Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Howto make a PCB in Home

Howto make a PCB in Home

It is simple, Toner Transfer method

Materials and equipments required

1. Ordinary Iron Box
2. hacksaw or hacksaw blade
3. low cost hand drill
4. Copper clad sheet (Glass epoxy is best for this method, if possible don't use paper phenolic )
5. Ferric Chloride (100 gm can be used for making 250 boards)
6. ART PAPER (Glossy paper available in office stationary store)
7. Plastic tray
8. Computer and Laser Printer ( Optional)

Steps

1. Make a fresh print out of your PCB layout in ART PAPER using a Laser Printer
(Transfer it as earlier with in 2 to 3 hours)
2. Clean the PCB with metal scrapper which is available Kitchen
( Cleaning is very critical, so clean it as shiny as possible)
3. Dry the PCB with a cotton waste
4. Power on the Iron Box with maximum heat setting
5. Place the art paper over the PCB copper side (make sure no air bubble )
6. Place the Iron Box over the PCB copper side for 3 to 5 Minutes , press and make a little move(depends on Heat)
7. Remove the Iron Box and put the PCB in to water
8. Sock it well and remove carefully the paper
9. Now you can see the toner stick in to the copper and paper layer can remove separately.
10. Sock and remove all part of paper (small portions of paper make short circuit)
11. make a solution with 10 to 25 gm of Ferric Chloride and 1/2 Lit water
12. Put the PCB in the solution and make to and fro motion until all part of the excess copper will remove.
13. Now Your PCB is Ready for drilling.

1mm holes are suitable for resisters, IC, diode etc

I have made lot of PCBs with this method.
Expense for making minimum setup is PCB (1'x1') - Rs.150($4) Hand Drill Rs.120($3)
Ferric Chloride(150 gm) - Rs.120($3) , Art paper, Hacksaw , Plastic Tray Rs.120($3)
TOTAL Approx. Rs.500 ($12)

1 comment:

Roymon said...

this one is great post thankscc