PCB Etching – Update 5

Another successful PCB Etch. As predicted this one is the best one yet. The top and bottom alignment is excellent, the traces are crisp and barely any pitting in the copper pours. I learned from the past and followed my own reminders of past mistakes and it came out great. Here are a few things we did different this time.

  • Open etch container. I was using a zip lock bag and      found that this did not work all that well. It did minimize the amount of      FeCl that is needed but it left bubbles on the board and did not have even      coverage. This time I used a wire and made a loop on both ends to hold the      board and dipped it in a shallow plastic container.
  • Since I was using a zip lock before I was placing the      whole zip lock with the board and FeCl in it into warm water to speed up      the etching. I was not able to do this this time with the open etch tank.      In the future it might be a good idea to figure out a way to heat the      liquid. It took about 30-35 mins of etching with unheated FeCl
  • I am still not exactly sure on how many passes it takes      through the laminator for a full transfer. I can say however that due to a      failed transfer 5 is not enough and 20 is enough.

Here are some pictures of the success:

Top

Top

Bottom

Bottom

Bottom- Populated

Bottom- Populated

Top - Populated

Top – Populated

2 thoughts on “PCB Etching – Update 5

    • uh huh … its my blog so I get to leave out the details that I choose. Maybe you should write the next one Ill be happy to post it.

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