Homebrew PCBs

The copper plating rate on my system was about .001 inches in 30 minutes at 30 amps per square foot of copper surface area. This was in a 500 gallon tank with air agitation.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Donald H Locker <dhlocker@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks, TWB.  I was just wondering how long it took to add the additional 0.00007 inches of copper for the traces.  I presume it is minutes to tens of minutes (and not hours because you probably can't afford that much time on the line) but I just don't know.
> 
> Donald.
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> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "twb8899" <twb8899@...>
> > To: "Homebrew PCBs" <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 9:55:16 AM
> > Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Plating rate
> > I was in the PWB business for many years. Most jobs started with half
> > ounce copper (.0007"). After drilling and electroless processing the
> > panel was laminated with dry film photoresist, exposed, and then
> > developed. At this point the only copper showing was the trace pattern
> > which was then copper plated at 25 to 30 amps per square foot.
> > 
> > After copper plating the panels were solder plated. The solder plating
> > was also used as the etch resist. After stripping the dry film the
> > panel had solder plated traces with a copper background that was only
> > .0007" thick so the etching time was only a couple of minutes. That's
> > the basic method of how it was done. Of course there was more
> > processing after etching depending on the job requirements such as
> > soldermask over bare copper etc.
> > 
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Donald H Locker <dhlocker@>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I know that "real" circuit board houses don't etch away all the
> > > copper they don't want, I believe they plate up where the copper is
> > > desired over a very thin layer, then etch just a little copper away
> > > from everywhere. Does anyone know how long it takes to lay down the
> > > 1oz (0.0014in) of copper on a "real" circuit board in the panel
> > > plating part of the process?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Donald.
> > > --
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> > 
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