Homebrew PCBs

There is one other method I've heard of, which is to use small "eyelets" that 
look like little open cylinders with flanged ends.  There is a special tool 
that's used to insert this in the holes of the PCB, to connect the sides, and 
a component lead can be placed right thru it.  I've even heard mention of 
being able to use a mechanical pencil instead of the tool.  However, I've not 
been able to find a local source for this.  Heard a recent mention of LPKF as 
a possible source, but didn't find it on their site.

Cheers,
-Neil.



On Friday 09 May 2003 18:37, Markus Zingg scribbled:
> How this is done depends on a number of factors. The easiest way is to
> just put some wire through the holes and solder it on the top and
> bottom layer. Aside of the obvious advantage of simpleness and
> cheapness, this method is having some disadvantages like:
>
> - much work
> - restrictions on where such vias can reside (i.e. you can't put them
> under an SMD part etc.
>
> Variants of the above method exist in that you can have finished wires
> (don't know the exact english term for this) which you can insert with
> a tool, but the soldering and the placement restrictions are the same.
>
> Real through hole plating must be done using a through hole plating
> station which consist of several tanks holding chemicals. The PCB then
> must be delved into them, moved within them back an forth (so as the
> fluids can flow through the holes). The last step is then a copper
> bath where an electrolytic process is applied.
>
> I'm right now in the process of building my own through plating
> station - it's an ugly whole lot of work, but I too got sick of either
> waiting for others to make my PCB's for my money or having
> restricitons mentioned with the above method.
>
> One of the bigger obstacles when it comes to through hole plating
> (IMHO of course) is getting the right chemicals. There is much
> experience in there and the companies who produce such chemicals of
> course treate them as a big secret. I too had to bit the bullet and
> buy finished mixtures. I bought them from Bungard which is a germany
> based firm. In the end I will have my own through hole plating station
> with 5 tanks which puts me in the position of creating even multilayer
> boards.
>
> If the people on this list are interested I will post a link once the
> station is finished so as others may can use it as a starting point
> for their own constrtuction. I'm pretty far already, that is if all
> goes well I may even finish it this weekend.
>
> HTH
>
> Markus
>
> >Hi everyone,
> >
> >I’m new here, I’ve been working with PCB’s for a while and now I want to
> >start making my own boards for a great number of reasons.
> >I found enought info on the net and in this group archive files to know
> > how to make them double sided with many details.
> >But I couldn’t find almost a thing about how to make the component holes
> >conductive (metalized holes).
> >Can anyone give me a help with this?
> >
> >Thank you
> >
> >Nuno T.
> >
> >
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