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lab11 wp
lab11 wp
lab11 wp
Objective
Learning of PCB by direct Etching
Equipment / Tool:
1. Copper Clad Board
2. Carborundum paper
3. Ferric Chloride Acid
4. Permanent Marker
5. Wires
6. Drill Machine
7. Solder Rod
8. Solder Wires
Background
Making printed circuit boards is a necessary skill for being able to build electronic gear above
a very simple level. This article describes a set of techniques, tools, and materials used to turn
a copy of a circuit pattern into a finished board by transferring the pattern onto a copper-clad
blank, and then etching off the excess copper. This is direct etching, as opposed to the
photographic techniques used in other processes. While my audience is specifically Dyers who
want to build guitar stomp boxes, the techniques are applicable to many other devices and
designs. I do not cover creating your own printed-circuit patterns; that's a much more involved
subject, and, if you are interested, you should seek references written by experienced designers.
I presume here that you have either drawn out a pattern that you want to make into a board, or,
more likely, that you have a jpeg or pdf of an actual-size pattern from an on-line source that
you want to transfer to copper using Press N' Peel film. Most of the tools and materials shown
are available as a kit from my Stock List, but you don't have to use exactly the ones I show.
Locally-purchased equivalents may be perfectly acceptable, and on-line resources like the
Stomp box Forum often discuss alternates and work-abounds. That said, the items I provide are
top-quality, professional-grade and thoroughly tested; they make it much easier to produce a
good board on the first try.
This is a list of basics, and I'll give some suggestions at the end for alternates and "nice-
tohaves".
1. Copper-clad blank circuit board
2. The best base material is FR-4, which is a laminate of fiberglass and epoxy resin. Other
composites of phenolic, epoxy resin, cellulose and fiberglass are also used.
3. Transfer Film
4. There are several brands out there. You print your design on it using a laser printer or
photocopier, and then iron the pattern onto copper. I have long used Techniks Press N' Peel
(P-n-P).
5. Please note: P-n-P will not work with inkjet printers. You must have access to a laser printer
or photocopier. Also, compatibility problems have been reported with the toner used in
Brother printers.
6. Double-sided Scotch Tape
7. I use this for setting up the printing of a P-n-P transfer.
8. Marking Pen or Liquid Resist Ink
9. You need one of these for filling any small voids left after transferring a pattern. A Sharpie
Permanent marker will do, but a purpose-made industrial marking pen is preferable.
10. Etchant
11. The most commonly used chemical is Ferric Chloride. It is available pre-mixed, or as a
powder that is mixed with water. Many people have come to prefer Ammonium or Sodium
per sulfate for etching, because it is a clear solution; this makes it easier to follow the
progress. However, per sulfate solution is not stable, so it must be prepared in small batches
as needed. My basic directions will use Ferric Chloride, but I will include notes on using
Sodium per sulfate.
12. Etching Tray
13. A small glass, rubber, ceramic or rigid plastic (polystyrene, polyethylene or Lucite) tray,
large enough to hold the board with room around it to agitate, and an inch or so deep.
14. Ruler
15. You'll want one for measuring pieces of board when cutting to size, and other planning jobs.
16. X-acto or similar Knife
17. Used to scribe fine lines on the copper in doing layout, also for cutting a board to size by
the "score-and-snap" method.
18. Wire Number Drills
19. These are very fine twist drills for making the holes for component leads. The most
commonly used sizes are #59 (.040") through #63 (.037"). 20. Carborundum Paper
21. For deburring the edges of a freshly cut board. I use 220 grit.
22. Scotch-Brite Pads
23. Used with a little BonAmi or similar abrasive cleanser for cleaning the copper surface.
24. Solvent
25. Acetone or nail-polish remover for stripping resist from a finished board.
Many people have built Joe Davisson's Tweak-O as a first pedal. I have long offered it as a kit
for building on pad-per-hole perfboard, and it was easy to turn that layout into a PC board
pattern. You can download it as a .pdf from this link, and it looks like this:
The pattern is in "X-ray" view, meaning that this is how it appears if you are looking at it
through the component side of the board. The finished board will have exactly the same outside
dimensions as the perfboard version, and it can be used as a drop-in replacement if you want
to build a Tweak-O with it. I'll say more about this when we are done.
Fiberglass fragments and dust are noxious, so I wear disposable gloves and a filter mask when
I do any machining of FR-4. Score the board several times from top to bottom on the edge that
you are going to snap. You want to score straight, and get through the copper to the base
material:
Holding the board up to a light after a few strokes will tell you whether you have cut through:
Now set the piece up to snap. I have done this successfully by wedging in a door frame, but the
job is much easier if you have a vise, or can get access to one. Clamp the piece on the score
line as shown here. If the jaws of the vise are serrated, use a thin piece of wood on each side to
protect the surface of the board:
Snap the board by applying strong, steady pressure near the top edge:
Once you have snapped or cut the board to size, you need to deburr and smooth its edges,
especially on the copper side; if the edges of the copper cladding aren't perfectly flat, they will
prevent your iron from properly contacting the metal surface. For this job, make a sanding
block by stapling a piece of #220 sandpaper or carborundum paper to a small piece of soft
wood. Smooth each edge of the board, top and bottom:
Rinse off every trace of the cleanser and dry the board with a clean, lint-free paper towel. From
this point on, do not touch the surface of the copper with bare fingers! The board is ready to
receive a pattern:
Now that you know where the printer will place the image (and so how to orient the paper in
the printer tray), you can use this same sheet as a "carrier" for a small piece of the transfer film.
Lay a couple of strips of double-sided Scotch tape across the printed image:
Cut out a piece of P-n-P that is slightly larger than the image. Lay this down carefully over the
image with the dull (emulsion) side facing up. Press the film down gently with a clean sheet of
paper, not bare fingers, so you are assured of good adhesion:
You are ready to print for real. Load the sheet into the printer paper tray, using the mark that
you made when you started to make sure that the sheet is oriented correctly. Print! If you did
everything right, you have a toner transfer:
Gently lift the transfer off the carrier sheet, place the emulsion side down on a clean area of the
paper, and carefully peel away the tape. The knife may be helpful in getting started:
With a sharp scissor, trim the toner transfer to size:
Lay the toner transfer onto the copper, lining up the edges carefully. The Techniks instructions
say to follow with a piece of plain paper between the toner transfer and the iron "to reduce
friction". I have tried this and do find it helpful:
I know you thought we'd never get here...OK, Iron! Slowly, back and forth, and it doesn't take
much pressure. Time? It depends on your iron, as noted, but you will be able to go back and try
again if you are not happy with the result. Small boards don't usually need more than 90
seconds:
Quench the board under cold running water to bring it back to room temp, and peel the film
away gently:
If your transfer has too many voids or otherwise didn't come out well, just remove the pattern
by rubbing with a clean rag wetted with acetone and do the transfer again.
Note: Acetone is volatile and extremely flammable. NEVER leave a container of acetone lying
open! Especially if there is a source of heat or sparks in the area, you are asking for fire or
explosion!
Small voids can be touched up with the marking pen:
If you can't find transparency stock, use software to mirror (some programs say "horizontally
flip") the image and then print to tracing paper, or even plain paper. If your pattern is a jpg,
most graphics programs (like Paint shop) will mirror the image. If it's a pdf, there are shareware
programs (I have used Ghost script) that will convert pdf format to jpg so that you can do the
mirror.
After you print, leave several hours for the ink to dry thoroughly!
Using ordinary scotch tape, tape the board to the side of the sheet that carries the printed image.
Then flip over:
Using an awl, pick or scribe, make an indentation at the center of each pad:
Once you have marked a location on the copper for every pad, you can remove the board from
the artwork. Keep the artwork (or a copy) near to hand for use later as a guide to connecting
the pads:
Dry-transfer donuts come in many sizes. The ones I like for most common resistors, caps and
transistors are 1/8" in diameter, and they come on carrier sheets. I typically cut off a row for
easier handling. Locate the center hole of a donut over an indentation, and rub it in place with
a hard, rounded burnishing tool.
The pattern for the Tweak-O doesn't use ICs. If the circuit you are working with does, don't try
to lay out the dual-in-line pin (DIP) format for a chip using donuts; dry transfer material is
available that is precisely registered and can be cut for any DIP pattern length (left pic). The
typical 3-lead triangular pattern for transistor leads can be defined with donuts, or dry transfers
(right pic):
Once you have all of your pads for components in place, add the lines (usually called traces)
that connect them. You can use either the marker or resist tape for this job. The marker is quicker
for simple boards (left pic). Resist tape is usually neater and permits putting down finer lines,
but installing it takes longer. Run it from pad-to-pad, hold down with the knife, and pull against
the blade to cut it (right pic):
Once you have the pattern defined on copper, the board is ready to etch.
