What do you need to know about the home PCB manufacturing process?
However, while there’s a lot you can look up, not everything will draw you in.
We list home PCB manufacturing, and other ways to guide you.
SUPPLIES NEEDED
Using some common household items (and ferric chloride), you can make your own custom PCB.
- Kicad
- Laser printer (must be a laser printer, inkjet does not work)
- any type of magazine/catalog
- Plastic buckets (two will do)
- Small paintbrush or toothbrush
- clothing iron
- Ferric chloride
- CCL
Two items that are unlikely to be found in your home are ferric chloride and copper clad laminate;
CCL is usually well sourced and can be had for just a few dollars, but it’s important to make sure you’re getting regular copper rather than pre-exposed UV-sensitive CCL, which uses a different approach.
Ferric chloride costs about $20, but the good news is that you can reuse it again and again (which is good because it’s not the kind of chemical you can throw away).
Safety notes about ferric chloride: Ferric chloride is a strong acid that will corrode most metals, but not synthetic materials such as plastics, inks, and nail polish.
It is strongly recommended that you wear safety goggles when working with this chemical and ensure safe storage, as even fumes can corrode metals.
Check out the bottle:
If you don’t want to touch the skin, my suggestion is to wear latex gloves. This way you may not be exposed to any ferric chloride at all and it is important to take precautions.
If you get some on your skin, wash it off immediately with soap and cool water to be safe.
STEP 1: DESIGN YOUR BOARD
You can read our brochures, which will inspire you.
STEP 2: PRINT YOUR BOARD
Print a design, tear a page from a magazine and insert it into the manual feed tray of a laser printer, it doesn’t matter that something is already printed on the page.
Toner getting into the page is our concern, making sure the print design is free of any specks or smudges. If your design is smudged like the image below, please insert another page and try again.
Once your design is printed, it’s a quick move to copper. But first we need to prepare the circuit board.
Note that there may be a patina when you take it out of the package, try wiping it with steel wool or a cotton cloth.
The circuit board is very shiny for the toner to adhere to. After cleaning, lightly sand the surface with fine-grit sandpaper. This may not be necessary, but a rough surface will help the toner stick to it better.
STEP 3: TRANSFER DESIGN
Now place your design on the copper plate, toner side down. Turn on your iron to its highest temperature and lowest steam setting.
You can put on paper and copper, but not move. After about half a minute, the iron can be moved.
Stick the melted carbon powder on the copper plate. Then remove the paper and place it in a bucket of cold water.
After the water has soaked into the paper, it is carefully peeled off, leaving a clean copper plate with black toner on it.
If the toner comes off, it means your board is not warm enough, you can extend the time of the iron.
STEP 4: ETCH THE COPPER
We can move outside and pour ferric chloride into a plastic bucket.
The hotter the ferric chloride, the faster the effect.
Remember to pay attention to the directions before putting the board in the acid.
If you have a double-sided board, you can place the board backside down. After ensuring that there is no copper, place the board.
This can take a long time, you won’t see any copper change for about 8 minutes.
After some time we will see the acid eat the copper from the outside in and at this point we can see the change.
It will take longer if you have a larger board.
The general estimate is around 20 minutes. The board will etch all the way, you can remove the board and put in water and soap. The purpose of this is to neutralize the acid.
After cleaning the circuit board, we can get a clean circuit board. At this time, there will only be black toner on the copper surface. After scraping off the toner with steel wool we can expose the copper wire.
After trimming the excess from the board, we can be left with a board ready to be soldered.
After the inspection, if you are making vias, you can drill the vias with a very small drill bit.
After these steps are completed, our circuit board is complete.
OUR PCBA SERVICES
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