Homebrew PCBs

I have a solution of FeCl2 for etching copper boards.
I keep it in a plastic bottle having a tight cap.
Is there any problem with it. Is there any possibility
that the solution may lose its etching power with
time.
Should I dry it to get the powder?

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Naveed Alam wrote:
> I have a solution of FeCl2 for etching copper boards.
> I keep it in a plastic bottle having a tight cap.
> Is there any problem with it. Is there any possibility
> that the solution may lose its etching power with
> time.
> Should I dry it to get the powder?
> 

Don't worry, you'll be able to pass it down to your grandchildren.

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Naveed Alam" <naveedguy2@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 12:02 AM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] FeCl2


>I have a solution of FeCl2 for etching copper boards.
> I keep it in a plastic bottle having a tight cap.
> Is there any problem with it. Is there any possibility
> that the solution may lose its etching power with
> time.
> Should I dry it to get the powder?

It'll keep as long as you like. BTW, you can etch a board, save the etchant, 
and reuse it several times.

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
leon.heller@...
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller 



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On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 10:28:27 +0200, Leon Heller  
<leon.heller@...> wrote:

>
>> I have a solution of FeCl2 for etching copper boards.
>> I keep it in a plastic bottle having a tight cap.
>> Is there any problem with it. Is there any possibility
>> that the solution may lose its etching power with
>> time.
>> Should I dry it to get the powder?
> It'll keep as long as you like. BTW, you can etch a board, save the  
> etchant,
> and reuse it several times.
> Leon
> --
> Leon Heller, G1HSM
> leon.heller@...
> http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller


Yes, but it will only etch so much copper than then no more, i guess you  
know that, but nobody mentioned it i think.
Still have half a bottle and several bags of the stuff around....


ST

>Yes, but it will only etch so much copper than then no more

The disposal of spent Ferric Chloride has generated several posts in 
newsgroups. From the mixing with washing soda first to the mixing with 
cement before disposal in the garbage. Out of curiousity, how many of 
us here just flush it down the toilet (and clean the bowl afterwards) 
or pour it down the drain with lots of water? I have about two gallons 
of it in the garage along with about 20 gallons of used engine oil and 
transmission fluid. Waiting for the getup and go to cart them all to 
the recycling center.

derekhawkins wrote:
>>Yes, but it will only etch so much copper than then no more
> 
> The disposal of spent Ferric Chloride has generated several posts in 
> newsgroups. From the mixing with washing soda first to the mixing with 
> cement before disposal in the garbage. Out of curiousity, how many of 
> us here just flush it down the toilet (and clean the bowl afterwards) 
> or pour it down the drain with lots of water? I have about two gallons 
> of it in the garage along with about 20 gallons of used engine oil and 
> transmission fluid. Waiting for the getup and go to cart them all to 
> the recycling center.

I found that FeCl saturated with copper is *highly* toxic to grass, and
probably most other plantlife, tho the grass does recover after a few
weeks;)

I'd save it for use in a weed sprayer bottle;)

They also sell "root rot" tablets made of copper penta-hydrate for unblocking
toilet sewer pipes, so flushing some used etcher occaisonally will keep
your dunny flushing;) Copper and iron is all natural;)

>I found that FeCl saturated with copper is *highly* toxic to grass

Ah well, that eliminates just throwing it out the back door in my case. 
Wife would have a fit.

>so flushing some used etcher occaisonally will keep
>your dunny flushing;)

Even some HazMat agencies seem to recommend just that provided the 
amounts are a gallon or less. Found that hard to believe at first.

On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 16:50:20 +0200, derekhawkins <derekhawkins@...>  
wrote:

>
> The disposal of spent Ferric Chloride has generated several posts in
> newsgroups. From the mixing with washing soda first to the mixing with
> cement before disposal in the garbage. Out of curiousity, how many of
> us here just flush it down the toilet (and clean the bowl afterwards)
> or pour it down the drain with lots of water? I have about two gallons
> of it in the garage along with about 20 gallons of used engine oil and
> transmission fluid. Waiting for the getup and go to cart them all to
> the recycling center.


Many of us don't use FeCl in large quantity, i use CuCl now which can be  
regenerated.

But when i did use FeCl i poured a total of maybe 750ml down the drain  
over a span of a year or more. I don't have sleepless nights because of  
it. However it seems to have stained the lime deposits in the groove  
around the drain long-term.

Use as anti-weed is not stupid at all! I mean you can buy plenty of  
pesticides and fungicides containing copper in some form. If used FeCl is  
suitable that'd be great.

Neutralizing and then letting it dry up to crystals is another option.


ST

derekhawkins wrote:
>>I found that FeCl saturated with copper is *highly* toxic to grass
> 
> Ah well, that eliminates just throwing it out the back door in my case. 
> Wife would have a fit.
> 
>>so flushing some used etcher occaisonally will keep
>>your dunny flushing;)
> 
> Even some HazMat agencies seem to recommend just that provided the 
> amounts are a gallon or less. Found that hard to believe at first.

When i got my 30 litre bottle of FeCl, i found the common name for
it is Profloc-F, and it is used in large quantities to treat sewer,
probably as a floculating agent. Compared to hobby store prices, it
was cheap as all sh*t;)

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Stefan Trethan" <stefan_trethan@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 4:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: FeCl2

It's FeCl3, BTW! FeCl2 is ferrous chloride.

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
leon.heller@...
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller


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>Many of us don't use FeCl in large quantity

I haven't used it for at least two years. It's just too messy and the 
color is such that visually following the etching process is difficult 
unless you remove the board from it. Using a timer was helpful but the 
time increased for each reuse.

>Use as anti-weed is not stupid at all! 

Careful where you use it, that stuff seems to have a knack for showing 
up where and when least expected. Some corollary of Murphy's law says 
that it will rain, get on the soles of somebody's shoes then get 
trekked all over the place. Worse still if you have a pet like a dog.

On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:20:45 +0200, derekhawkins <derekhawkins@...>  
wrote:

>
>> so flushing some used etcher occaisonally will keep
>> your dunny flushing;)

> Even some HazMat agencies seem to recommend just that provided the
> amounts are a gallon or less. Found that hard to believe at first.
>


The q. is if they did cosider the copper content when recmmending that or  
if it was just FeCl.

ST

On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 18:03:49 +0200, derekhawkins <derekhawkins@...>  
wrote:

>
> Careful where you use it, that stuff seems to have a knack for showing
> up where and when least expected. Some corollary of Murphy's law says
> that it will rain, get on the soles of somebody's shoes then get
> trekked all over the place. Worse still if you have a pet like a dog.
>


I admit i haven't thought this through. It is messy stuff after all...


ST