PCB Design

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AtomSoft

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Hey Guys im in need of some information... i have used google and found tons of info but none really useful

I want to make PLATED THROUGH HOLES at home and just got confused so much. What are the best ways to accomplish this.. Your opinions are greatly appreciated...

EDIT:

NOT VIAs thats easy...
 
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If you must have plated through holes have a board house make the PCB. Every effort to DIY it seems to be a pain and some I would not trust.
 
Its no fun and cost to much to send out boards to be made. I rather do it at home and let it be a pain heh

Mikebits how would i go about ordering those parts and tool? Would love to try it...
 
With through hole boards I often use resistor, pin header, and chip pins to change layers. You have to be a bit creative but it is surprising what you can do.

I think the process mike pointed out still requires plating.

Some DIYers are using is conductive ink or paste. Here is a link using a window defroster repair kit paste.

Or this which is a plating process.
 
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I Have seen both of those before. The only way i can see of doing a simple but time consuming dual layer board is by create a ton of VIAs which SUCK! but heh what can i do? I guess i have to suffer through it heh... here is a picture of a board i have/want to do:

 

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I find via's to be fairly easy, but I use paste and a hot air station. They are certainly a hell of a lot easier than any plating technique I've seen.

Many components, like the DIP's you can solder either the top or bottom side, so there's no real need to move the trace to the bottom unless you are using a socket. I've also soldered the top side of headers. You can slip the plastic part of the header up and down the pin. Hard to explain, but these headers have all been soldered on the top side.
 

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Ill do vias with no problem i have a ton of tiny gauge wire my friend sent me about 100ft. So i think a few inches isnt too much to use heh
 
If you tried you could do this board with few if any dedicated vias.

It is the time it takes to solder them rather then the cost of the wire that I dislike.
 
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yeah wire i get free ... technically since i have so much and know many people with 1000s of feet. They are happy to send me 10ft if needed. The time sucks tho. Drilling and Placing and soldering heh its a huge hassle to me
 
damn its not even complete heh just noticed i didnt add the ULN2803s heh.. Anyone know where to buy some ULN2803 in SOIC form or something SMT??? No one has it in stock ... i checked..

DIGIKEY, MOUSER, NEWARK

I need about 10-14 of em....
 
Allied does not have any either. I expect you will find em at area 51 or similar but the recycle places like that often have $50 min orders. If you have not done so use findChips.com
 
Thanks for that link. I might as well buy some SMD transistors from Mouser... 100 of these for $5

2N7002,215 NXP Semiconductors MOSFETs
Not bad really... i can make 12.5 ULN2803s with that amount...

A ULN2803 cost about $0.50 USD each so about $6.50 for 12.5 of em heh and i can make custom amount like a 4 transisitor array or a 10 tran.. array

So its good for me anyway... just have to make the part backwards in eagle so i can use it on BOTTOM side heh without having to flip them all

EDIT:

Jameco has em for $0.03 each @ 100+ so $3 for 100 yay!!

https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/s...0001&pa=140169&productId=140169&cid=findchips
 
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To move parts from the top to the bottom in Eagle use the mirror tool in the layout editor.
That way you only need one footprint for both.
 
Is the mirror tool the same as using middle mouse click? If so then i have had lots of issues with it heh
 
Yes, it just swaps the part to the opposite layer and swaps the footprint around so it shows properly on its layer. I'm not certain what issue you can have with it.

Maybe you aren't printing the layers properly? For etching, one of the layers you need to print mirrored. For toner transfer you need to print the top layer with the mirror box enabled. The bottom layer is already mirrored, since you are looking down on it.

Also, that it a terrible auto-route.
 
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