Homebrew_PCBs

My fish tank heater has a glass bottom that is under the water level.

Another glass fish tank heater user here, though I've switched to mostly muriatic acid/hydrogen peroxide. My only real complaint is that it's got a "minimum fill" line, so I have to make a giant batch of etchant no matter what size board I do. I often end up not using the tank to do smaller stuff because of this. My tank is also flat (looks like an ant farm box), so it would be even worse if it were larger.

Good luck on it!

I used to use two plastic containers, one inside the other. I put the PCB in the inner container, covered it with ferric chloride solution, and put boiling water in the outer container. Continuous agitation of the inner container etched the board in a few minutes.

Sent from my Honor Mobile

I'm confused about the need to warm etchant.
I use 100 ml store bought hydrogen peroxide (30% peroxide and 70% water) with 50 ml of storebought muriactic acid
which is 70% water......
and my etch time has never been longer than 5 minutes at room temperatures.

What does heating etchant gain you?
 

 

When we used to etch boards at work with the ammonium persulfate we used a corningware like an oven safe pan and put it on a small electric hot plate. The etchant will pit the pan but it took a long time before it did.

For ferric chloride a friend of mine used to warm it in the microwave then etch his boards.

 

 

From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2016 12:48 P M
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Heater for Etchant Bath

 

 

Another glass fish tank heater user here, though I've switched to mostly muriatic acid/hydrogen peroxide. My only real complaint is that it's got a "minimum fill" line, so I have to make a giant batch of etchant no matter what size board I do. I often end up not using the tank to do smaller stuff because of this. My tank is also flat (looks like an ant farm box), so it would be even worse if it were larger.

Good luck on it!

Rob,

My guess is it's mainly for ferric chloride and stuff. That mix you and I are using seems to generate its own heat somehow, though I have heated it when it was acting weak. I still haven't figured out why mine got weak, but I'm guessing it's shelf life.

Take Care

My bottle of muriactic acid is at least 10 years old.
I only use about a shot glass of the stuff each time I etch boards.
I think thats about  50 ml.... so a 950ml bottle will etch 19 batches......
and a bottle costs $5 at the local hardware store......
so I don't think I will be using ferric chloride ever again.

 

Rob,

My guess is it's mainly for ferric chloride and stuff. That mix you and I are using seems to generate its own heat somehow, though I have heated it when it was acting weak. I still haven't figured out why mine got weak, but I'm guessing it's shelf life.

Take Care

The hcl/peroxide mix has to be occaisionally "regenerated" by having air put through it, like an aquarium bubbler/stone. If it's completely activated with copper and fresh or regenerated, you can actually etch with just a sponge it's that fast.

I don't know about sponging hcl.... I'm not that brave.
I always wear nitrile gloves and glasses but I try to keep distance between the wet work and me.
 

 

The hcl/peroxide mix has to be occaisionally "regenerated" by having air put through it, like an aquarium bubbler/stone. If it's completely activated with copper and fresh or regenerated, you can actually etch with just a sponge it's that fast.

On Oct 8, 2016 6:33 PM, "Rob roomberg@... [Homebrew_PCBs]" <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

My bottle of muriactic acid is at least 10 years old.
I only use about a shot glass of the stuff each time I etch boards.
I think thats about  50 ml.... so a 950ml bottle will etch 19 batches......
and a bottle costs $5 at the local hardware store......
so I don't think I will be using ferric chloride ever again.

On 10/08/2016 09:18 PM, soffee83@... [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:

 

Rob,

My guess is it's mainly for ferric chloride and stuff. That mix you and I are using seems to generate its own heat somehow, though I have heated it when it was acting weak. I still haven't figured out why mine got weak, but I'm guessing it's shelf life.

Take Care

Yes, of course gloves and glasses are required when working with anything volatile.

Rob,

You could try the sponge type paint brushes. That would get you the sponge effect, and still keep your fingers out of the soup.

 

Yes, of course gloves and glasses are required when working with anything volatile.

On Oct 8, 2016 8:52 PM, "Rob roomberg@... [Homebrew_PCBs]" <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

I don't know about sponging hcl.... I'm not that brave.
I always wear nitrile gloves and glasses but I try to keep distance between the wet work and me.
 

On 10/08/2016 10:33 PM, Dennis Shelgren nojoeco@... [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:

 

The hcl/peroxide mix has to be occaisionally "regenerated" by having air put through it, like an aquarium bubbler/stone. If it's completely activated with copper and fresh or regenerated, you can actually etch with just a sponge it's that fast.

On Oct 8, 2016 6:33 PM, "Rob roomberg@... [Homebrew_PCBs]" <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com > wrote:

 

My bottle of muriactic acid is at least 10 years old.
I only use about a shot glass of the stuff each time I etch boards.
I think thats about  50 ml.... so a 950ml bottle will etch 19 batches......
and a bottle costs $5 at the local hardware store......
so I don't think I will be using ferric chloride ever again.

On 10/08/2016 09:18 PM, soffee83@... [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:

 

Rob,

My guess is it's mainly for ferric chloride and stuff. That mix you and I are using seems to generate its own heat somehow, though I have heated it when it was acting weak. I still haven't figured out why mine got weak, but I'm guessing it's shelf life.

