Thinking about this I remember doing a post a while back on alternatives to ferric chloride. One of them was to use copper chloride, this is often use in something called the fish and chip gold recovery system. A little known fact is that Copper Chloride will dissolve copper, actually its the Chloride Ion doing the work but my point is they use COPPER CHLORIDE.
If you add Hydrochloric Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide togther and stick a pcb board in why does it etch? Simples you have made copper chloride!! So dont throw the stuff away, use it again and again until eventually it will no longer be acidic or have much chloride Ion left. There is also a neat trick to this..................Once fully used up chuck a bit of rebar or other iron part like a large nail in, the copper comes out of solution and collects around the iron. I might look for the post later as it has a video with it.
One last word on using Hydrogen Peroxide and Hydrochloric acid mixed together.............Everybody is going to tell you they done it for years and years and never had a problem. Concentrated Hydrochloric Acid mixed with Hydrogen peroxide is not something you should mess with without a proper fume cupboard. Chlorine is a Halogen, ok its one of the nicer ones (its relative) but its a nasty nasty chemical. Take a big whiff of chlorine fumes and the water vapor in your lungs instantly turns it into hydrochloric acid, takes surprisingly little Chlorine to do enough lung damage to cause Pulmonary Odema and irreversible lung damage.
This is a forum so few will agree, but use ferric chloride or something else, using Hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide mixed for etching pcb's is like using semtex to dig a whole to plant a lettuce
If you add Hydrochloric Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide togther and stick a pcb board in why does it etch? Simples you have made copper chloride!! So dont throw the stuff away, use it again and again until eventually it will no longer be acidic or have much chloride Ion left. There is also a neat trick to this..................Once fully used up chuck a bit of rebar or other iron part like a large nail in, the copper comes out of solution and collects around the iron. I might look for the post later as it has a video with it.
One last word on using Hydrogen Peroxide and Hydrochloric acid mixed together.............Everybody is going to tell you they done it for years and years and never had a problem. Concentrated Hydrochloric Acid mixed with Hydrogen peroxide is not something you should mess with without a proper fume cupboard. Chlorine is a Halogen, ok its one of the nicer ones (its relative) but its a nasty nasty chemical. Take a big whiff of chlorine fumes and the water vapor in your lungs instantly turns it into hydrochloric acid, takes surprisingly little Chlorine to do enough lung damage to cause Pulmonary Odema and irreversible lung damage.
This is a forum so few will agree, but use ferric chloride or something else, using Hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide mixed for etching pcb's is like using semtex to dig a whole to plant a lettuce