[sdiy] Todays PCB Making Adventure

[Tom Arnold]

So, I hadnt made any real PCBoards since moving into the new house ( a year
ago ) so today I pulled everything out to run one.

First I tried my trusty transfer paper ( the DynaArt stuff ) and it didnt
work well with my printer at all.  So I tried the blue film type transfer
stuff.  The result was a 99% success. One edge pad partially missing and
one chunk of trace missing, not from etch-through but from sticking to the
film and pulling off.  

I did find one catch with the blue film.  The first sheet I ran wrapped
itself nicely around the fuser roller of the printer, so I used a thin strip
of contact adhesive to glue the next one to a piece of normal paper,
printed fine.  Used only a hand iron to apply it, polyester setting for
about 3 minutes.  Oh, I should mention that I scrubbed the board with
scotchbright and dried it immediatly before applying the transfer.  Got a
new aquarium heater and tank to use for etching ( 4-1/2qt tupperware-like
container ) and a fresh air bubbler tube.  Board etched in about 5 minutes.
(1oz copper).  Gonna drill the board in a few minutes and start stuffing it.

In summary, it worked really well.  I'm getting addicted however to sending
out for boards as I'm dreading the next part : drilling.

Does anyone use the 0.03 thickness PCB?  I'm thinking about trying it for
small boards.  Was reading some pros/cons of it, cuts with a paper cutter,
faster to drill, only real con is limited board size. 

-- 
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 - Tom Arnold       -  Free Synth DIY webspace http://www.sdiy.org 
 - SynthGeek        -
 - BBD Fanatic      -  "...is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?" 
 - echo evho wjxo   -    Juanita Shrugs. "What's the difference?" 
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