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Epson R285

Epson R285

2008-01-11 by peripherin

Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with varying 
degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure method 
with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can reliabley 
turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which seems to be 
the minimum width that most manufacturers can acieve reliably.
However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to be giving 
some very good results with the mispro inks. 
My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not seem to 
find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson R285 
printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers must be 
far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one this 
afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as I 
understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should also be 
etch resistant.
I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times but I have 
found it does not work to well with ground planned boards due to 
toner density which after trying on sevral different media types and 
printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive results 
with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being etched. I 
have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try useing 
the best media I have found which they say will have uniform toner 
density so we will see how this turns out.

Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know what the 
results were like and what ink you have use?

Re: Epson R285

2008-01-11 by peripherin

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "peripherin" <peripherin@...> 
wrote:
>
> Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with 
varying 
> degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure method 
> with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can 
reliabley 
> turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which seems to 
be 
> the minimum width that most manufacturers can acieve reliably.
> However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to be 
giving 
> some very good results with the mispro inks. 
> My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not seem 
to 
> find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson R285 
> printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers must be 
> far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one this 
> afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
> Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as I 
> understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should also be 
> etch resistant.
> I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times but I 
have 
> found it does not work to well with ground planned boards due to 
> toner density which after trying on several different media types 
and 
> printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive 
results 
> with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being etched. 
I 
> have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try useing 
> the best media I have found which they say will have uniform toner 
> density so we will see how this turns out.
> 
> Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know what the 
> results were like and what ink you have use?
>

Update: Ok spent the afternoon really upsetting the sales person in 
PC world by making him demonstrate two laser printers HP1018 and 1022.

I also got a demonstration of the CD printing facility on the R285 
and all I can say is that it is that the way the feed mechnism works 
is slightly different from what i expected yes the rollers are 
further apart but because of the issues over board size I did not go 
any further with this mainly because if I was to use this for 
production boards it would use to many processes and again prove as 
complex to fix the ink as a normal UV method. If someone has the time 
then it may be a great printer to modify. I have however been told by 
our by someone I trust that photoresist can be printed from a normal 
inkjet cartridge but because the liquid is to viscous it produces to 
larger droplet size. Aparently thier is a company who is researching 
into produceing a Piezoelectric print head for PCB's. 
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2005/04/14/34905/pcb+maker+p
lans+ink-jet+printing.htm?
Unfortunately I do not know what has become of this company anybody 
know ?
Getting back to the laser printers I followed this up again as 
talking to the salesman some of the modern lasers printers increase 
toner density in large areas of Mono. If you look at the resulting 
prints from different printers you can see more matt areas within the 
large areas of ground plans which I have found porous  when etching. 
With the HP's this does not seem to be the case and remember I am not 
using special paper I am talking about printing onto standard 90gsm 
paper.
Anyhow I have taken the sample prints on three types of paper home to 
etch. I have used 90 GSM laser paper Xerox, Epson photo matt paper 
and staples photo basic glossy.
I also asked about life of the printer by useing non reccommended 
papers they said that it would wear the fuser and tonner drum faster 
and possibley the rollers but considering the printers are sub £100 
thats not really an issue.
Anyhow I will comment on the results latter.

Re: Epson R285

2008-01-11 by peripherin

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "peripherin" <peripherin@...> 
wrote:
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "peripherin" <peripherin@> 
> wrote:
> >
> > Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with 
> varying 
> > degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure 
method 
> > with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can 
> reliabley 
> > turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which seems 
to 
> be 
> > the minimum width that most manufacturers can achieve reliably.
> > However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to be 
> giving 
> > some very good results with the mispro inks. 
> > My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not seem 
> to 
> > find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson R285 
> > printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers must 
be 
> > far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one this 
> > afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
> > Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as I 
> > understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should also be 
> > etch resistant.
> > I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times but I 
> have 
> > found it does not work to well with ground planned boards due to 
> > toner density which after trying on several different media types 
> and 
> > printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive 
> results 
> > with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being 
etched. 
> I 
> > have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try 
useing 
> > the best media I have found which they say will have uniform 
toner 
> > density so we will see how this turns out.
> > 
> > Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know what the 
> > results were like and what ink you have use?
> >
> 
> Update: Ok spent the afternoon really upsetting the sales person in 
> PC world by making him demonstrate two laser printers HP1018 and 
1022.
> 
> I also got a demonstration of the CD printing facility on the R285 
> and all I can say is that it is that the way the feed mechnism 
works 
> is slightly different from what i expected yes the rollers are 
> further apart but because of the issues over board size I did not 
go 
> any further with this mainly because if I was to use this for 
> production boards it would use to many processes and again prove as 
> complex to fix the ink as a normal UV method. If someone has the 
time 
> then it may be a great printer to modify. I have however been told 
by 
> our by someone I trust that photoresist can be printed from a 
normal 
> inkjet cartridge but because the liquid is to viscous it produces 
to 
> larger droplet size. Aparently thier is a company who is 
researching 
> into produceing a Piezoelectric print head for PCB's. 
> 
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2005/04/14/34905/pcb+maker+p
> lans+ink-jet+printing.htm?
> Unfortunately I do not know what has become of this company anybody 
> know ?
> Getting back to the laser printers I followed this up again as 
> talking to the salesman some of the modern lasers printers increase 
> toner density in large areas of Mono. If you look at the resulting 
> prints from different printers you can see more matt areas within 
the 
> large areas of ground plans which I have found porous  when 
etching. 
> With the HP's this does not seem to be the case and remember I am 
not 
> using special paper I am talking about printing onto standard 90gsm 
> paper.
> Anyhow I have taken the sample prints on three types of paper home 
to 
> etch. I have used 90 GSM laser paper Xerox, Epson photo matt paper 
> and staples photo basic glossy.
> I also asked about life of the printer by useing non reccommended 
> papers they said that it would wear the fuser and tonner drum 
faster 
> and possibley the rollers but considering the printers are sub £100 
> thats not really an issue.
> Anyhow I will comment on the results latter.
>
Okay have now etched the test board the results vary a little. 
Admittedly the etchant is used and cold so probably the worst way to 
etch. The xerox paper gave results which were acceptable with slight 
bleed thru on tracks around 35 Microns and small pin holes on the 
larger areas of tonner. Admittedly this would not have been a problem 
if the acid was new and I had the heater on. The staples paper I 
suspect has changes recently as after striping back the paper I 
noticed it had left a nasty white residue perhapes something the 
treat the paper evapourating while I ironed it onto the board. This 
rendered the board un etchable as it turned it to resist all over. By 
far the epson paper has given the better results the tracks are clean 
all the way down to 25 Microns. The larger areas again were a bit 
disapointing the echant had bled thru. I am sure the result could be 
improved. I am however going to empty the etching tank and mix up a 
new batch of ferric clorid and heat it to 50deg c on the next attempt 
I am also going to try Epson Gloss Paper. I understand that because 
of the coating on the photopapers the tonner takes to the paper 
better because of the smoother surface and the coating applied to the 
paper.
Out of the printers the HP 1022 seems to give better results which is 
no surprise as the DPI count is higher.

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-11 by michael tenore

Hi!

I ran my Staples paper thru the printer a second time by printing just a period (.) so the fuser turns on!

The The image transfered very well to the board. The white residue was only on top of the toner.But I did not etech it as that was only 
a test run. but the traces were beautifully done..I cleaned the paper off the traces with a old tooth brush..

