Homebrew PCBs

Is it fresh?  Ferric Chloride does get worn out, the more copper it 
takes on, the slower it will work, until eventually you'll be there forever.

I'd suggest you try Cupric Chloride, which is simply HCl and H202 after 
it's etched a board or two and picked up a nice lime green colour.  No 
heating required, you can see through it, re-usable indefinately, just 
add just add a cap or two of H202 (depending on how strong your H202 is) 
when you etch (add and stir before you add the board) and it's good as 
new. Yes for the real deal you should test the specific gravity etc 
etc... but you really really don't need to, just eyeball it, lime green 
good, dark green need peroxide, brown add some HCl too.  Wear eye 
protection in case of accidents, etch outside.


On 10/01/14 09:44, richanny@... wrote:
>
> Using plain hydrated ferric chloride etch, warmed up a little, the 
> last two boards done have been really stubborn to etch away the 
> bridges between narrow tracks and pads. They needed extended time , so 
> much that some narrow tracks just disappeared under the resist, and 
> the boards scrapped.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Has anyone had success with an electrolytic technique?
>
> Rich
>