[sdiy] tinning home etched boards?

[Dan Snazelle]

the sizes i am using for traces and pads are the ones that YUSYNTH recommended.

yes i am using acetone. nail polish version but it hasnt been a problem removing the black gunk.


i think the size of the traces are great. and the pads WOULD be great if it werent for the fact the drill bit often goes a bit to one side or the other. this damn drel drill press is a hunk of junk in regards to drilling perfectly straight.

maybe i just need more practice. and maybe i just need to use the smallest drill bit possible so if i screw up it wont take out the whole pad.

also..part of this might be that all last week i was soldering the asm2 board which is pure soldering luxury..nice solder mask..good big pads,etc.

and now i am dealing with pads ripping up!

thanks






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> Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:32:11 -0700
> From: blincoln at eventualdecline.com
> To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> Subject: Re: [sdiy] tinning home etched boards?
>
> 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.
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