PCB etching

[delambo]

I just finihed etching my first pcb in over a decade! More to the point though it was my first ever board using the new (to me) press n peel system. What a way to do it! I have a near perfect board with fine traces and it was pretty quick too from start to finish. I used eagle to create a .brd file which I transfered to a .bmp file and opened it in macromedia fireworks for some slight editing. I then printed it on to plain paper using my inkjet and finally photocopied it in to the press n peel paper for ironing on to the copper clad board.

As with every first attempt it didnt go 100% to plan as I think I got something wrong with the iron (not used to using one of these!) and some of the traces on the outer edges didnt fully transfer so I simply touched these in with a permenant pen before etching in ferric chloride. I would recomend this to anyone.

I will post some pics when I get more time.

[jakeyfly]

glad its going well m8, i was going to phone you yesterday when i was standing in maplins looking at the kits but then looked at the pile of stuff i had in me hands and thought not today, spent enough
let us know how it go's

[delambo]

At 5 sheets for £14.99 from Maplin they are not the best price. I have found them for £1.75 per sheet here with £1 for postage for up to 10 shets. As for a tray for etching in I would go to jessops and buy a photo developing tray, its much cheaper than the specialist etching trays in Maplin and pretty much the same thing. I would however buy your ferric chloride in Maplin as is a pretty good price. The only piece of advise I would offer is to practice and not expect to get it 100% on your first attempt (as I found out last night) and when etching really keep the temperature up nice and high to shorten the etch time. To keep the temperature up I put a 10x8 tray inside a 12x10 tray and put the board and ferric chloride in the 10x8 tray then filled the 12x10 with hot water which I changed periodically as the water temperature started to fall.