Homebrew PCBs

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 04:20:12 -0000, Udara Dewamuni <dewamuni@...> 
wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> Do anyone know a coating which i can apply over the PCB after the etching 
> process.  That coating must be protect the copper tracks by corrosions 
> and it should make it easy to do the soldering as well.  At the moment I 
> am using "Rosin" as the coating.  But I dont have a good base to mixing 
> it.  If anyone know a good base for Rosin pls let me know with any other 
> coatings as well.  Coz Rosin is not solder-friendly.
>
> Cheers
> Udara
>

I use colophony (resin of pine tree) likely what you have too.
I solve it in laquer thinner. denatured alcohol works too but dries much 
slower.
this two solvents give a shiny, laquer like appearance.
Acteone works for solving it but it is not shiny at all.

I often use tha jar with solved colophony to make things easier to solder.
if i want to tin a wire i just dip the end in the resin, then apply the 
tin.
you can use tin without fluy here. (or if you have really a ot of wires a 
hot tin bath).

If i have to exchange a ic on a older board which can be a bit hard to 
solder i also
apply this flux (with a brush). It makes it much easier to melt the tin.


For permanently coating boards i would suggest laquer thinner to solve it.
With alcohol it is a sticky business until it is dry.

Stefan