Oh, one more item: Get a variety, and several of each size (they will break) drill. I have gotten from Hosfelt and Mouser, but they are readily available, including resharpened. The resharpened may be OK, but caution, some (maybe a lot) of their fatigue life is gone, and breakage is not unusual. Carl Denk wrote: > 4 Items: > 1: What was the printer and toner that worked and didn't? > 2: For a drill press, I have used Dremel with very good results. I also > have a 16.5" Delta drill press with 1/16" - 5/8" chuck, and then a > smaller drill size chuck that can be gripped, but wouldn't even think of > using that, although the small drill bits with 1/8" shanks can be > gripped easily. Get the regular PCB drills with 1/8" shanks and short > drill spiral lengths. The long drill bits with same shank diameter as > drill size get slight bends, wobble, and eventually break. > 3: When making the PCB print image, every hole should have a small size > hole etched in the copper. This becomes the equivalent of an accurately > located center punch to get the drill started at the right location. The > drill will wander to that depression if you get close to the location. > 4: For double sided boards, I include a donut at 4 corners, both sides. > Pin prick through the paper before ironing on the first side, drill the > 4 holes through the board, use pins through the papers and holes to > align, and iron on the 2nd side. Have had good results with careful > work, but there are limits to the accuracy. Dips with 0.1" spacing > should be no problem if there are not traces between the pads. With > traces between, probably will scrap some boards, probably would solder > wire across for the a few to be made. :) > > > solarwind wrote: > >> I etched my first PCB today. It came out very well (considering that >> it was the first one I did). I used a mix of different techniques >> which all worked out well for me in the end. >> >> To begin, I made a simple design for a quick prototype board for my >> dsPIC33FJ128GP802. The board itself is very small, just about 1.5" x >> 2.5" (off the top of my head). I had a large sheet of copper clad >> board so I had to cut out the small piece that I would be working >> with. This part was not fun at all. >> >> I printed out my design and traced out the rectangle off a corner of >> the large copper clad board. I then used a utility knife to score the >> sides of my design. It took a while to get deep enough to snap. Then I >> used metal shears to cut one edge of the board. This was an unclean >> cut and damaged part of the large board and slightly warped the copper >> on my design. No big deal. I then stuck the remaining part of the >> board into a vice (with paper towel for padding) and snapped the >> remaining edge. I then sanded the sides with a piece of (metal >> purpose) sand paper. I was then left with a small rectangle of copper >> board ready to be used for toner transfer. I used nail polish remover >> to clean the board. Then I used soap and continued to clean the board. >> Finally, I took some fine sandpaper and scrubbed the board clean. The >> board was now ready for toner transfer. >> >> >From suggestions from my other thread, I tried a different printer. I >> used the same paper (staples glossy paper for laser printers) that I >> had tried before. I set the print quality to the highest setting and >> configured it to deposit the most amount of toner possible. I then cut >> out my design and headed over to my clothes iron. I preheated the >> board by placing a blank sheet of paper of my board and ironing it for >> about a minute. Then I carefully placed my design onto the copper >> board. It stuck instantly. I ironed it for about 2 minutes. (60 of >> those seconds I just left the iron on top and went downstairs to get a >> snack). I didn't do anything special. I just pressed hard (but not too >> hard) and went over it with the tip of the iron. I then filled a small >> sandwich box with water (about body temperature) and dropped my board >> (with the design paper still stuck on it) into the water. I headed >> over to my local grocery store to get some groceries for dinner. By >> the time I came back, the paper was soft enough to peel and rub off >> with my thumb. Some of the toner smudged, but overall, the quality was >> pretty good. The toner had definitely stuck well this time. >> >> Now for the etching part. I took a small dish washing sponge and cut >> out a square about 3" x 3" x 0.75". I poured about a table spoon of >> ferric chloride on the sponge. I put on my vinyl gloves and started >> lightly wiping the board with the sponge. The copper started to come >> off instantly and turned the bright-yellow sponge nearly black. I kept >> wiping for about 2 - 4 minutes and eventually, all of the copper (that >> was not protected by the toner, of course) came off. This sponge >> method turned out to be very fast, efficient, clean and easy. Also >> saved a lot of ferric chloride. I ended up with a very well etched >> board. It was easy to see when it was finished and the etching >> solution worked very fast and etched very cleanly. Then I washed the >> board and inspected it (and admired it). It would have been perfect >> had the toner not smudged. The etching process itself was very clean >> and precise. The only trouble was the toner. I need to find a better >> way to put etchant-resist onto my copper. >> >> I then took the almost-finished board downstairs to drill. This part >> was not fun as well. I drilled about two holes then gave up because >> all I had was a clunky drill and very brittle drill bits. This >> drilling part is impossible without a proper drill press. A CNC >> machine would be ideal (even a crude one would do the job >> sufficiently). So there ya have it. An almost-finished PCB. >> >> Looks like I'll need to find myself a drill press. >> >> To all the helped and gave advice, thank you very much. This process >> turned out to be fun and educational and I leaned a skill that I'm >> sure I'll find very useful in the future. The whole process took less >> than an hour and gave very good results. The results would have been >> perfect if I had a better method to transfer the toner (via laminator >> and a good printer, maybe) and a CNC machine or at least a drill >> press. >> >> What I was most impressed with was the sponge method of etching. Only >> a table spoon of ferric chloride was required and none of that >> heating/agitation nonsense was needed. The process was clean and >> efficient - no spills, little to clean up afterward. So if there's any >> of you still pouring the etching solution into a tub and >> heating/agitating, I highly recommend that you give the sponge method >> a try. It's awesome! >> >> -- [ solarwind ] -- http://solar-blogg.blogspot.com/ >> >> -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist