Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

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I had a very interesting telephone conversation today with Steve
Johnson who owns the company that makes this photoresist. Steve is
just getting this product off the ground after many years of research.
A water based photoresist is something the circuit board industry has
been waiting on for years. He said it was the only water based product
of this type on the market.

There are NO solvents or VOC's in this product. Steve told me it has a
slight water based (latex) paint odor. This would be great for anyone
with a home based shop who doesn't want to put up with the stink of
dry film or solvent based products. It can be processed the same as
dry film resist after it dries.

Development would be in a weak sodium carbonate (soda ash) solution.
Washing soda from the grocery store is soda ash. Make a 1% solution
with water. Approximately 1.25 ounces of the dry soda ash powder to
one gallon of warm water should work fine.

Sodium hydroxide (lye) can be used to strip this resist after etching.
A 1 or 2% solution should work for stripping.

I plan on using this resist for photo engraving stainless steel sheets
for a product I make. Steve said this material has better adhesion
properties than dry film. Resist adhesion has always been a problem
for me when processing stainless steel. I will use it for my circuit
board production as well. My plan is to use a simple dip coater for
applying the resist and drying it with an infra red heater panel.

Something else to consider, this company also makes soldermask and
component legend products that exhibit the same fast exposure
properties. I have used liquid photo imaged soldermask for years and
if you don't have a high power exposure unit you aren't going to get
the job done. Those products take lots of UV power for proper
exposure. The way it looks, this new soldermask product will get a
complete exposure with much less power. This is a HUGE bonus for the
experimenter and home shop guys who don't have high power equipment.

I will be testing this product in my shop very soon and plan to post
the results here. Hopefully others will do the same as I feel they
will obtain some first class boards by doing so.

Steve Johnson told me he would welcome orders from anyone so don't
worry about being a hobbyist or home based shop. He wants to get this
product out there and I applaud him for accepting orders from
commercial and hobbyist users alike.

I am not affiliated in any way with this company and only learned
about them today but I plan on being a regular customer and I hope
others will try it too.

Tom