Homebrew_PCBs

HALLO!

im want to buy a water heater for the etching tank i am building.
my problem is: no aquarioum heater thermostat goes more then 34
degrees c, while i need about 60 i think- for ammounium phersulphate.
what can i do?

thanks a lot
mumin

Hello mumin,

If you are not too afraid of opening the Aquarium heaters, you can
modify them to do higher temperatures.

I just modified one to go till 45 degrees C, but it during testing it
also did 50 degrees, and probably more.

I just bought the cheapest one in the shop, called AquaEL, in my case
100 W.

They work using a bi-metal element, which will bend more when heated,
and thus acting like a relay. Adjust the distance to the contact, and
it will switch on higher temperatures. They are just set on a fixed
range.

However, some will be easier to adjust / open up then others,
so there is no quarantee with all makes.

Best bet is with older rubber closed tops, which can be easier opened.

Gertjan

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "mumin55555" <MUMIN55555@H...>
wrote:

> HALLO!
>
> im want to buy a water heater for the etching tank i am building.
> my problem is: no aquarioum heater thermostat goes more then 34
> degrees c, while i need about 60 i think- for ammounium

phersulphate.

> what can i do?
>
> thanks a lot
> mumin

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 16:30:16 -0000, mumin55555 <MUMIN55555@...>
wrote:

> HALLO!
>
> im want to buy a water heater for the etching tank i am building.
> my problem is: no aquarioum heater thermostat goes more then 34
> degrees c, while i need about 60 i think- for ammounium phersulphate.
> what can i do?
>
> thanks a lot
> mumin
>
>

tweak it ;-)

"more power"...

or make it yourself from a lab glass tube and some resistance wire.
most likely cheaper and maybe you can not take the commercial unit
apart without damage.

i filled the glass tube with silicone, thermal epoxy would be better.
however i do not use the heater (HCl and H2O2 needs none).

you could also glue a "second floor" in your etch tank and put the heating
wire there,
or a heating plate. (depends on tank material also).

ST

I not sure why you need such a high temperature. I just got done
etching 3 boards in AP using an aquarium heater cranked all the way
up. The first one took about 25 minutes because I was unwilling to
wait for a full warm up. Once the temp reached the high point (about
100 F), etching took about 10 minutes. I also use a bubbler and that
speeds it along.

I'm not sure how I feel about AP in general but it was really cool to
watch the light start to come through the boards. try that with
swamp water, er, FeCl...

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Stefan Trethan
<stefan_trethan@g...> wrote:

> On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 16:30:16 -0000, mumin55555 <MUMIN55555@H...>
> wrote:
>
> > HALLO!
> >
> > im want to buy a water heater for the etching tank i am building.
> > my problem is: no aquarioum heater thermostat goes more then 34
> > degrees c, while i need about 60 i think- for ammounium

phersulphate.

> > what can i do?
> >
> > thanks a lot
> > mumin
> >
> >
>
> tweak it ;-)
>
> "more power"...
>
> or make it yourself from a lab glass tube and some resistance wire.
> most likely cheaper and maybe you can not take the commercial unit
> apart without damage.
>
> i filled the glass tube with silicone, thermal epoxy would be

better.

> however i do not use the heater (HCl and H2O2 needs none).
>
> you could also glue a "second floor" in your etch tank and put the

heating

> wire there,
> or a heating plate. (depends on tank material also).
>
> ST

gk_impala wrote:

> Hello mumin,
> They work using a bi-metal element, which will bend more when heated,
> and thus acting like a relay. Adjust the distance to the contact, and
> it will switch on higher temperatures. They are just set on a fixed
> range.

Yep with liquid immersion, you should really be able to just bypass the
switch and have the element on the full time. Should work fine since with a
large aquarium and small heater it'll basically be on the whole time anyway, but
I think there is a limit of good return on the heat, after a certain point some
etchants become worse in some respects like etching too fast with too much
undercutting etc.

Alan

> my problem is: no aquarioum heater thermostat goes more then 34
> degrees c, while i need about 60 i think- for ammounium

phersulphate.


I use aquarioum heaters in my etch tank of Ferric Chloride, you can
more less bypass the thermostat. Mine have a plastic cap on top
that covers the thermostat control. It will have a stop on it but
you can bypass it and turn it up more. I have two in a 5 gal. tank
and heats it up to over 120 deg.F. that is as high as I can measure
so not sure about what the real temp. is. Takes it a little while
to get it there but they will get it plenty hot. Well etch a 8" x
10" or 8" x 12" board in less than 8 mins.

The heater that I have I got at Wal Mart.

Ben

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "mumin55555" <MUMIN55555@H...>
wrote:

> HALLO!
>
> im want to buy a water heater for the etching tank i am building.
> my problem is: no aquarioum heater thermostat goes more then 34
> degrees c, while i need about 60 i think- for ammounium

phersulphate.

> what can i do?
>
> thanks a lot
> mumin

If you want cheap, try a warming plate for kitchens.

if you want really cheap, try an old coffee maker warming plate. It
may be small, but will get your fluid pretty hot.

Dave