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

I'm wondering about the practicality of tinning bare copper on PCBs by dipping into a solder pot. If the board is masked with a negative image, the tinning can also form the the resist for etching. My interest is two-fold. Tinning would protect the copper, and the negative image would place toner transfer pinholes and defects into the etch area. My hope is that they can be either undercut and dissolved during etching, or simply left in place or wirebrushed away. I don't have a solder pot to experiment with, and was about to purchase a small one to strip and tin enamel leads. Larger pots, suitable for dipping small PCBs, cost not much more. I was wondering if it would be worth the added expense.

Thanks.
Mike.


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