5pcb

A simple 5-step process to etch your own printed circuit boards at home.

You'll need the following ingredients:

• laser printer/photocopier & transparencies (I go to a print shop to do this)
• copper board (local electronics store)
• scrubbing pads (SOS or a generic brand is perfect)
• iron
• rubber gloves (like the ones you use for washing dishes)
• Ferric Chloride or Ammonium Persulphate (local electronics store)
• drill and drill bits

Step 1 Design and print

Design your PCB. I use anything from Adobe Illustrator to Cadsoft Eagle. Once you think everything is perfect, print it on a piece of paper and test it by placing your components over it. You have to 'flip horizontal' your final design so that the transfer from the transparency to the copper board 'restores' the intended design... Then print it on a transparency. It has to be a laser printer or a photocopier because we want toner on the transparency. If you can, ask the guy at the print shop to make it as dark as possible (more toner). I've noticed that I've had the best results at the worst print shops in town.

Comments

[praetorious]

If i was making a single sided board (traces on bottom), would i have to mirror the image before printing, or could i leave it as it is?

[technogumbo]

Yeah, you have to mirror the image if you are using the iron on method

[sokamiwohali]

you dont have to mirror it, just remember where the components are supposed to go and ur good. but mirroring sure does make the process easier.

[praetorious]

Thanks! Are you sure though, surfing around, some people say for toner transfer with eagle on the bottom layer you don't mirror,because you are actually lookin through the board, and that you only mirror the top. Oh well, i have no idea, I will mirror the board and see if the text comes out right, if it doesn'y, i will clean and leave it as is. Thanks!

[technogumbo]

I think you do leave it as is. I'm sorry as I didn't understand your first question. I assumed you just wanted to make a single side board.

So if I now understand your question; I dont think you need to mirror it. Sorry for any confusion.

[praetorious]

Thanks man, i thought you didn't need to mirror it. No, no you didn't confuse me, actually it just aided in the logical thought process. Thanks, i think ill go make that board now

[dpsilver]

i suggest u use a glass bearker or other such container for holding the etching sloution

[sokamiwohali]

if your working on a small project a small plastic bowl works just fine. i use one of my son's mini cereal bowls for etching w/ radio shak etchant...and no i dont was out the bowl and give it to him...its permanently mine now!! :)

[Tchnclfl]

What's the opinion on drill bits?  I've heard people say that if you don't use tungsten carbide, the bit will wear away from the fiberglass.  Is this true?

[sokamiwohali]

no...not neccessarily true...i drilled 6 pcb's BY HAND with a dremel engraving bit...it was small enough for the job i was doing and still has bite in it to drill. and the crappy etchant from radio took 1h to etch away 80% of the copper i wanted gone.

[evilmadcow]

hmm... i might want to .try this sometime.

[mooseo]

Nice instructable...

I've had really good luck doing this using glossy photo paper instead of transparencies... it has the advantage that it gets soggy and falls apart in water so it is pretty easy to remove from the board. I learned how to do it, including a review of the suitability of different brands of paper, from a really useful post here:

http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/gooteepc.htm

[asrhael]

Thanks mooseo for your tips, i want to know if the "classic" printer paper is bad to make these PCB, why the glossy paper is better than the classic paper?

Cheers

[mooseo]

My feeling about the glossy paper is that the toner doesn't stick to it as well so it transfers more easily to the board. With "classic " printer paper, there is a lot of topography in the fibers where toner grains can hide.

[amando96]

 exactly, with gloss paper ALL the toner gets onto the copper, and there's no toner sticking to the paper :)

[Schober]

I've had trouble with photo paper recently. It's covered in plastic so after you transfer the decal and go to soak the paper to let the toner go it just sits there.

[Schober]

Does anyone know if this stuff will work, or should I use the stuff you can buy at Radio Shack.

[kyle brinkerhoff]

yea it works really good its way faster than that crud from radio shack but i still go with the radio shack solution cause i cant find any ferric cloride around town

[Tchnclfl]

Apparently acetone works very well for removing toner as well.

[iProton]

 Hello, totally new with this stuff. Could anyone actually explain how do PCBs work (Wikipedia? You bet, I am still cross-eyed), their point and advantages over point-to-point circuits?

[samr37l]

PCB work as the wires for a circut. The etched part of the PCB are the wires, and the components are soldered to the board in the correct places. 

[iProton]

 Oh... I see. OK, so what's with the draft boards then, they have no visible etched paths.

[geoslim13]

those are for prototyping or drafting your circuit

[mfornaso]

You can see also:

http://www.sysameri.com/marcelo/placa.htm

from several years ago!

Marcelo Fornaso

[Chromatica]

English

[boukisan]

(removed by author or community request)

[theXmaker]

i found a small (but useful!) 12-18v drill (based on a small motor!!) for 8$.. i am now powering it on 24v using a transformer... it makes well job!!

[arikyeo]

is there any replacement for copper chloride? i cant find it in my country...

[arikyeo]

i mean ferric chloride

[jrblast]

Actually, you can use copper chloride :P

More details in this instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Stop-using-Ferric-Chloride-etchant!--A-better-etc/?ALLSTEPS

Your best bet for getting Muriatic Acid is at a pool store. Getting that was the only hard part for me.

[Stew2]

Hello, I just wanted to add that Muriatic Acid is also used for etching concrete prior to painting... So, you can often find it at a paint store.

[jshroomy]

I've messed w/ lots of different papers, and transparencies etc... I've started exclusively using magazine pages now. Works better than anything I've used thusfar.

[navysealltblue]

I guess, I don't quite understand this process. Any help with understanding it, would be greatly appreciated. So you basically start off by transfering toner onto the board so that the traces that you want to stay don't get corroded when you "etch." That leaves you with copper traces, and the rest of the copper has changed to be non conductive. When you clean off the toner, it leaves just the copper traces, The thing that I feel like I am missing is the core of the sheet of metal. Isn't it all still conductive copper? So what keeps the current just on these traces that you see? And if you drill through the board, the same issue, isn't that patching all the connections to the raw copper on the inside? Thanks for the help with understanding this all.

[trialex]

No - it's NOT a sheet of conductive metal. The initial product is a sheet of fibreglass, whith a thin layer of copper bonded on top. You put your toner where you want the copper to remain - the rest of it gets eaten away by the etchant. Cleaning off the toner then just exposes the remaining copper to make it easier to solder. There is no copper "inside" the board - you drill through fibreglass.

[merijnvw]

Thank you so much for sharing this!

[awsomehighvoltage]

you could just dump it in a hole in the woods.

[zohair]

I've experimented with dilute HCl and a bit of H2o2. The HCl is sold as "drain cleaner" over here and H2o2 is available as hydrogen peroxide at any chemist. Both of which can be purchased at a local general goods store. :)

[Derin]

H202 can also be found in a pharmacy.

[circuitpeople]

If you need a way to print gerber files for your PCB, check out http://www.circuitpeople.com. You can upload the gerbers and download high-resolution PNG images suitable for printing, etc.

[dirtysanchez]

I was wondering where you get your copper clad board (the pcb board). I usually use one from MG chemicals (the postive photoresist). Your board seems to be very translucent and cool.