Homebrew PCBs

Thanks to all who replied to my question. I'll investigate the all the suggestions.

73's

Steve
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Harvey White 
  To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 8:30 PM
  Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] H2O2 + muriatic acid etchant?


  On Thu, 22 May 2008 19:08:29 +0100, you wrote:

  >Hello Group,
  >
  >I've been following this discussion with interest and would like to move away from etching pcb's with ferric chloride.
  >I live in the UK and wonder if anyone knows of a supplier of the muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide to home users. My local chemist was no help at all and didn't have a clue.

  Home supply stores often have muriatic acid (HCl) for pool cleaning
  supplies. However, the last time I was in the UK, I noticed a
  suspicious lack of such things. You might find it used for cleaning
  concrete or bricks, though.

  If you have a Walmart or equivalent, you might find hydrogen peroxide
  sold in largish quantities as a disinfectant. It is also possibly
  available from beauty supply stores in a higher concentration.

  Harvey

  >Any help greatly appreciated!
  >
  >Steve
  > ----- Original Message ----- 
  > From: Michel Baguet 
  > To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
  > Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 5:05 PM
  > Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] H2O2 + muriatic acid etchant?
  >
  >
  > I'm using HCl for a years. 700cc of distilled water, 270cc of HCl highly concentrate (you can see smoke when the bottle is open) and 30cc of H202 at 30% concentration.
  > The only problem with this etchant is that H2O2 decompose with heat and light and if you etch another board a few days later, you don't know what part of H2O2 is still in solution. So I put the board to etch in the tank and take it out to see the color of the copper. If there is still enough H2O2, it must turn brown immediately.
  > If not, I add 10cc and son on but never more than 30cc (obvious !).
  > But the cost of HCl, H2O and H2O2 is so cheap that I often replace the etchant, to always get accurate results with small traces. A 200cm² double sided board with 35µ copper take between 4 to 6 min. in bubble etch tank @ 45°C.
  >
  > clintonlcorbin <clcorbin@...> wrote: Folks,
  >
  > First, I want to say "Hi". I just recently started making my own
  > single and two sided PCBs and even more recently joined the group. 
  > There is a lot of great info here!
  >
  > The question I have regards the etchant I have been using: 1 part
  > muriatic acid and 2 parts H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide). I found the
  > formula on a web page about (what else) DIY PCBs. As I was wanting to
  > try making my own PCBs and the materials were easy to obtain and low
  > cost, I decided to give it a try.
  >
  > All in all, I have been quite happy with the results so far. I
  > haven't tried any real fine line etching yet and the smallest SMD
  > devices are 0603, so they are pretty big. The etchant is clear, so it
  > is very easy to keep your eye on the board during the etching process.
  > Plus, I have been doing all my etching at room temperature with no
  > heating at all. It generally takes about three minutes to fully etch
  > the small (2x3" are the largest so far) boards I am working with.
  >
  > So the questions are:
  >
  > 1) How does this etchant compare to more traditional etchants?
  > 2) Does it have over etch / under etch issues with finer lines?
  > 3) Anything else I should be aware of?
  > 4) Anyone else used this etchant along with the others that can give
  > a pros/cons?
  >
  > Thanks for the help and all the info in this group.
  >
  > Clint
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
  >
  >
  >
  > 
  >
  >
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