Regards

mike..
Show quoted textHide quoted text
----- Original Message ----
From: peripherin <peripherin@...>
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 9:23:47 PM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ ...> 
wrote:
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ > 
> wrote:
> >
> > Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with 
> varying 
> > degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure 
method 
> > with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can 
> reliabley 
> > turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which seems 
to 
> be 
> > the minimum width that most manufacturers can achieve reliably.
> > However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to be 
> giving 
> > some very good results with the mispro inks. 
> > My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not seem 
> to 
> > find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson R285 
> > printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers must 
be 
> > far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one this 
> > afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
> > Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as I 
> > understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should also be 
> > etch resistant.
> > I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times but I 
> have 
> > found it does not work to well with ground planned boards due to 
> > toner density which after trying on several different media types 
> and 
> > printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive 
> results 
> > with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being 
etched. 
> I 
> > have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try 
useing 
> > the best media I have found which they say will have uniform 
toner 
> > density so we will see how this turns out.
> > 
> > Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know what the 
> > results were like and what ink you have use?
> >
> 
> Update: Ok spent the afternoon really upsetting the sales person in 
> PC world by making him demonstrate two laser printers HP1018 and 
1022.
> 
> I also got a demonstration of the CD printing facility on the R285 
> and all I can say is that it is that the way the feed mechnism 
works 
> is slightly different from what i expected yes the rollers are 
> further apart but because of the issues over board size I did not 
go 
> any further with this mainly because if I was to use this for 
> production boards it would use to many processes and again prove as 
> complex to fix the ink as a normal UV method. If someone has the 
time 
> then it may be a great printer to modify. I have however been told 
by 
> our by someone I trust that photoresist can be printed from a 
normal 
> inkjet cartridge but because the liquid is to viscous it produces 
to 
> larger droplet size. Aparently thier is a company who is 
researching 
> into produceing a Piezoelectric print head for PCB's. 
> 
http://www.electron icsweekly. com/Articles/ 2005/04/14/ 34905/pcb+ maker+p
> lans+ink-jet+ printing. htm?
> Unfortunately I do not know what has become of this company anybody 
> know ?
> Getting back to the laser printers I followed this up again as 
> talking to the salesman some of the modern lasers printers increase 
> toner density in large areas of Mono. If you look at the resulting 
> prints from different printers you can see more matt areas within 
the 
> large areas of ground plans which I have found porous when 
etching. 
> With the HP's this does not seem to be the case and remember I am 
not 
> using special paper I am talking about printing onto standard 90gsm 
> paper.
> Anyhow I have taken the sample prints on three types of paper home 
to 
> etch. I have used 90 GSM laser paper Xerox, Epson photo matt paper 
> and staples photo basic glossy.
> I also asked about life of the printer by useing non reccommended 
> papers they said that it would wear the fuser and tonner drum 
faster 
> and possibley the rollers but considering the printers are sub £100 
> thats not really an issue.
> Anyhow I will comment on the results latter.
>
Okay have now etched the test board the results vary a little. 
Admittedly the etchant is used and cold so probably the worst way to 
etch. The xerox paper gave results which were acceptable with slight 
bleed thru on tracks around 35 Microns and small pin holes on the 
larger areas of tonner. Admittedly this would not have been a problem 
if the acid was new and I had the heater on. The staples paper I 
suspect has changes recently as after striping back the paper I 
noticed it had left a nasty white residue perhapes something the 
treat the paper evapourating while I ironed it onto the board. This 
rendered the board un etchable as it turned it to resist all over. By 
far the epson paper has given the better results the tracks are clean 
all the way down to 25 Microns. The larger areas again were a bit 
disapointing the echant had bled thru. I am sure the result could be 
improved. I am however going to empty the etching tank and mix up a 
new batch of ferric clorid and heat it to 50deg c on the next attempt 
I am also going to try Epson Gloss Paper. I understand that because 
of the coating on the photopapers the tonner takes to the paper 
better because of the smoother surface and the coating applied to the 
paper.
Out of the printers the HP 1022 seems to give better results which is 
no surprise as the DPI count is higher. 




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-11 by Derward

Mike, I have some 3M transparency film for use with
Laser printers and I started using this for toner transfer
(type cg5000).  I am using a HP 2600 color laser printer
and this does the best boards of any thing I have used.

I do not use ferric chloride but  I use muratic acid and
hydrogen peroxide.  2 parts hydrogen peroxide and
1 part muratic acid and use at room temp.  This does 
the best and fastest etching of any thing I have seen.
You do not want to breathe the fumes and the fumes 
are corrosive so don't expose any metal to the fumes.

I think you will find the HP toner is the best (for PCB making)
 on the market.

Derward Myrick KD5WWI
Show quoted textHide quoted text
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: michael tenore 
  To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 3:35 PM
  Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285


  Hi!

  I ran my Staples paper thru the printer a second time by printing just a period (.) so the fuser turns on!

  The The image transfered very well to the board. The white residue was only on top of the toner.But I did not etech it as that was only 
  a test run. but the traces were beautifully done..I cleaned the paper off the traces with a old tooth brush..

  Regards

  mike..

  ----- Original Message ----
  From: peripherin <peripherin@...>
  To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 9:23:47 PM
  Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

