Homebrew PCBs

I used to make a lot of pcb's in-house at my last work, and for tinning 
them I had a frypan and one of the little portable gas stoves that works 
on disposable gas canisters. I bought a heap of sticks of plumbers 
solder and chucked them into the pan and made the whole thing into a big 
solder pot.
I used crystals of citric (ascorbic) acid from the baking section of my 
local supermarket dissolved in water in a reusable spray bottle for 
flux, spray the board then float the whole thing on the pool of solder.
Then pick it up with pliers and use a car window squeegy to wipe off the 
excess solder while still molton. The rubber never seemed to burn if you 
do it relatively quick.

The whole process was very quick and reliable and gave a great flat 
surface. Just make sure to do it outside or very well ventilated area to 
avoid any lead fumes.

I've also used Cool Amp silver plating powder, it's a just add water and 
rub. Works really well but if you don't use the board relatively quickly 
it tarnishes and becomes a pain to solder.

Andrew

On 12/01/13 5:34 AM, Rick Sparber wrote:
>
> I was playing around with some scrap pieces of circuit board I etched and
> drilled in order to find a way to simulate the HASL (Hot Air Solder
> Leveling) process. This process puts down a very thin coat of solder over
> the copper. The solder protects the copper plus makes soldering in
> components easier.
>
> I found that I could brush the board with flux. Then I built up a 
> small bump
> of solder on the ground plane. Using my soldering iron as a paint brush, I
> dipped into the bump and then painted the copper. When done, I 
> scrubbed the
> board with alcohol. Worked great. I had no shorted paths.
>
>
>
>
> Rick
>



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