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PCBs

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nye

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im sort of a beginner in electronics...i thought that if i construct my circuits with PCBs it might be easier than using dot-boards...i was earlier thinkin of using a Dalo Pen with Ferric Cholride to etch the copper and make the tracks..is tht ok??or should i use something else, or should i jus stick to the dot-boards for the moment???Also could somebody tell me a good PCB designing software??preferably a free one...otherwise tell me good ones..might b able to get them...
 
google for toner transfer. you need access to a laser printer or photocopier but you can make reasonable PCBs that way. google for toner transfer pcb

If you have access to presensitized boards, you can make extremely good quality PCBs. google for photo pcb
 
Use Eagle. Its free for the basic version and is also used by pros so you cant go wrong. Not too hard once you get the hang of it.
 
toner transfer??not heard of it before...tht is i print the circuit out on a piece of paper??pls forgiv me for my ignorance!!!or will those google results giv me an idea??k..yeah..i think i'll go with eagle..
 
oh man!!!!tht's cool!!!i'll think abt it..how much will u charge??im in sri lanka..so it'll b quite easy for u to post...
 
to answer your question - just use google.

short answer - yes. toner in laser printers and photocopiers is just carbon particles coated with plastic. Heat melts the plastic and causes it to stick. If you heat up a laser printed document past the fusing point, the toner will stick to what ever it is in contact with. The toner is a decent etchant resist.
 
I've used eagle before, it is quite easy but not all the components are available for example relays.
 
do u use the free eagle version??is tht enough for a hobbyist??
 
free version of eagle is enough for most hobby projects...

but I don't think making PCB's for everything is a great idea just for simple prototyping as a beginner, I have a feeling you'll find it to be a lot more difficult than using perfboard (or dot-board as you called it)... and to make changes, you either have to hack up traces on your board, or make a new board. With perfboard you can just desolder some wires and fix things easily. making PCB's isn't incredibly hard, but it can be quite time-consuming, which is why I only make a PCB for a circuit after I have it fully working on a breadboard, so I know i'm not wasting my time.
 
yeah..mayb tht's a better method..i think its better for me to do tht..i made circuits abt 3 years ago, but haven't since then..and i've forgotten some stuff..so i regard myself as a beginner!!!lol
 
eagle is quite powerful but a bit quirky on the interface.

I agree that you should always breadboard first. at least initially. As you gain expertise and confidence, you can skip breadboarding and go directly to PCB. I usually breadboard only the new/uncertain parts of my designs.

On the component libraries - I'd be very careful using the eagle (or any package's) libs. There are mistakes and some put silkscreen on top of solder pads. You should take some time to learn the library editor. Once you've got it, you can pound out the parts very quickly.
 
somewhere i saw a suggestion, to paster a sticker sheet on the copper board, print the PCB layout, paste it on the sticker sheet, then cut it out and etch it..is this also a good way??i was thinkin of printin the layout and doin tht way or tracing the layout and using a Dalo Pen, or etch resist pen..whtever u call it
 
It can work but I've only had mediocre luck with resist pens. You need to really lay it down thick. You probably can do 100 mil through-hole stuff that way but I think toner transfer will be a lot more reliable and look a lot more professional. I believe the thinnest pen you can get is around 60 mil.

TT really isn't that hard though it takes a bit of fiddling to get good at it. It took me 3 tries to get my first board but now I can have a double sided board ready for the etch tank in about an hour. I've done around 60-70 PCBs this way.
 
sorry but let me jus run thro the toner transfer process...i prepare the layout with either Eagle or Express PCB...then i print it using a laser printer on the toner side of the toner paper...then i place the toner paper with the printed/toner side on the board, and then iron over it with an iron..then i remove the paper, and will c the toner stuck to the board...then i etch it( probably with Ferric Chloride) and then after that, how do i wash of the toner??and then when i wash of the toner is it ready for use?? or do i have to tin the tracks, or varnish the board or anything like tht??
 
you basically have it. most of the 100s of sites that describes this go into much depth.

use acetone, MEK, brake fluid or what ever to remove the toner. use chemical resistant gloves.

I don't bother tinning. just clean off the toner, drill the board and start soldering. by the way, this is a good time to learn about surface mount components since drilling is the worst, most tedious, most error prone part of the whole process. use 1206 resistors and caps and SOIC ICs to start with.
 
Yes, you really need to just find a good guide online and follow it; the quick descriptions you get on a forum are not going to be as informative as a well-written tutorial with pictures, and that's why people wrote them in the first place: so it doesn't have to be repeatedly explained.
 
philba said:
{snip} eagle is quite powerful but a bit quirky on the interface.
[snip}.
I didn't like Eagle at all... finally found PCB123 which is much more user friendly, IMHO. It is a free download.
 
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