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

Hi all a new member, just found your group, thought I would share
some on my recent discoveries re; homemade PCBs.

Etchant: I use muratic acid (Ace Hardware) 1 part, Hydrogen Peroxide
(Walgreens) 2 part, heat to 130 F, agiate with air, and dissolve 1
Sq. In. single sided copper board per 1 oz. of etchant mix in about
20 sec. Advantages; cheep $.10 per oz.; very quick; clear, you can
see the copper vanish; safely dispose of 8oz. in 2 gal. of water
down the potty, and most importantly the hot quick action seems to
elimiate the pitting of the copper that a slower etchant bath
produces. Disadvantage: this solution saturates quickly and 1"
single sided board per oz of solution is close to the satuation
point, beyond which further etching ceases.

Etchant Tank: Plexiglas pipe 1/8 side wall, any diameter you want,
available at any local glass shop that advertizes plexiglas. Heat
the pipe in the kitchen oven at 250 F for 15 min. and strech it over
a wooden (1x4,1x6,2x4 etc) mandrel to form a oblong tube. When cool
pound out the mandrel. The tube shoud be about 2" longer that you
want the finished tube, so that you can cut off about 1" at each end
to remove the heat damaged ends. Cement the tube upright on a piece
of 1/4 plexigal sheet to form a base. The glue is the universal PVC
glue (Ace Hardware). Airate, with 1/4 clear PCV pipe plugged at the
end and perforated with a hot needle, aquarium air pump or
compressor, make a value by folding the air hose and pinching the
fold together at the exact spot with a clothes pin. Heat the tank
with a household heat lamp. Do the job outside!!.