I am a new member also. Hello folks!
I got an idea. Can it be possible to make a "PCB" by cutting narrow strips from an aluminium ( or even better, copper) adhesive tape and fixing them on any non-leading surface, that would be strong enough to make a substitude-PCBoard?
I think, that aluminium or copper tape would be suitable to be used as a connective means between components... Some kind of thin plywood or plastic or even strong cardboard might be a suitable and very well working material... As a drill one could use very sharp-edged small scissors or even a very sharp awl. I continually "drill" holes into aluminium sheet with small scissors (and bigger scissors, if I want to make larger holes). Ofcourse I use one of my 2 (old) electrical drills, if I have to make a lot of holes, but not at night-time, to let my dear wife sleep.
I once made a PCB using the most difficult way. I took a sheet of copper covered pertinax (?) board and cut away parts of the copper cover in-between the "wires". I still have this homebrew PCB inside one of my 4 SELENA receivers, which dont have all of the tropical bands. It works, although it is not very good looking, if one uses a multifying loop!
Both of these ways are for a hobbyist with a low budjet, but having a lot of time and some initiative... Very noticeable sums of money and effort is spared, but a lot of satisfaction gained! ( Depending ofcourse on, how many different PCBs will be made during years.)
( I was working for many years ago in a big enterprise, where I had means to develop fotographs and use both a camera and suitable chemicals to produce PCBs, but those times are gone.)
I think, that Im going to put this permanently into my not-so-small archive of over 40 x 100 pages of printed material mostly from Yahoo!-groups. My main problem is only to find it from there, when needed. (HI!) Bad, very bad memory!
Best regards to all of you!
Aimo/Ami/Amigo, 71 years, a retired Finnish draftsman/architectural designer/record-keeper/copist, etc. etc. living in sunny Spain.
________________________________
De: awakephd <a_wake@...>
Para: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Enviado: viernes, 20 de febrero, 2009 4:31:35
Asunto: [Homebrew_PCBs] New member checking in
I found this group a few days ago and have been poking around --
thanks for the tremendous resource! The information here has already
helped me to make my most recent PCB. I was not trying for anything
too difficult -- the smallest trace is .025" -- and it did come out
with a little pitting in the larger traces. But all in all I am very
pleased indeed. Here are some pics, first of the copper side and then
of the component side (not yet drilled):
http://home. earthlink. net/~a_wake/ PCB1.JPG
http://home. earthlink. net/~a_wake/ PCB2.JPG
Here's what I used to make the board:
∗ Kicad to develop the schematic and generate the artwork;
∗ Toner transfer -- printed on an HP P2015dn laser onto pages from an
old Harbor Freight catalog, then ironed onto the board
∗ Cupric chloride to etch (well, really hydrochloric acid + hydrogen
peroxide; NOW I have cupric chloride!)
This is the second board I have made in the last couple of weeks, both
using toner transfer, but the first using CuCl. The first time I used
the cover pages from the HF catalog, and it was very easy to soak the
paper off (but I also lifted a bit of the toner -- don't know if I
didn't iron enough, or hurried too much to get the paper off, or ???
This time I used "inside" pages from the HF catalog, which are a
little less slick, and it was much, much harder to soak the paper off
-- but the toner really seemed to be stuck down well, and overall the
result appears to be better.
FWIW, before the last couple of weeks, it had been 25+ years since I
made a PCB, and then I used just a resist ink pen. So not quite a
complete novice, but pretty close!
Finally -- if you have stuck with this lengthy intro this long! -- a
question: On the previous board that I made using TT, I drilled it and
then ironed on the "silk screen" toner -- which interfered a bit with
soldering on the component side. I'm thinking it would be better to
tin all the traces before ironing on the "silk screen" toner -- yes?
no? But I don't have a way to add tinning other than using the
soldering iron and solder. Is this an acceptable (though tedious) way
to tin a board?
Thanks again for all the helpful information!
Andy
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