At 08:04 AM 9/11/2006, lcdpublishing wrote:
>Hi guys,
>
>Went out to etch a board this morning only to find my tank empty -
>luckily I store it inside a bucket so all was well. The Ferric
>Chloride siphoned out through the air hose inlet which passes through
>a hole in the side of the tank. Aside from it completely disolving
>the brass fitting which connects to my compressor, nothing else bad
>happened.
If I may make a suggestion: put a tiny air hole in the hose. Place
the hole at the highest point in the siphon - where the hose goes
over the edge of the bucket.
This hole need not be large - something on the order of a #60 drill
bit is fine. If the hose is plastic, even consider using a hot
needle or a really small soldering iron tip.
The purpose of the hole is to stop a vacuum from forming in the
hose. That stops accidental siphoning action.
My tank is quite large (10 gallon tank filled with 7 gallons) and the
air supply is a vacuum motor blower fed through 1" plastic pipe. I
used a 1/8" hole where the pipe goes over the top of the tank - I
have way more air volume that I need and don't notice the air that is
lost through the hole.
Even though the blower motor is located about 40" below the top of
the liquid, I've NEVER had etchant get down into the blower.
I had initially considered using a 1-way valve but finding a valve
that was low cost, low pressure drop, and impervious to the etchant
seemed impossible at the time. The air hole simply eliminated the
need for the valve.
dwayne
--
Dwayne Reid <
dwayner@...>
Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA
(780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax
Celebrating 22 years of Engineering Innovation (1984 - 2006)
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