  --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ ...> 
  wrote:
  >
  > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ > 
  > wrote:
  > >
  > > Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with 
  > varying 
  > > degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure 
  method 
  > > with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can 
  > reliabley 
  > > turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which seems 
  to 
  > be 
  > > the minimum width that most manufacturers can achieve reliably.
  > > However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to be 
  > giving 
  > > some very good results with the mispro inks. 
  > > My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not seem 
  > to 
  > > find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson R285 
  > > printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers must 
  be 
  > > far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one this 
  > > afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
  > > Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as I 
  > > understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should also be 
  > > etch resistant.
  > > I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times but I 
  > have 
  > > found it does not work to well with ground planned boards due to 
  > > toner density which after trying on several different media types 
  > and 
  > > printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive 
  > results 
  > > with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being 
  etched. 
  > I 
  > > have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try 
  useing 
  > > the best media I have found which they say will have uniform 
  toner 
  > > density so we will see how this turns out.
  > > 
  > > Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know what the 
  > > results were like and what ink you have use?
  > >
  > 
  > Update: Ok spent the afternoon really upsetting the sales person in 
  > PC world by making him demonstrate two laser printers HP1018 and 
  1022.
  > 
  > I also got a demonstration of the CD printing facility on the R285 
  > and all I can say is that it is that the way the feed mechnism 
  works 
  > is slightly different from what i expected yes the rollers are 
  > further apart but because of the issues over board size I did not 
  go 
  > any further with this mainly because if I was to use this for 
  > production boards it would use to many processes and again prove as 
  > complex to fix the ink as a normal UV method. If someone has the 
  time 
  > then it may be a great printer to modify. I have however been told 
  by 
  > our by someone I trust that photoresist can be printed from a 
  normal 
  > inkjet cartridge but because the liquid is to viscous it produces 
  to 
  > larger droplet size. Aparently thier is a company who is 
  researching 
  > into produceing a Piezoelectric print head for PCB's. 
  > 
  http://www.electron icsweekly. com/Articles/ 2005/04/14/ 34905/pcb+ maker+p
  > lans+ink-jet+ printing. htm?
  > Unfortunately I do not know what has become of this company anybody 
  > know ?
  > Getting back to the laser printers I followed this up again as 
  > talking to the salesman some of the modern lasers printers increase 
  > toner density in large areas of Mono. If you look at the resulting 
  > prints from different printers you can see more matt areas within 
  the 
  > large areas of ground plans which I have found porous when 
  etching. 
  > With the HP's this does not seem to be the case and remember I am 
  not 
  > using special paper I am talking about printing onto standard 90gsm 
  > paper.
  > Anyhow I have taken the sample prints on three types of paper home 
  to 
  > etch. I have used 90 GSM laser paper Xerox, Epson photo matt paper 
  > and staples photo basic glossy.
  > I also asked about life of the printer by useing non reccommended 
  > papers they said that it would wear the fuser and tonner drum 
  faster 
  > and possibley the rollers but considering the printers are sub £100 
  > thats not really an issue.
  > Anyhow I will comment on the results latter.
  >
  Okay have now etched the test board the results vary a little. 
  Admittedly the etchant is used and cold so probably the worst way to 
  etch. The xerox paper gave results which were acceptable with slight 
  bleed thru on tracks around 35 Microns and small pin holes on the 
  larger areas of tonner. Admittedly this would not have been a problem 
  if the acid was new and I had the heater on. The staples paper I 
  suspect has changes recently as after striping back the paper I 
  noticed it had left a nasty white residue perhapes something the 
  treat the paper evapourating while I ironed it onto the board. This 
  rendered the board un etchable as it turned it to resist all over. By 
  far the epson paper has given the better results the tracks are clean 
  all the way down to 25 Microns. The larger areas again were a bit 
  disapointing the echant had bled thru. I am sure the result could be 
  improved. I am however going to empty the etching tank and mix up a 
  new batch of ferric clorid and heat it to 50deg c on the next attempt 
  I am also going to try Epson Gloss Paper. I understand that because 
  of the coating on the photopapers the tonner takes to the paper 
  better because of the smoother surface and the coating applied to the 
  paper.
  Out of the printers the HP 1022 seems to give better results which is 
  no surprise as the DPI count is higher. 

  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



   

