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video DIY Printed circuit board
I want to share my personal experience with heat toner transfer method of making PCB.
It's easy to learn for beginners and it delivers very good result for fair price.
Do fast prototyping with fun!
Enjoy!
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To get more info about LIQUID TIN see Spec sheet at
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/421.html
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NOTE!!! Why it works only with laser printer!
Heat toner transfer is possible because it employs physical properties of laser printer toner.
Toner is a mix of a very fine plastic powder and black pigment.
When paper is being heated by fuser inside printer plastic particles melts and sticks to paper.
If we attach paper to flat surface and apply heat to paper so temperature of paper exceeds toner melting point, plastic melts again and sticks to adjacent surface.
If you don't have laser printer you can use xerox to make copy of your artwork. Since xerox employs laser technology it should work the same way.
It's easy to learn for beginners and it delivers very good result for fair price.
Do fast prototyping with fun!
Enjoy!
...
To get more info about LIQUID TIN see Spec sheet at
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/421.html
...
NOTE!!! Why it works only with laser printer!
Heat toner transfer is possible because it employs physical properties of laser printer toner.
Toner is a mix of a very fine plastic powder and black pigment.
When paper is being heated by fuser inside printer plastic particles melts and sticks to paper.
If we attach paper to flat surface and apply heat to paper so temperature of paper exceeds toner melting point, plastic melts again and sticks to adjacent surface.
If you don't have laser printer you can use xerox to make copy of your artwork. Since xerox employs laser technology it should work the same way.
You can use glossy photo paper, i used Magazine paper which is also glossy paper. Don't worry about the stuff printed on paper because it is printed with ink. and will not affect your design.
Rubbing is done to remove the extra dirt or something on copper clad board.
Do it properly and u'll get better results.
Another extra layer you can add to a professional board is a silkscreen layer that lets you put text onto the board for labeling parts, values, and what the board does.
But, it does not have anything to do with lawsuits. The cheap commercial boards don't have one either! They are an extra thing that usually cost more. If there is a short in the board from soldering, then that is the designer's fault not the fabricator.
Hope that helps!
People here will be happy to help you to gain some knowledge.
In my tutorial I don't do final operation - applying of soldering mask.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder_mask
It's not so easy to implement at home based lab and it's not really necessary for most of boards.
After soldering I coat board with transparent conformal coating.
Great movie!
Now, about tinning.
Yes, tinning can be avoided for home-made prototype.
Purpose of tinning is prevention of bare copper against oxidizing. It also provides excellent solderability.
Of course Liquid tin gives home-made PCB professional finish but
you have option to save few bucks and tin PCB manually with soldering iron.
Clean board, wet whole board with liquid flux, get fine soldering wire and carefully solder all traces i.e. cover with thin layer of solder whole conductive area.
Final step, clean PCB with alcohol and carefully check for solder bridges (unwanted short between traces).
Great instructable. Have a question for you. Do you print the artwork directly from eagle, or do you use the gerber files some how? I want to make sure I know how to do this the right (easiest) way. Thanks again
Print setup is important.
1. Select maximum resolution/quality and monochrome printing.
2. To avoid image shrinking/stretching, select right paper size and make sure scale is 100% (or 1:1).
Look at here:
http://www.riccibitti.com/pcb/pcb.htm