The manufacture of printed circuit boards at home is quite possible. However, this requires a certain place, equipment and time. The advantage of such an element is that the radio devices on it work quite reliably and efficiently.
Preparation for work: selection of materials
The manufacture of printed circuit boards at home begins with the collection of necessary components. You will need:
- computer and laser printer (black and white);
- photo paper
- iron and soldering iron;
- water, flux, ferric chloride, acetone, tin;
- double-sided (single-sided) textolite, and its surface should have a copper coating.
When all the components are assembled, you can start making printed circuit boards at home. First you need to draw a diagram. For this, the simplest graphics editor is used, although you can find programs specially designed for tracing boards. At this point, you must decide on the function blocks. After the diagram is drawn, it must be printed. Just keep in mind that it should be mirrored.
Board manufacturing procedure
At this stage, the picture should be applied to the surface of the treated element. The area in which the pattern is not embossed is simply etched with chemical reagents. Only the circuitry you need will remain on the board.
The manufacture of printed circuit boards at home should be done very carefully. For example, you cannot touch the printed image with your hands. Also pay attention to the foil surface: it must be as clean as possible. If you notice traces of oxidation on it, try to eliminate them with a fine skin. Naturally, it is advisable to degrease the surface with acetone or any other solvent. After processing, try not to touch the PCB.
Now the drawing needs to be transferred to the prepared surface. To do this, the leaflet is carefully applied to the PCB and ironed with an iron heated to a maximum temperature. The image in this case should not move in any case. This procedure lasts several minutes until the leaf turns yellow.
Now you need to put the future board in water so that the excess paper gets wet and can be quickly cleaned. If the image on the surface of the PCB turned out to be high-quality and accurate, you can proceed to the next step.
Etching Procedure
In order for the drawing to be reliably imprinted in foil,
the manufacturing process of printed circuit boards involves the use of a solution of
ferric chloride. Instead of the substance presented, copper sulfate can be used (stir 100 grams of powder and 200 g of salt in a liter of warm water). The etching procedure lasts about 15 minutes.
After all the actions done, you can send the board clean water and drill all the necessary holes for the parts. It is also advisable to clean the patterned surface with sandpaper. In the same way, multi-layer printed circuit boards are manufactured.
In order to make the product more aesthetic, you can arrange the conductors. For this, a specific solution is used in which the board is placed. After processing, the conductors acquire a silver tint.