Take Care

sponge paint brush..... I can do that... thank you

 

Rob,

You could try the sponge type paint brushes. That would get you the sponge effect, and still keep your fingers out of the soup.

On 10/8/2016 8:53 PM, Dennis Shelgren nojoeco@... [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:

 

Yes, of course gloves and glasses are required when working with anything volatile.

On Oct 8, 2016 8:52 PM, "Rob roomberg@... [Homebrew_PCBs]" <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

I don't know about sponging hcl.... I'm not that brave.
I always wear nitrile gloves and glasses but I try to keep distance between the wet work and me.
 

On 10/08/2016 10:33 PM, Dennis Shelgren nojoeco@... [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:

 

The hcl/peroxide mix has to be occaisionally "regenerated" by having air put through it, like an aquarium bubbler/stone. If it's completely activated with copper and fresh or regenerated, you can actually etch with just a sponge it's that fast.

On Oct 8, 2016 6:33 PM, "Rob roomberg@... [Homebrew_PCBs]" <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com > wrote:

 

My bottle of muriactic acid is at least 10 years old.
I only use about a shot glass of the stuff each time I etch boards.
I think thats about  50 ml.... so a 950ml bottle will etch 19 batches......
and a bottle costs $5 at the local hardware store......
so I don't think I will be using ferric chloride ever again.

On 10/08/2016 09:18 PM, soffee83@... [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:

 

Rob,

My guess is it's mainly for ferric chloride and stuff. That mix you and I are using seems to generate its own heat somehow, though I have heated it when it was acting weak. I still haven't figured out why mine got weak, but I'm guessing it's shelf life.

Take Care

Well, I am in the tropics so I don't heat the etchant. Coldest is about
24 °C. I do etch on top of a bar fridge where I keep my solder paste and
assorted acrylic glues & sealants. So it's probably a little warmer
based on the condenser coil heat at the back of the fridge.

Also, I use diluted nitric acid. One full gallon carboyle of the
concentrated stuff lasts me about 10-15 years after dilution. Space has
a bit of forced ventilation with a BLDC plastic 115CFM fan.

The nitric fizzes/agitates on its own when etching and the copper clad
rises and falls a couple times a minute if double sided as bubbles build
on the bottom. I use a 1 litre rectangular plastic container (3" tall)
with a lid usually about half full.

Details on the whole process with pics and videos.
https://hackaday.io/project/7938-pcb-smt-maker-lab-home

Ancel

Hi there,

Newbie here.

I use FeCl etchant, poured into a (genuine, high-heat) Pyrex baking dish which I heat on an single burner electric stove. Use a HF (or ExeTech via Mouser) IR pyrometer to measure the acid temperature. It'll fume when its hot, so do this outside.

Cheers

ic_sizzle

ic_sizzle,

I have also used the etching technique to which you alluded in post 35172 and ferric chloride.    I keep my cold ferric chloride solution in a capped plastic bottle with a screw-on cap.   I put that inside a ziploc bag.  And I put that into a plastic box.

I like to do things as simply as possible.   To heat the etchant, I just pull out the plastic bottle with the ferric chloride, set it into a larger-diameter uncapped cylindrical plastic bottle, and pour boiling water in the space between the two plastic bottles.    Then just wait 20 minutes.    This makes my ferric chloride a quick etcher.

Hope this helps,
Alan

--------------------------------------------

On Wed, 11/9/16, Kamen Lilov kamenl@... [Homebrew_PCBs] <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Heater for Etchant Bath
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2016, 1:27 AM


 Hi,

Microwave? Heh heh that's kewl. I'll have to try that.


8 minutes is very reasonable.

However, I reliably etch 6 mil traces in about 45 seconds, in a cup of hot acid using a sponge.

We each have our own schemas, I tip my hat..

ic_sizzle







Why would you heat it so hot as
to let it fume?
I've been using FeCl for years, heated to about 50C / 130F in a
microwave oven. I did not care to get a heated tank, or put
in air bubbles.

Etches anything in about 8 minutes (maybe 9 if there is too much
copper to take). I tie a piece of wire in a hole in a corner
of the PCB and agitate constantly. 8 minutes is not too much
of my time. Perfect results.

I know with very heated FeCl you can
do it in 4-5 minutes, but is it really worthwhile?











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On 10/11/16 09:28, 'keith printy' keethpr@... [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:

>
> Someone I used to know heated his fecl3 in the microwave before etching . when I
> worked at an electronics plane we used a single burner electric stove and
> ammonium persulfate . for me either one worked well . as for hcl , has anyone
> had corrosion issues on finished boards because there may have been some residue ?

There's never corrosion problems after rinsing in water.

If etching or developing is done in a tray, a lab hotplate is useful too.

>> Hi,
>>
>> Microwave? Heh heh that's kewl. I'll have to try that.
>> 
>> 8 minutes is very reasonable.
>> 
>> However, I reliably etch 6 mil traces in about 45 seconds, in a cup of hot acid using a sponge. 
>> 
>> We each have our own schemas, I tip my hat..

Come to think of it, I'd like to share a bit more of my process.