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

Hi,

While I'm an experienced design engineer, I've never done a PC board in 40+ years of design. We had a special department to do that. Now retired, I thought I'd try inventing. I find PCBs important to that goal.

In getting together a kit to do this, I had a few thoughts and questions. I hope you more experienced (though not necessarily older) and (presumably) wiser folks :-) can address some of these questions.

1) I've looked into photo paper and "Press-N-Peel" to transfer toner as resist. Do you think laser T-shirt transfer paper, which is probably cheaper, would work, too? Has someone tried this?

2) Do you think latex gloves, as you'd find in a doctor's office, would be safe for handling boards and etchant? They're cheap at Walgreens and disposable to reduce cleanup effort.

3) If ferric chloride wouldn't destroy them, would kitchen plastic bags (ZipLock-type) work for etching boards? They'd probably save on etchant and, if I don't slop too much, reduce cleanup.

4) How nasty is used ferric chloride? Is it a HazMat material? How do you folks dispose of it in an eco-friendly manner?

5) Would Krylon spray clear coating and/or spray paint work as a solder mask? My thought is to spray the board immediately after etching and touch-up. Then, I would assume, soldering would burn off the paint instantly. Would a second coat be necessary after assembly?

Thanks for considering my questions. I'll probably have more later.

Jim Barnes