[sdiy] PCB making

[KA4HJH]

>On 1/2/07, Samppa Tolvanen <samppa.tolvanen at gmail.com> wrote:
>> And here´s Tom Gootee´s "classic" description of the toner transfer method:
>>
>> http://www.fullnet.com/~tomg/gooteepc.htm#1
>>
>> This method does work when You find the correct setup. One thing I do
>> differently: I´ve found, pre-etching the board before the transfer
>> will make toner to stick better, than transferring diretly to bare
>> clean copper.
>>
>> Samppa
>>
>
>A-HA! (epiphany moment) that makes a LOT of sense: throw the board in
>some etchant for a few seconds and 'texture' the surface so that the
>toner has some teeth to grab on to. Gonna have to try that.

Model railroaders do the same thing before painting a brass locomotive.
It's called "pickling". You don't need to use etchant for this--any
moderately acidic solution will work but unfortunately I don't recall any
dilutions or times. Google might be a good place to start...

It's always a good idea to polish an untinned PC board with a pot scrubber
before you start soldering as well.

-- 

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"