[sdiy] tinning home etched boards?

[Ben Lincoln]

Adam Schabtach wrote:
>>  one thing that has been driving me crazy about 
>> working with home-made boards is how poorly the solder STICKS 
>> to the holes...i assume this is due to there being so little 
>> copper to grab onto. correct?
>>     
>
> It sounds like you've got some sort of residue left on your boards. Solder
> should stick well to bare copper. I haven't had a problem soldering to the
> boards I've hand-etched, although I have used a flux pen for the SMT work.

I agree. Dan, you are cleaning the board with acetone after etching and 
then rinsing the acetone off, right? Are you using pure acetone or 
something with other stuff in it like regular nail polish remover (which 
doesn't work nearly as well and will probably gum up your board)? Also, 
how big are you making your pads and tracks? The first board I etched I 
made to look like something a PCB fabricator would make for tiny SMT 
parts (since it was what I'd seen most often, so it "looked right" that 
way), and it was pretty hard to work with (and sounded crappy). After 
that I made all of the copper sections as big as possible without 
actually contacting anything else and it was much easier.