Homebrew PCBs

Jeri Ellsworth has a video or two illustrating plating a transparent coating of conductive tin on a sheet of glass, without a vacuum.

I like it, a chemical-less method of through-hole plating. I could also see using this to lay down a first layer, then electroplating onto that.

Steve Greenfield AE7HD

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Stefan Trethan <stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
>
> Nice idea.
> 
> A similar method is used to gold plate samples for old electron microscopes.
> 
> I've noticed a conductive metal deposit in plastic cases near the
> point of (arcing) failure of the electronics inside.
> 
> Usually this is called vacuum deposition, but apparently the vacuum is
> not strictly necessary if the plasma from an arc is used.
> 
> ST
> 
> On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 4:54 AM, Jeff <jeff.heiss@...> wrote:
> > A friend descried to me a method for plating through holes.  The plating is accomplished by inserting a wire into the hole and applying a high voltage to the wire, exploding it and connecting the layers together.  A pdf is available on google.  It was too big for yahoo.  Despite the questionable looking address, it is real.
> >
> > https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9UJMWQidYN0ZE1yNWEzQmluSWc
> >
> > Curt's description
> > It involves feeding a thin copper wire through the hole until it touches a massive ground plate which allows a capacitor charged to 300 - 400 volts to discharge and literally melt the wire rapidly enough to cause it to 'explode' and bond to the internal copper layers.  I find that 10 to 15 bursts leave enough copper for a sturdy through hole.   I use an X Y table to position the board under a chuck that grips the wire and is connected to the high voltage source.   A small stepper motor feeds the wire through the chuck from a spool.
> >
> >
> > Jeff
> >
> >
> >