[TCML] PC boards

Tue Jan 29 13:41:47 MST 2008

One of the better etchers is ammonium persulfate, 
you can pick it up of Ebay cheap. We used this 
when making PCB's in the research lab I worked 
at. Much safer to use that Ferric chloride, which 
we used before and switched. Rubber gloves and 
safety glasses are used but if it splashes on the 
skin, it does not cause any serious damage and 
can be washed off easily later. In fact, you may 
not know you have it on your skin and later a 
stain will show up where it was in contact with.

Use of an acid like HCl is really bad and 
dangerous. You cannot control the process and it 
under cuts the lands, plus it is nasty stuff and 
cleanup is messy. I have never heard of using an 
acid like that (or Nitric) ever for etching a 
circuit board. I have never heard of using these acids for PCB manufacture

Hydrogen Peroxide is an oxidizer and in higher 
concentrations, it is very dangerous and can 
cause explosions! It is used as a component of 
some rocket fuels in higher levels. It can burn 
the skin on contact and react with other 
chemicals and cause fires, explosions, etc. Do 
not play with the industrial stuff unless you really know what you are doing.
The concentrated solution was used in making the 
bombs for the muslim attacks in the UK subways 
last year. Big brother pays attention to who buys 
the concentrated stuff. Plus it has a crappy shelf life once it is opened.

Frank

At 07:34 AM 1/29/2008 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I have absolutely zero experience with building PC boards
>and since my patience doesn't usually hold up too well work-
>ing with tiny things and my 45 year old eyes don't see things
>up close anymore w/out visual correction, I kind of doubt
>that I ever will at this point. However, the one thing that I do
>realize from reading these threads on how to etch the tracks
>is that these are some quite dangerous chemicals that are used
>for this purpose. 30-35% hydrochloric acid solution is very
>strong (the swimming pool supply muriatic acid is approximately
>the same strength hyrdocholric acid solution). Muriatic acid re-
>leases a visible suffocating vapor when the cap is removed and
>the liquid acid will quickly attack aluminum or concrete. The
>H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) solution that you purchase at your
>local drug store is 3% peroxide and 97% water! The extra oxy-
>gen atom makes the normally stable water molecule very unstable
>to release the rogue oxygen atom. A 30% peroxide solution would
>be very corrosive and would severely bleach and burn skin upon
>contact.I've heard that industrial strength 90% peroxide solution
>poured on combustible material will cause spontaneous ignition!
>Just a safety note - any chemical that can etch copper will likely
>also "etch" human flesh! Be careful ....
>
>David Rieben
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Ale¹ Chlubný" <chluba1 at fel.cvut.cz>
>To: "'Tesla Coil Mailing List'" <tesla at pupman.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 4:52 AM
>Subject: RE: [TCML] PC boards
>
>
>>I'm using hydrochloride acid with hydrogen peroxide but with some
>>modifications.
>>Cool down concentated 30-35% HCl acid, it's required if you are going to
>>etch large boards or you have not a lot of acid, because reaction are
>>exothermic and high temperature isn't good for peroxide. Put the acid and PC
>>board into plastic container and add a few drops of concentrated 30%
>>peroxid. Don't add peroxid directly to PC board but in distant corner and
>>move with container to mix the solution (locally increased concentration of
>>peroxid can be dangerous for PC board). You can drive speed of reaction by
>>adding more peroxid. If you aren't overshoot amount of peroxide, cooper will
>>dissolve fast but without any bubbles and fumes. If it bubbles, it can be
>>due too fast reaction or high temperature. In this cases you can try to cool
>>down the solution.
>>This method is the fastest and provides more capacity, with 1 bottle of acid
>>you can make a lot of PCB.
>>
>>Ales.
>>
>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: tesla-bounces at pupman.com
>>>[mailto:tesla-bounces at pupman.com] On Behalf Of Scott Bogard
>>>Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 10:17 PM
>>>To: tesla at pupman.com
>>>Subject: Re: [TCML] PC boards
>>>
>>>
>>>Thanks guys,
>>>      I am already using perf board, but I have acquired
>>>enough parts to make 5 drivers, so I figured PC board would
>>>be the way to go.  also does anybody have any experience with
>>>this etching solution, it sounds pretty good to me, as I
>>>already have all the ingredients.
>>>http://www.instructables.com/id/Stop-using-Ferric-Chloride-etc
>>>hant!--A-better-etc/
>>>Thanks again.
>>>
>>>Scott Bogard.
>>>
>>>BunnyKiller wrote:
>>> > As far as perf boards go, they are fine if you like wires. I prefer
>>> > the perfboard with the square copper tabs on the bottom. It
>>>allows you
>>> > to place components and then use solder bridges to route the path
>>> > along the squares. If you need to correct a path, simply
>>>heat up the
>>> > solder in the area to be corrected and tap the board to
>>>remove solder.
>>> > The only disadvantage to this method is the required amounts of
>>> > solder....
>>> >
>>> > Scot D
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Peter Terren wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> You can still make some pretty significant things on
>>>perfboard with
>>> >> point to point wiring.
>>> >> Here is a packed mag-lev board with 4 IC's that still runs
>>>fine after
>>> >> 2 years museum use.
>>> >>
>>>http://tesladownunder.com/Magnetic%20levitation.htm#Magnetic%20Levita
>>> >> tion
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >> Even more extreme is this completely point to point art
>>>piece. There
>>> >> is no perf board, everything is point to point and
>>>supported by the
>>> >> connections to the supply rail. Still works after 20 years. 8 IC's
>>> >> and perhaps 100 components
>>> >> http://tesladownunder.com/Electronics.htm#Pyramid
>>> >>
>>> >> Peter
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Tesla mailing list
>>> > Tesla at www.pupman.com
>>> > http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>_________________________________________________________________
>>>Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live.
>>>http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sha
>>>relife_012008_______________________________________________
>>>Tesla mailing list
>>>Tesla at www.pupman.com
>>>http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Tesla mailing list
>>Tesla at www.pupman.com
>>http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
>
>_______________________________________________
>Tesla mailing list
>Tesla at www.pupman.com
>http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla