Chemical tinning of PCB´s

[The Old Crow]

On Sun, 21 Jan 2001, Michael Buchstaller wrote:

> Now i have heard of a way to tin-plate a board by putting it into a
> chemical solution for a while - this is told to make it easier to
> solder (have never had problems with soldering my boards) and
> resistant against aggressive atmospheric con- ditions (maybe normal
> city air ?) Here in germany, Conrad sells something that is called
> "SENO Glanzzinn", a powder that is dissolved in hot water. The board
> is soaked in that solution and becomes shiny silver after s short time
> (some minutes).
> 
> Has anybody tried this or another method ? Is it worth the extra time
> and money, or do the tinned traces become dull very soon ?

  I use Kepro's ITP (Immersion Tin Plate) solution.  Works great,
provided the copper is clean and has not been touched by your fingers.
To be safe, I scrub newly-etched boards with steel wool and handle them
with rubber gloves.  ITP takes about 30 seconds to tin a board, and
doesn't discolor under heat--unless the copper was dirty.

  Also, for already-populated boards, I'll clean off the corrosion and
spray the board with Krylon.  Of course, nothing beats a soldermask. :)

Crow

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