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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles" <lancedulak@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 6:00 PM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Muriatic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide Fumes


> Ive been EXTREMELY careful of fumes using this method and am going to CuCL
> exclusively. FCL is just too poisonous to the environment (imho it should
> be outlawed). The reason im so cautious with this is ive played with 90%
> nitric and copper and breathed in the fumes and it was bad. Sickness,
> nausea and i could tell acidic fumes had done damage to my lungs and
> airway. That is from a good breath or two of the stuff, no more. I dont
> know the specifics but i bet the gaseous byproducts are similar or
> identical. I wouldnt etch indoors using this process period without some
> kind of fume control (your kitchen stove hood might work but i dont want
> to think about the effect).
>
> Btw you think watching a fast etch is cool you should see what high grade
> nitric does to copper (and that is without an oxygen source).

FeCl3 isn't hazardous to the environment, it's actually used by water
companies in their treatment plants! Copper can cause problems in effluent
as it kills the bacteria that break down sewage, but the amount that gets
flushed away when etching PCBs is negligible compared to the copper that is
leached from copper pipework in the home.

Leon
--
Leon Heller
Amateur radio call-sign G1HSM
Yaesu FT-817ND transceiver
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leon355@...
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller