send message to user charlesschenck 3 months ago

Enujoyed the tutorial. During the last 40 years I have tried most methods of making PCBs in your kitchen sink, with lots of failures. The simplest process, which has worked best for me is to use a transfer paper called Press N Peel Blue. The 'blue' is a layer of laquer which is held to the board by the toner. This helps prevent uneven toner coating and underetched, pitted traces. It is also easy to correct any missed traces during the ironing process by simply reironing.

It would be helpful to give some instructions about how to mix ferric chloride. I have suffered many disasters when the brew was not strong enough!

Double sided boards, without plated thru holes, are not hard to make. They can be essential for RF type projects, which require a ground plane. Just apply the first layer, mark two holes in opposite sides with a punch and drill. Make two tiny holes in the other transfer. Then line them up and use the iron to tack down the second layer before ironing.

Meat trimming of PCB can be a chore for a klutz! It can even be dangerous if you use the Doug DeMaw papercutter method. A small metal shear (Harbor Freight) is nice to have.


I agree about the lack of really useable freeware pcb layout programs, such as Eagle. There are better inexpensive (under $100) hobbyist programs. None of them seem to have adequate component libraries for things like simple toroid inductors. However, Dip Trace has a nice component editor. UtiliBoard Student Edition is easy to use, but you will only get an adequate library if you pay big bucks. Now, if only someone would tell us how to design using PCB 123 and liberate the code to make our own boards cheaply!

Good etching guys.