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: Epson R285

2008-01-13 by peripherin

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, michael tenore <wb2lcw@...> 
wrote:
>
> Hi!
> 
> I ran my Staples paper thru the printer a second time by printing 
just a period (.) so the fuser turns on!
> 
> The The image transfered very well to the board. The white residue 
was only on top of the toner.But I did not etech it as that was only 
> a test run. but the traces were beautifully done..I cleaned the 
paper off the traces with a old tooth brush..
> 
> Regards
> 
> mike..
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: peripherin <peripherin@...>
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 9:23:47 PM
> Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285
> 
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" 
<peripherin@ ...> 
> wrote:
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ 
> 
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with 
> > varying 
> > > degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure 
> method 
> > > with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can 
> > reliabley 
> > > turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which seems 
> to 
> > be 
> > > the minimum width that most manufacturers can achieve reliably.
> > > However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to be 
> > giving 
> > > some very good results with the mispro inks. 
> > > My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not 
seem 
> > to 
> > > find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson 
R285 
> > > printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers must 
> be 
> > > far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one 
this 
> > > afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
> > > Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as I 
> > > understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should also 
be 
> > > etch resistant.
> > > I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times but I 
> > have 
> > > found it does not work to well with ground planned boards due 
to 
> > > toner density which after trying on several different media 
types 
> > and 
> > > printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive 
> > results 
> > > with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being 
> etched. 
> > I 
> > > have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try 
> useing 
> > > the best media I have found which they say will have uniform 
> toner 
> > > density so we will see how this turns out.
> > > 
> > > Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know what 
the 
> > > results were like and what ink you have use?
> > >
> > 
> > Update: Ok spent the afternoon really upsetting the sales person 
in 
> > PC world by making him demonstrate two laser printers HP1018 and 
> 1022.
> > 
> > I also got a demonstration of the CD printing facility on the 
R285 
> > and all I can say is that it is that the way the feed mechnism 
> works 
> > is slightly different from what i expected yes the rollers are 
> > further apart but because of the issues over board size I did not 
> go 
> > any further with this mainly because if I was to use this for 
> > production boards it would use to many processes and again prove 
as 
> > complex to fix the ink as a normal UV method. If someone has the 
> time 
> > then it may be a great printer to modify. I have however been 
told 
> by 
> > our by someone I trust that photoresist can be printed from a 
> normal 
> > inkjet cartridge but because the liquid is to viscous it produces 
> to 
> > larger droplet size. Aparently thier is a company who is 
> researching 
> > into produceing a Piezoelectric print head for PCB's. 
> > 
> http://www.electron icsweekly. com/Articles/ 2005/04/14/ 34905/pcb+ 
maker+p
> > lans+ink-jet+ printing. htm?
> > Unfortunately I do not know what has become of this company 
anybody 
> > know ?
> > Getting back to the laser printers I followed this up again as 
> > talking to the salesman some of the modern lasers printers 
increase 
> > toner density in large areas of Mono. If you look at the 
resulting 
> > prints from different printers you can see more matt areas within 
> the 
> > large areas of ground plans which I have found porous when 
> etching. 
> > With the HP's this does not seem to be the case and remember I am 
> not 
> > using special paper I am talking about printing onto standard 
90gsm 
> > paper.
> > Anyhow I have taken the sample prints on three types of paper 
home 
> to 
> > etch. I have used 90 GSM laser paper Xerox, Epson photo matt 
paper 
> > and staples photo basic glossy.
> > I also asked about life of the printer by useing non reccommended 
> > papers they said that it would wear the fuser and tonner drum 
> faster 
> > and possibley the rollers but considering the printers are sub 
£100 
> > thats not really an issue.
> > Anyhow I will comment on the results latter.
> >
> Okay have now etched the test board the results vary a little. 
> Admittedly the etchant is used and cold so probably the worst way 
to 
> etch. The xerox paper gave results which were acceptable with 
slight 
> bleed thru on tracks around 35 Microns and small pin holes on the 
> larger areas of tonner. Admittedly this would not have been a 
problem 
> if the acid was new and I had the heater on. The staples paper I 
> suspect has changes recently as after striping back the paper I 
> noticed it had left a nasty white residue perhapes something the 
> treat the paper evapourating while I ironed it onto the board. This 
> rendered the board un etchable as it turned it to resist all over. 
By 
> far the epson paper has given the better results the tracks are 
clean 
> all the way down to 25 Microns. The larger areas again were a bit 
> disapointing the echant had bled thru. I am sure the result could 
be 
> improved. I am however going to empty the etching tank and mix up a 
> new batch of ferric clorid and heat it to 50deg c on the next 
attempt 
> I am also going to try Epson Gloss Paper. I understand that because 
> of the coating on the photopapers the tonner takes to the paper 
> better because of the smoother surface and the coating applied to 
the 
> paper.
> Out of the printers the HP 1022 seems to give better results which 
is 
> no surprise as the DPI count is higher. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

A quick update have now bought a HP1022 and I am going to give the 
staples paper a 2nd go and try and etch it as the only way to get 
around the toner being porous is to use a TRF film. Which then makes 
the process nearly the same as the press and peel packs you can buy 
form Maplin Electronics.
Mike are you buying your paper in the UK from staples ?

