Circuit Skills: Circuit Board Etching

Making your own printed circuit board can be a truly satisfying process, tying together electronics and the handmade craft of etching. It's the most accurate way to build a circuit short of sending away to a PCB manufacturer and it's a lot more fun (+ cheaper too!). For a full list of materials used plus more tips for etching & drilling head over to MAKE's site -
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/02/circuit_skills_circuit_board_etchin....

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• circuit
• board
• diy
• electronics
• etching
• pcb
• photo
• resist
• UV
• light
• design
• layout
• copper

[billynightmare]

you remind me of that movie rent shop guy in men in black 2

[AlarmingRacer15]

omg im 11 and i try it and it was badass it works to

[Listn2CKY]

Could you use that developing solution more than once?

[superepicfailable]

he looks like that guy in scary movie, the part in the hounted mansion.

( guy in wheelchair)

[Hedphelym]

You take care in using a dark room to assemble the PCB, but when it comes to etching you leave it in a bright lit environment. Wont the photoresist get affected by light even while etching?

[imajeenyus42]

Doubling up transparencies is a brilliant idea! I'm going to try that next time I do a board - always have problems with low toner density in large groundplane areas, hopefully that should fix it.

You can use toner transfer (print on some silicone paper then iron on) to apply a component layout to the top side of the board.

[imajeenyus42]

Great video! I've also found that OHP transparency film is actually quite bad at giving a good black fill. Thanks to Mike's Electric Stuff (see link on making PCBs), the best I've found is actually tracing paper - Viking Direct code Q29-RG1059, if you're in the UK. Plenty light gets through the tracing paper itself, and the rough surface holds plenty ink. Also, I've found that "compatible" toner carts are not nearly as good as the original manufacturer's, even if they're cheaper!

[derekwhite26]

@TheNalith I am pretty sure he made that song himself. He has a synthezizer or some ridiculous shit like that.

[vash2033]

This is interesting..

[G0nny]

I like your Videos. You got a new subscriber!

[MGARestoration]

Really helpful video! Thanks for the effort...