[sdiy] PCBs

[Scott Gravenhorst]

I always read and practiced that gentle agitation and warming 
the FeCl3 solution speeds the reaction.  I don't see a real 
good reason to rush etching anyway, especially for home DIY.
AKAIK, a reaction that is even across the surface is the 
ultimate desire.  A slower reaction will be easier to control.
Once the reaction has gone "too far", you start over and the
board, the etchant, your money and your time are all wasted.

Jim Patchell <patchell at silcom.com> wrote:
>     I think that is Nitric Acid....YikeS!
>
>   If it was Nitric Acid (HNO3), this would produce an orange gas (NO2), 
>which is very toxic.  If you want real fast etching, you add hydrocloric 
>Acid to the mix (HCl), which would probably reduce the etching time to 
>mere seconds....
>
>   However kids, please don't try this at home.  Nitric Acid is nasty 
>enough, mixing Hydrocloric Acid in with it can be downright dangerous 
>(the stuff will even disolve gold in this combination).  It also make 
>very nasty burns on your skin.
>
>   -Jim (reformed basement chemist)
>
>Sowa Roman wrote:
>
>> I agree totally with Jim.
>> I don't do PCBs at home for a long time since I found out how nice and cheap
>> they can be made at the fab. Myself I only make boards that can be made with
>> Dremel cutting wheel.
>> Just for the look of well made soldermasked PCB it is worth it to pay a
>> little
>> extra and not have fingers burnt with chemicals.
>> 
>> But,
>> when I was making them home, I used also nitrogen acid (not sure if it's
>> proper
>> english name of it). Good resuld in short time, but little dangerous because
>> of
>> produced gass (hydrogen?).
>> 
>> Roman
>> 
>> ""-----Original Message-----
>> ""From: patchell [mailto:patchell at silcom.com]
>> ""Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2002 5:29 AM
>> ""To: sysyphus at sympatico.ca
>> ""Cc: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>> ""Subject: Re: [sdiy] PCBs
>> ""
>> ""
>> ""    I learned to design printed circuits at my first job.  I 
>> ""would check the
>> ""layouts done by the layout guy (this was back in the bad old 
>> ""days when this
>> ""was done with tape on mylar).  Eventually, I started fixing 
>> ""the problems
>> ""myself, and then when the layout guy went to another job, I 
>> ""took over those
>> ""chores.  Doing layouts is more of an art.  If you want to see 
>> ""some good
>> ""examples of PCB layouts, you can go to my web site.
>> ""
>> 
>> 
>> ---------------------------------------------------------
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>> 
>> 
>> 
>
>

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-- Scott Gravenhorst | LegoManiac / Lego Trains / RIS 1.5
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