Make Your Own Multi Colour PCB

In this Instructable I'm going to show you how to make your own coloured PCBs

Step 1 What You Need

A PCB to dye
A Permanent Marker the colour you want to dye your PCB
Acetone (I use nail polish remover that has acetone as the main ingredient) 
Kitchen roll

Comments

[gatan]

great.......
what are you used for drawing layout? protel or?
can you share that program for me? :)

[tigerbomb8]

i use Eagle or Fritzing

[jgosselin]

i would love to use eagle but i am at loss on how to use it. any help would be greatly appreciated. very cool instructable btw all my pcb's are going to be blue :D

[pensativo]

Try EAGLE. Trust me, the best way to do it is to download it and poke around. Then look up as many tutorials online as you can and poke around in it some more. The thing about these things is that the more features you get the steeper the learning curve, but it is well worth it. I have used a few software packages and for the price you can't get any better. :)
http://www.cadsoftusa.com/download-eagle/?language=en

[chipscolaman]

But will it blend?

nice, thx

[Sparticles]

It didn't work :(
With acetone I just rubbed everything off instantly. (and yes, it is a permanent marker)

[icecreamterror]

What type of Clad Laminate board are you using?

Its has to be one of the brown FR2 paper based,not the FR4 fiberglass board.

[Sparticles]

Ah yes, it is fiberglass. Too bad because it really looks nice in your pictures.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Worked Great, first try! Thanks for the ible!

[ryukyu]

I use rubbing alcohol to clean up after soldering. Wouldn't the alcohol (or similar flux remover) cause the dye to run?

[orion4713111]

what's "kitchen roll"?

[owenaero]

it is a rooling pen used for flattining dough

[SRChiP]

I think it's just some thick tissue. (generally used in kitchen)

[orion4713111]

sounds like what we call "paper towels" here in the states.

[godofal]

 is a paper towel, i live in the netherlands where we call it a kitchen roll as well (well,  in dutch ofc XD )

[gzaloprgm]

Tell me if you managed to paint a PCB, I tried with this method and the tint went to the paper...

[killersquirel11]

Does the marker rub off at all on your fingers?

[cliffyd]

Just did this diy on my latest pcb, looks great! Thanx for the tip......cliffyboy

[amando96]

 But the copper is still out in the open...

[icecreamterror]

Yes, this is not to be mistaken with solder mask.

To solder mask at home, you can paint on PEBEO acrylic inks used to paint on glass, then bake.

[Ipodfan414]

Where do you get PCBs?

[icecreamterror]

If you mean where are the PCB from the main photo?
They \re from the lovely people at http://sonodrome.co.uk/ who came up with this technique. 

[gzaloprgm]

Hmm. It isn't working. When I rub the pcb with acetone the tint dissapears and the pcb stays normal. Should I let the tint dry some hours?

[agis68]

 simple genius. Ive made it and also I used some Vitro colors. Its more stonger than marker and more easily.

Thanx for the idea dude....5/5

[zack247]

wow. never knew that. this'll come in handy! have you tried it with multiple colors yet? i want to know if the colors would blend or not before i try

[roadieflip]

I figured how to do this a while ago without actually realising it. I accidentally got ink into my bottle of acetone and threw it away when I had my boards go streaky. I never even thought of using it to colour my boards.

Great idea. Saves messing about with clothes dye and heat.

[nadav]

 Very cool and well documented! Great 'ible.