Home made PCB's

[nimonia]

yeap tths wat i do too. keep gnd as big as possible.. one all the routing doen i would just stretch the whole board for a gnd poligon... saves time to when etching..

[languer]

toalan,

Out of curiosity, do you laser print into the photo paper and later iron-on? or how do you use the photo paper. My personal best is using inkjet into transparency, develop and etch (but lately I have issues with my new inkjet and its ink/transparency adhesion).

[Ron Marcus]

I have used both Ferric Chloride and Sodium Persulfate for etching. The Ferric is very quick, but the Persulfate is gentle and tends to undercut the traces less. My best results have come from Eagle(The best!) with a Laser printer and photo etching using Injectorall boards. I will routinely print .010" width lines with less than .007" spacing. I could never achieve this with iron on personally. As far as the etchant, I will heat Ferric up to 125F in the microwave, in a pyrex dish. I drop the board in, and gently wipe it with a foam paint brush of the desired width. Etching time is around 2-3 minutes for 1 oz copper. Other than fumes and my better half yelling at me for the occasional stain on the microwave handle, I have had no problems. I never heat the solution more than 5 seconds at a time before swirling. I'll put in enough to cover the board + 3/8".

Ron

[DynamoBen]

At $11 a pack the press-n-peel is cheap so I'm sticking with it. (allelectronics.com)

As far as heating, the etching tank I just bought uses a fish tank heater. Works great.

[nimonia]

just a quick tip.. once u have wash with acid and need to remove the leftovers dont use a hard brush or sandpaper.. just use a cloth and thinner.. it works..

[toalan]

With the Staples Picture Paper:

I print on them using a lazer Printer
Then iron onto the copper surface
Then peel off
Then rub off the excess paper under water with my thumb
Then dump it into Ferric Chloride.

With the picture Paper and 600 dpi printer I can usually fit a trace in between the terminals of each IC pin. But I have to be extra careful and make sure that the trace is fully etched, sometimes with tight spaceing I have to use a knife to make an extra crease so that the traces get etched correctly.

I think I am going to get a photo etching system, ironing in the hot summer weather while putting as much pressure on the surface as you can is not something I like to do.