7 Sep
2005
7 Sep
'05
4:58 p.m.
Rumor has it that Jeff Walther may have mentioned these words:
I imagine this topic has come up before, so my
apologies in advance.
Do folks have a recommendation for suppliers of circuit board making
materials, or a good source of such information?
I got my stuff at http://www.circuitspecialists.com/
Best prices & selection I could find and they have 1/16", 1/32" and
1/64"
thickness pre-sensitized photoresist boards. They even have "how-to" books
for beginners on making photoresist boards & whatnot.
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7783 (Link to the
beginners book I mentioned - I bought it and it's a very good read.)
I have not yet had time to build the projects for which I purchased my
shiznit, but I should be able to before Xmas, so I'll know a lot more
soon... ;-)
I am not affiliated with the company other than being a (so far) satisfied
customer.
In fact, I have not been able to find precoated board
(photoresist coated)
in the .050" thickness. So I will either need to use a liquid photoresist
or try a toner transfer system.
I dunno about 0.050", but would the 1/32" thickness be close enough?
(That's 0.03125" thickness, if you can believe the Winders calcaputer
applet ;-)
That raises other questions. Are the Toner Transfer
Systems reliable
No. Especially since the toner xfer systems were designed around toner that
melts around 300 deg. C... a lot of the 'microfine' toner printers melt
their toner a *lot* hotter than that, and don't get good adhesion to the
xfer sheets. (Most laser printers made in the last 5-8 years are all
microfine toner - anything 600dpi+ will be.) The last time I tried (5+
years ago) I used 10 sheets to *finally* get one that didn't require metric
buttloads of touchups with a resist pen.
If the TTS is not servicable, then I'll try the
liquid photoresist.
I'd say to try pre-sensitized... but that's just me.
Would it be better to simply spray on, or should I
try to rig a spinner?
Do the developer and/or stripper usually turn out to be some commonly
(cheaply) available chemical? I would prefer to avoid paying $6+ for a
small bottle if I can avoid it.
One kg of ammonium persulfate will make 4 liters of etchant, and it's
around $18 USD (not including shipping) - not sure if you'll be able to
find it much cheaper than that, but if you do, let everyone here know! ;-)
The other chemical used is ferric chloride.
Hope that helps,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger | A new truth in advertising slogan
SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers | for MicroSoft: "We're not the oxy...
zmerch at 30below.com | ...in oxymoron!"