Homebrew PCBs

Adam wrote:
>
> 
> I was looking at an easier and more reliable way to etch PCBs. I know 
> from experience that bubble etching never produces acceptable
uniformity 
> and often needs manual brushing to finish it off.
>

I've found that a simple covered, flat, rocking tank works pretty
well.  I made mine out of acrylic and use an eccentric on a gear motor
to make the tank rock about twice a minute.   The flow of the CuCl
over the board is fairly uniform and my boards seem to etch evenly.
You need to grip your PCB by two edges and have a deep enough tank to
allow the etchant to flow over both sides of a double sided PCB.

The drawback of the scheme is that you must set up a CuCL regeneration
station to bubble air through the etchant and capture the fumes, but
this allows you to keep the fumes away from your tools so it's not
really a drawback.

Curt