[sci.electronics] How-to make PC boards

elg@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Eric Green) (02/06/89)

First of all, thanks to the NEC rep who replied to my brother's query.
His company has recieved the materials that they needed, and are quite
satisfied. Hopefully the NEC regional rep will get a fire lit under
them (that was the level that the problem was at).

Now on with the story:

I've wire-wrapped a few things in the past. Now I need to make some PC
boards for things which are not suited for wire-wrapping due to
mechanical considerations (e.g., a "daughterboard" that sits in place
of an IC chip & adds various functionality). I have a good idea of
what's required for making PC boards, i.e. that you have a
photoresist, a mylar transparency, and an ultraviolet light, and you
do it all in a darkroom then dip it into etchant. What I don't have is
the specifics -- the specific methodology, the chemicals used, where
to buy supplies, etc. Is there a "how-to" sort of book for etching PC
boards? Have any of the major electronics magazines published articles
on how to do it? (I can fetch such articles off of microfilm at the
library, though it'll be expensive). 

(a sad day, eh, when a software guy takes up a slaughtering iron? :-)

--
|    // Eric Lee Green              P.O. Box 92191, Lafayette, LA 70509     |
|   //  ..!{ames,decwrl,mit-eddie,osu-cis}!killer!elg     (318)989-9849     |
| \X/              >> In Hell you need 4Mb to Multitask <<                  |

ornitz@kodak.UUCP (barry ornitz) (02/07/89)

In article <7054@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> elg@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Eric Green) 
writes:
>Now I need to make some PC
>boards for things which are not suited for wire-wrapping due to
>mechanical considerations (e.g., a "daughterboard" that sits in place
>of an IC chip & adds various functionality). I have a good idea of
>what's required for making PC boards, i.e. that you have a
>photoresist, a mylar transparency, and an ultraviolet light, and you
>do it all in a darkroom then dip it into etchant. What I don't have is
>the specifics -- the specific methodology, the chemicals used, where
>to buy supplies, etc. Is there a "how-to" sort of book for etching PC
>boards? Have any of the major electronics magazines published articles
>on how to do it? (I can fetch such articles off of microfilm at the
>library, though it'll be expensive). 

My suggestion is to buy the book "Electronic Prototype Construction" by Steve
Kasten.  It is published by Howard W. Sams & Co. (ISBN: 0-672-21895-X) and
costs around $18.  While some of the newest techniques such as surface mount
and CAD systems are not discussed, this is _still_ the best book I can suggest
for the beginner.  Essentially, this book goes into everything you need.  It
discusses commercial equipment and how you can make do with improvised 
techniques.  While Steve is a good friend and co-worker in the Process
Instrumentation Research Lab, I never tell him how good the book is - it might
swell his head.  ;-)   Any bookstore should be able to order the book for you.

BTW, Steve and I found a very quick way to rejuvenate our Cupric Chloride
etch bath last week.  A bottle of 30% Hydrogen Peroxide added to the spent bath
(which also contained Hydrochloric Acid) worked wonders - the bath turned the
prettiest blue-green just before the etch room exploded! ;-)

[Actually be very careful with any peroxide - they are all hazardous.  We
normally bubble air through the bath to regenerate it, but I had eight square
feet of board to etch and very little time for the bath to recover.  I would
have preferred a lower concentration of peroxide to work with since the 30%
solution can be quite dangerous under certain conditions.  By titrating the
bath properly and using just the right amount of peroxide, we were able to
safely speed up the regeneration process.  You could probably use the drug-
store 3% peroxide safely at home.]
                                                 Barry
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| |  / /        | |  Dr. Barry L. Ornitz  UUCP:..rutgers!rochester!kodak!ornitz
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henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (02/09/89)

In article <1685@kodak.UUCP> ornitz@kodak.UUCP (barry ornitz) writes:
>My suggestion is to buy the book "Electronic Prototype Construction" by Steve
>Kasten.  It is published by Howard W. Sams & Co. (ISBN: 0-672-21895-X) and
>costs around $18...

Second the recommendation.  The book is not a complete encyclopedia of
everything you could ever want to know, but it is the best single source
I've found.
-- 
Allegedly heard aboard Mir: "A |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
toast to comrade Van Allen!!"  | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu