15 Feb
2013
15 Feb
'13
12:14 a.m.
On 02/14/2013 08:51 PM, Chris Tofu wrote:
you can accomplish rudimentary masking and etching by
using cheap
packing tape. Encapsulate the board then slice and remove portions of
the board you'd like to etch away. No copper sulfate IIRC (the
etchant) won't eat your fingers. Just DON'T pour it down the drain,
protect your clothes and be careful of animals.
I've never heard of anyone using copper sulfate as an echant--I don't
even see how it would work, chemically. Heck, I spray the stuff on my
fruit trees during the wintertime.
I think you mean ferric chloride as an etchant, although an alternative
is getting to be popular--a mixture of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen
peroxide. I've used it--it works pretty well. Both are readily available.
Well plating can be accomplished in the home shop but
where are you
going to get the gold. Wait for a meteorite? But it brings up an
interesting idea of mine. Couldn't you reverse plate the gold right
off of pins and whatnot? No nasty chemicals, no mess, no fuss.
And pretty much lousy plating. Cyanide solutions of gold are the usual
stuff. A nickel "strike" coat is also desirable. Small
gold-electroplating kits can be had from outfits such as Caswell.
Tinplate solutions can be had for PCB use, which work pretty well in my
experience--just don't mix up more than you need--the stuff has a
working life of only a few hours.
If I'm following you, couldn't you cut the
card edge from a busted
drive, solder that to an appropriate board (I would have to assume
the spacing is identical), solder a header connector, preferably
right angle, to the opposite side of the board, then solder jumper
wires where appropriate?
It all sounds like too much work for a simple adapter. I'd get an IDC
edge connector, then "weave' the wires from a 34-conductor ribbon cable
to the appropriate pins, using a strip of packing tape to hold them in
position until the IDC can be crimped in place. I've done it--no big
bother--about a half-hour's work.
--Chuck