how to make a PCB at home

[samcheetah]

ive read alot of articles on the net about making a PCB at home. its really kool to design your own PCBs at home. but which method is the best?

ive seen tons of methods been explained and im really confused. in your opinion which method is the best. by best i mean that it should be easy and cost effective and should produce durable PCBs.

what type of UV lamp should be used? which etchant should be used? is acetone really necessary? should i use a hand drill or an electric drill?

u get the idea???

 

[vaineo]

I just use the etch resistant pen and ferric chloride and a drill press to make the holes. It doesn't give you the highest quality but it's probably the cheapest method and the boards normally come out looking nice.

I would say using something like the laser printer method would be the best if you have one. Allows you to transfer driectally from the pc to the board. But i havn't tryed anything other than the etchant so I can't say how they work.

As for acitone. I don't use it. Just the pen(A sharpie) the etchant and the drill.

 

[jbeng]

I have used the photographic method for years, with good results. I use positive presensitized boards like these and blacklight bulbs #F15T8/BL. You can get the lamps **broken link removed** I use the developer they recommend and ferric chloride solution to etch.
I also use a dremel in a drill press base to drill, because I use carbide drills which are fragile, but last a long time if you're careful with them.
I don't use acetone to remove the etch resist - I usually leave it on to protect the traces. I've never gotten good results with those tin plating solutions.
As for the Sharpie pen method, I've also had good results with that, too. I have a flatbed plotter and made a holder for the pen. Just draw your pcb in your favorite CAD software, plot directly on clean copper pcb at 1x scale, etch and drill. Kinda limited in resolution, thats why I use the photo method now.
I hope this is helpful... JB

 

[mincior]

Try this post:
Electronic Circuits and Projects Forum
Circuit Simulation & PCB Design
new method to manufacture pcb at home

 

[electronicsbasecom]

Hello,

For prototyping the best method is with electric iron, you don't need UV light, it is not time consuming, all tools are easy avaiable, very good quality of lines.
If you working with SMT you can avoide drilling.
More info at:
https://www.electronics-base.com/in...60-how-to-make-pcb-in-30-minutes-at-your-home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A1lYIZy-K8

If you need more info just ask.

Greetings...

 

[3v0]

Mincior we have a forum about PCB making
Circuit Simulation & PCB Design
It would be best if posted threads about it there