[Noisebridge-discuss] PCB prototype manufacturing

[Jake]

You can fab boards at noisebridge.  Its not that hard, i've done it many 
times.

You take some glossy paper (i used to buy cheap inkjet paper, and then i 
discovered that glossy magazine pages work just as well) and a blank 
circuitboard (we have tons of the stuff in the PCB bin on the shelf)

print your board pattern (mirror image) with a LASER PRINTER onto the 
glossy paper,

clean the circuitboard with a green slightly abrasive dishsponge, with 
running water and soap, polishing it to a dull shine, rinse off the soap, 
and put it in a toaster oven to dry it off.

put some regular paper down on the table, put the circuitboard on that, 
and now put the toner-side down glossy paper onto the circuitboard.  Now 
put a couple layers of regular paper on top of that.

Now, iron it!  use a clothes iron, set to the highest temperature, and 
iron the shit out of the whole thing.  It takes practice, or you can get 
me to do it and i'll show you, but when you're done, all the toner is 
transferred to the circuitboard.

After it cools, take off the paper and see your art on the board.  If 
there are any spots where the toner didn't take, use a paint pen or nail 
polish or pretty much anything to touch it up (even Sharpie works) and 
mask off other areas (or the other side, if it's a two-sided board)

then throw it in the Ferric Chloride.. yes we have some.

After a few minutes in the FeCl the board is etched - you can see it 
happening.  Take it out, rinse it off (don't get FeCl on the stainless 
steel sink though) and now clean off the toner with a solvent (nail polish 
remover works, as do other things) and start drilling holes.

If you set up your software to print holes as holes in the printout, you 
will now have little divets on your copper pattern.  It's easy to get the 
little drillbit to center on these holes because the copper deflects the 
drillbit until it's centered.  A child could do it!

lemme know if you want help.

-jake

Jonathan Toomim wrote:

Let me clarify: what's the DIY-manufacturing method you've had the most
success with? I don't want to wait more than a couple of days, and I
don't want to pay more than $20. (Besides, Seeed is on vacation for the
Chinese Spring Festival.)

On 1/21/2012 10:22 PM, Casey Callendrello wrote:
> seeed studios!
> http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/fusion-pcb-service-p-835.html
>
> On 1/21/12 9:07 PM, Jonathan Toomim wrote:
>> Hey folks. I've got a PCB design that I'd like to make a prototype of.
>> It's a pretty simple design: single sided, 20 mil traces, 15 mil
>> separation between traces, 3"x.8". I made one version of this board
>> already at Crash Space using the toner transfer method, but I'd like to
>> make another revision. What's the method you've had the most success
>> with here at Noisebridge?
>>
>> Oh, by the way: Hi. I'm Jonathan. I usually live in Los Angeles, but 
>> I'm trying to spend more time in (and eventually move to) the bay area. 
>> I can be recognized by my (currently short) red hair and my mindreading 
>> headband.