Homebrew PCBs

Hi Marty & Steve

Thanks for the pointers. I'm willing to take some effort to get a real
solder stop mask. 

@Marty - I would be especialy interested how the dry film solder mask
technique works. I'm ready to let some dollars roll. I usually don't
need a solder stop mask since I'm hand soldering my prototypes, but
there are ocasions where I must create a prototype in a short time
that should look like one made in a board house and where time does
not allow to have it made externally. Could you therefore elaborate a
bit on how this is done, what equipement is needed, what a simple one
would aproximately cost and possibly where to get it?

@Steve - thanks for the pointers. I defniately will go through them.

Markus

>This is a good question. I hadn't thought of this while considering the
>possibilities of building boards at home.  Although I rarely got involved
>with the solder masking of boards. I generally worked around the wet
>processing steps. developing, etching, & stripping, and chemical /
>mechanical cleaning, the processes that I am aware of are liquid solder mask
>(typically applied by screen printing) and dry film solder mask.  Both
>methods require special equipment; not something I would think would fall
>into the "homebrew" category.
>
> 
>
>I also seen some solder masks that were applied via a plating process (i.e.
>dip tank).  They were some composition of metals that were applied directly
>to the traces, but again this is out of my realm of knowledge.  However..
>
> 
>
>I did a quick Internet search using keywords of the above items (solder
>mask, dry film, screening, dip tank.) and I found the following link:
>http://www.cam.org/~burt/circuits/sol-coat.html
>
> 
>
>This might be a viable solution for those who are making only a few boards.
>The process seems time consuming, but at least its "do-able" at home.  I
>especially like the idea of installing the components and performing the
>soldering / solder mask steps at the same time.
>
> 
>
>Anyone else have solder mask techniques to share?  
>
> 
>
>Marty
>
> 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Markus Zingg [mailto:m.zingg@...] 
>Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 2:27 PM
>To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Creating a professional looking solder stopp mask
>
> 
>
>Hi all
>
>I would like to hear from you guys if it's possible to create a
>professional looking solder stop mask for PCB's. Is there a foil or
>such that could be laminated and photochemically treated etched or
>something? Anything possible? Marty do you have an idea?
>
>Markus
>
>
>
>
>
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