Homebrew PCBs

Hi Nathan

I bought a Velleman ET10 hobbyist tank at a ham radio rally (flea 
market) and paid GBP 20 for the both the tank and a UV light box :-) The 
construction is very similar to the one you propose to build:
http://www.circuitsonline.net/forum/view/36243

Included was a small aquarium aeration pump and an aquarium heater. The 
heater raises the etch temperature to about 40C. My tank is about 19mm 
(3/4" wide) and if you wanted to use a heater you'll need to make your 
DIY tank wider than 0.2" of course. Heating is a good idea, with fairly 
fresh etchant a board takes less than 10 minutes but this tank needs 2L 
of etchant as a result. I haven't found the etchant a problem in 
practice, between use I store it in an air tight jar in a cool place and 
it lasts much longer than the stated shelf life.

If you have to buy new materials plus a heater and an aquarium aeration 
pump the saving might not be very great compared to a ready made tank?

I'm not sure which country you are in but the Velleman ET20 is widely 
available and quite cheap.
http://www.velleman.eu/downloads/1/et20gbnlfresd.pdf

$55 from Circuit Specialists in the USA:
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/4231

Also widely available in the UK & Europe, google Velleman ET20.

If you wanted something better, in the UK Mega sell a much nicer moulded 
polyprop one for GBP 135.
http://www.megauk.com/hobby_equipment.php

There's no lid. I don't use Ferric Chloride anymore but instead I use 
the clear di-Sodium Peroxodisulphate Hexahydrate etchant sold in the UK 
by Mega Electronics. Although more expensive than Ferric Chloride it is 
a lot cleaner and nicer to handle. The etchant is odour free and the 
data sheet states that no local ventilation is required, although I do 
etch near an open window.

Regards

Paul


On 09/01/2011 02:31, nathan_h_tna wrote:
>
> I'm sure this has come up before, but I'd like to build a cheap 
> etching tank and wanted to get some advice before I actually do it.
>
> I was thinking of buying a good sized sheet of fairly thin acrylic 
> from Lowes or Home Depot, cutting it up into two big pieces for the 
> front and back of the tank, two tall but narrow pieces for the sides, 
> and then gluing it all together with some of that plastic weld stuff.
>
> The idea is that the tank would be really narrow (maybe 0.2") so it 
> wouldn't take much etchant to fill it up. I was also thinking of 
> getting one of those "air bubble devices" (I don't know what they're 
> actually called!) from a petstore and gluing it to the bottom of the 
> tank with the end of the hose sealed off and a bunch of small holes 
> poked in it to agitate the etchant. It might also be possible to put a 
> lid on the tank and putting the air intake on the bubbler and putting 
> it inside the tank so that the fumes aren't constantly being expelled 
> from the tank.
>
> What are your thoughts?
>
> 



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