was by soldering each then using so much solder to connect each circle of copper prefabricated onto the board together, making direct paths for electricity
 
I using the simlest methods to to board. I want try lazer printer, but i have only inject printer HP. So i still using my own old-style system. Minimum width you can do is 2 - 1.5 milimeters. Ask? maybe i will tell more.
 
ive also used (improperly) the board with holes and copper contacts that dont touch but im not sure how to use them right so, how do i use them right?

Here's how I use the perf-boards with solder pads. The connections on the back are made with "wire wrap" wire. I do the schematic in ExpressSCH from ExpressPCB (free), then do the board layout in ExpressPCB. I do everything on 0.10" grids and added custom components that have x0.10" footprints to the PCB library. I also do a reverse image of the PCB in Photoshop to make a direct wireing layout of the pad side. Because the schematic and PCB are linked, mis-wiring errors are rare.

Also, if I decide to have actual PCBs made, the info is ready to send.

Ken
 

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If you do want to fabricate printed circuit boards, the way it works is that instead of connecting pins with wires, you use 'traces' which are thin lines of copper.

Instead of creating traces, when you etch a PCB you are removing what isn't a trace.

Like trimming the bonsai tree--cut away whatever doesn't look like a tree. :D

The PCB blank has a thin coating of copper on it. You apply some material to protect where you want traces to be left behind. The whole thin is dipped in Ferric Chloride (or something else) which eats away at the copper it can get to. When it removes all the copper you haven't covered, it's done, and you rinse it, and remove the material that you originally applied. What is left behind are traces.

You can draw on PCBs using Sharpie(tm) permanent markers. You can also use adhesive stickers designed for creating PCBs, or you can iron on a pattern printed by a laser printer onto magazine paper, or you can use a more sophisticated laser printer iron / transfer method.

That's how to fabricate a PCB to a design. Designing the PCB involves first designing the circuit, then designing the PCB, placing components as needed and designing where the traces are supposed to go. I like to use Eagle from CadSoft as it has integrated the circuit design and PCB design steps.

Michael
 

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i have the first and i know how to solder as well. i made a simple LED circuit on a switch but the only way i could connect everything together was by soldering each then using so much solder to connect each circle of copper prefabricated onto the board together, making direct paths for electricity

Well, blobbing the solder on can work, but the best way to connect the pads is by using "tinned bus wire" - this is bare wire that has been pre-tinned with solder (it comes in various thicknesses); you solder it to one pad/leg of your part, then run it in straight lines across pads to the next part, and solder it there; then you solder the wire to each pad along the path. Some hobbyists like to bend the leads/legs of their parts to make these similar connections, because the part leads are sometimes pre-tinned and easy to use. Others clip them off (and save them for jumpers on breadboards, or for short PCB runs, or whatever). You could also use bare copper wire (wire from an old cat5e cable works good) in a similar manner, spot-soldering it to each hole, then tinning the whole thing with solder once done (to prevent corrosion). You can also, as mentioned, use insulated wire and connect the points that way. Also remember you can connect the wires from both sides of the PCB (and some PCBs have solderable pads, sometimes thru-hole pads if it is a quality PCB protoboard)...
 
Here's how I use the perf-boards with solder pads. The connections on the back are made with "wire wrap" wire. I do the schematic in ExpressSCH from ExpressPCB (free), then do the board layout in ExpressPCB. I do everything on 0.10" grids and added custom components that have x0.10" footprints to the PCB library. I also do a reverse image of the PCB in Photoshop to make a direct wireing layout of the pad side. Because the schematic and PCB are linked, mis-wiring errors are rare.

Also, if I decide to have actual PCBs made, the info is ready to send.

Ken

You mentioned that ExpressPCB is free. So you take care about legal software. So i hope Photoshop is free too?
 
Photoshop is not free. There are probably free or cheap graphics programs that will let you import a screen-shot, and reverse the image. I just happen to have Adobe Photoshop. Maybe others can suggest a program.

Ken
 
FWIW If you use Eagle you don't need Photoshop; you can print the silk layer for a guide or you can print the bottom side in reverse thanks to a handy feature in the software.

Rather than Photoshop, there are lots of free (multiplatform) image editors out there... Gimp, Irfanview, ...
 
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For the europeans, I've used OLIMEX (they're in Bulgaria) and they make double-sided plated through boards for really low prices. The quality is excellent. For Americans I guess expresspcb is what everyone uses ;)
 
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