My kit comes with a plastic tray (actually half of a polystyrene box,) but any similar-sized
vessel of plastic, rubber, glass or ceramic will also do. If you find a small one that already has
ribs on the bottom, grab it. I could not, so I added ribs to my plastic one by slicing a few cocktail
straws in half and gluing them in place with quick-setting epoxy:
The ribs make it easy to get a pair of forceps under the board to lift it out of the bath.
Most references I have seen recommend warming Ferric Chloride (usually by putting the open
bottle in a bath of hot water) in order to speed the process and avoid undercutting the resist. It's
a good idea, though not necessary in my experience for small boards that don't have fine lines.
Note that while Ferric Chloride is not corrosive to skin, it will badly stain both skin and fabric.
Take care when pouring, and when removing the board.
Lay the board in the tray and pour in enough Ferric Chloride to just cover it. Agitate the tank
every few minutes, and lift the board out periodically to check progress of the etch:
Dumping used etchant down your sink or toilet can be hazardous to your plumbing, and the
copper in the solution is toxic. This reference:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=50426.40
Includes notes on using baking soda to turn the solution into solid waste that can safely be
thrown out with regular trash. Etching Using Sodium Persulfate
I had never used this material before trying it for this article. The directions on the label suggest
a dilution of one-half pound by weight to one gallon of water, which I translated to one-quarter
ounce by weight (about a rounded teaspoon by volume) per four ounces for making a small
batch. I used the hottest water I could get from my tap and stirred the powder in with a plastic
spoon till it dissolved completely. One caution: When diluting Sodium Persulfate, never add
water to a mass of the powder; always add the powder to the water. Doing it the wrong way
can result in spattering that verges on explosive.
I used the solution exactly as I did the Ferric Chloride. Within 15 minutes, the solution started
to go light blue as the copper on the board started turning to Copper Sulfate. The process took
a couple of hours, much longer than Ferric Chloride, but it did ultimately work well. It's very
easy to see when etching is complete:
Other references say that per sulfate solution should be warmed slightly during etching (often
by placing the tank in the middle of a pan of hot water) to speed the process, and I'm going to
try this next time.
When the board is fully etched, rinse it thoroughly in running water. Then strip the resist with
acetone:
The board is ready to drill and stuff. Just to make sure that I hadn't made any mistakes, I went
all the way--drilled it, stuffed, wired straight through and tested:
It works! As I noted earlier, this board can be dropped right into the Tweak-O design in Projects,
should you wish to build this way.
Lab Task
Analysis of results:
The article's success in achieving its objective of providing a comprehensive guide for creating
a basic printed circuit board (PCB) using the direct etching method can be attributed to several
key elements. Firstly, the instructions are presented in a clear, detailed, and well-organized
manner, ensuring that readers, especially those new to PCB fabrication, can follow the process
with confidence. The inclusion of an extensive list of required tools and materials, along with
alternatives and safety considerations, demonstrates a thoughtful approach to accommodating
readers with varying resources and prioritizes user well-being. The incorporation of visuals,
such as images and diagrams, enhances the understanding of specific techniques involved in the
PCB-making process. The practical application of the process with a successfully tested board
at the conclusion of the article not only validates the provided instructions but also instills
confidence in readers about the feasibility of the method. Furthermore, the article's
consideration of potential limitations by suggesting alternatives for materials and tools
showcases adaptability, catering to the diverse circumstances of a DIY audience. Overall, the
article's tailored approach for DIY enthusiasts and its practical advice contribute to its
effectiveness in providing a user-friendly guide for creating PCBs through direct etching.
Figure 1before Etching Figure 1after etching
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the article serves as a comprehensive and accessible guide for individuals
interested in creating printed circuit boards (PCBs) through the direct etching method. Clear
step-by-step instructions, accompanied by visuals, make the PCB fabrication process easily
understandable for both beginners and DIY enthusiasts. The inclusion of an extensive tool and
material list, along with safety precautions, reflects a considerate approach to readers' diverse
resources. The practical application of the process with a successfully tested board reinforces
the method's feasibility. Overall, the article's tailored approach for a DIY audience, practical
advice, and consideration of alternatives enhance its effectiveness as a reliable resource for
those venturing into DIY PCB fabrication through direct etching.