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

After using the Toner Transfer Method to create PCBs, I prefer very thin Solder on my new projects. Solder is much less expensive than Liquid Tin, I have some Liquid Tin, but I have quit using it.  

See examples of my Solder Tin'd boards on by blog at: http://wa0uwh.blogspot.com/ . 

My normal "small" trace width is 6 mils, but typically use 8 mils for most things.

To use solder for protective coating; first coat the traces with liquid flux, add a little solder to the end of some Solder Wick, pull the end of the Wick over the traces while heating the end with a soldering iron. This will normally tin and wipe off excess at the same time. If the resulting solder layer is too thick, do it again with a dryer Wick.

Alcohol and a little Scotch Bright will clean things up,  and remove the annoying shine.  Then put on a new very thin layer of liquid flux. The result works great !