Making a Hand Drawn PCB.

Step 5 Etching

-Start off by finding a clean dry place where you can safely etch the circuit board, preferably outside.
-Put gloves and safety glasses on.
-Make sure you put your gloves and safety glasses on, Ferric Chloride is nasty stuff.
-Take your small container and pour about 1/4" to 1/2" of Ferric Chloride into it.
-Fill the larger container with warm water about 1" deep.
-Drop PCB into the Ferric Chloride, copper side up and place the small container into the water in the larger container.
-Gently rock the small container in the water so as to keep the FC moving which helps with the etching process.
-In about 5-7 minuites you should start to see the copper start to desolve away, notice the areas where the traces a drawn are uneffected.
-After about 10-12 miniutes the board should be completely etched, at which time you should emmediatly remove the PCB and drop it into the water in the larger container to rinse it and then dry it off on the paper towel.
-When you are done put the cover on the small container, you can use the Ferric Chloride over again a few times, and pour out the water in the larger container and rinse it out. You can use the larger container to store the small container and your extra Ferric Chloride that is still in the original bottle.