Anyone willing to etch some PCBs?

[Byte_Butcher]

The orange/brown stuff is ferric chloride.
The greenish blue stuff is probably ammonium persulfate.

[Darrel Taylor]

jmgelba was offering some deals on PCB layout and/or production not too long ago ...

http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2850

Maybe he's still looking ??

[Archangel]

The orange/brown stuff is ferric chloride.
The greenish blue stuff is probably ammonium persulfate.

Nitric Acid goes blue after first use too.
You might think good thoughts about printing your Positive in mirror image so you can put the toner side against the copper, so the .010 or .020 thickness of the plastic overlay does not diffuse light onto your traces.

[The Master]

You might think good thoughts about printing your Positive in mirror image so you can put the toner side against the copper, so the .010 or .020 thickness of the plastic overlay does not diffuse light onto your traces.

Im pretty sure thats how ive been doing it but ive been using an inkjet printer (with special inkjet PCB transparencies). Ive borrowed a laserjet now though and ive got some laserjet transparencies somewhere.

Thanks DT. Ill send jmgelba and email

[toneman]

check with the Yahoo DIYpcb group.
I'm sure there are some UK members(?)
Maybe someone can help U out while etching their own stuff(?)
Would help pay for their materials/etchant.
good luck!

[jonewoo]

It is very important that the printer produces a good solid black with no toner pinholes.If you're planning to buy a printer for PCB use, do some test prints on tracing paper to check the quality first. If the printer has a density control, set it to 'blackest'. Even the best laser printers don't generally cover large areas well, but this isn't usually a problem as long as fine tracks are solid. Note that the blackness of the printing on paper doesn't always mean a good opaque result on tracing paper so always check with tracing paper if you're buying a printer for PCB work. When using tracing paper or drafting film, always use manual paper feed, and set the straightest possible paper output path, to keep the artwork as flat as possible and minimise jamming. For small PCBs, remember you can usually save paper by cutting the sheet in half, you may need to specify a vertical offset in your PCB software to make it print on the right part of the page.

[duncan303]

Hi Jonewoo,

I would add that a laser does not replicate accurately due to the way in which the laser printers work, one is liable to notice "bands" of distortion aligned down the printing process. Noticeable if one prints an image at 90deg to another and overlays them on paper.
This may cause an issue depends on requirements, but I would always go for an ink jet printing in photo mode using paper treated with highly absorbent seaweed.

Basis test is pick up image and if you can see the sun through the ink then............



..

[The Master]

Ive been using the borrowed lazerjet. Its giving much better results than anything i tried on an inkjet. I have been using special PCB paper for both printers and the lazerjet is quite old but its still doing a better job.

Ive also changed the developer/water ratio and started using the orange acid. these have helped improve the PCBs too