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-13 by Lez

Just tried some UK asda paper, 2.97 25 sheets, seems 'ok' but the shiny
surface sticks to the copper as well as the toner making a little more thumb
work needed, but on the good side the actual paper is quite easy to remove
and wicks water up quickly.

paper is ''asda a4 glossy inkjet photo paper '' 25 sheets 180gsm


I also have had my old problem of the paper 'jumping' off the pcb when it
hits the coldwater, like the pcb shrinks in the cold water, should I try hot
water? (all my papers do this, I think its my pcb material to blame, very
'expansive' when hot)
(This is after an iron at cotton setting for 60 seconds)

If the paper does not 'jump off' it wrinkles like a wave shape leaving
toner/no toner/toner along the edges.

Its an effect like you see on your fingertips if you have spent along time
in the bath/shower

Like I said all my papers have done this, the asda is no worse, but cheaper
to buy.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-13 by Stefan Trethan

I have the same results.
Thermal contraction tries to rip the edges away. My solution is to
print a wide black strip all around the PCB, you don't care if all of
it comes out well but if wide enough it can withstand the pull, or at
least "take the hit". With this broad black line i have no more
problems. If you do several boards on one piece you only need one
overall "guard trace" around them. Sometimes i leave the wide outline
on the PCB on purpose, it is useful for a low impedance ground trace,
for example to clip scope probe ground leads somewhere.

I also see the wrinkling when put in water, but i believe this is
different to the thermal expansion/contraction. Paper tends to get a
lot larger when taking up water. The wrinkles only appear in places
with no trace, and don't seem to rip traces off. I use hot water, and
i sand or scratch the paper backside after fusing to open the surface
for quicker wetting. It is different to your fingers getting all
wrinkly by the way, this is because the salty water inside you is
drawn out into the less salty water on the outside, not because of
your skin expanding (although it may do that, too). I'm told if you
bathe in very salty water (e.g. dead sea) this effect does not occur.
I am not certain if this is a myth or true.

About the "shiny surface" paper, i know exactly what you mean. But
there is an advantage to this additional effort. The shiny surface is
much smoother than the clay on matte paper. This gives better
resolution overall, and less white residue for component legend. I now
use this shiny paper for all boards. There is a quick and efficient
way to remove the residue by the way, without getting your fingers
wrinkly ;-). Take a piece of polyurethane foam (foam rubber, synthetic
sponge), and use that to rub the residue off. Much more efficient than
your finger, and no wear and tear on same.

ST
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On Jan 13, 2008 3:02 PM, Lez <lez.briddon@...> wrote:
> Just tried some UK asda paper, 2.97 25 sheets, seems 'ok' but the shiny
> surface sticks to the copper as well as the toner making a little more thumb
> work needed, but on the good side the actual paper is quite easy to remove
> and wicks water up quickly.
>
> paper is ''asda a4 glossy inkjet photo paper '' 25 sheets 180gsm
>
>
> I also have had my old problem of the paper 'jumping' off the pcb when it
> hits the coldwater, like the pcb shrinks in the cold water, should I try hot
> water? (all my papers do this, I think its my pcb material to blame, very
> 'expansive' when hot)
> (This is after an iron at cotton setting for 60 seconds)
>
> If the paper does not 'jump off' it wrinkles like a wave shape leaving
> toner/no toner/toner along the edges.
>
> Its an effect like you see on your fingertips if you have spent along time
> in the bath/shower
>
> Like I said all my papers have done this, the asda is no worse, but cheaper
> to buy.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

Re: Epson R285

2008-01-13 by peripherin

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Lez <lez.briddon@...> wrote:
>
> Just tried some UK asda paper, 2.97 25 sheets, seems 'ok' but the 
shiny
> surface sticks to the copper as well as the toner making a little 
more thumb
> work needed, but on the good side the actual paper is quite easy to 
remove
> and wicks water up quickly.
> 
> paper is ''asda a4 glossy inkjet photo paper '' 25 sheets 180gsm
> 
> 
> I also have had my old problem of the paper 'jumping' off the pcb 
when it
> hits the coldwater, like the pcb shrinks in the cold water, should 
I try hot
> water? (all my papers do this, I think its my pcb material to 
blame, very
> 'expansive' when hot)
> (This is after an iron at cotton setting for 60 seconds)
> 
> If the paper does not 'jump off' it wrinkles like a wave shape 
leaving
> toner/no toner/toner along the edges.
> 
> Its an effect like you see on your fingertips if you have spent 
along time
> in the bath/shower
> 
> Like I said all my papers have done this, the asda is no worse, but 
cheaper
> to buy.
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
Yes I use warm water to remove the paper I also let the PCB cool 
slightly before putting it in the water so that they are roughly the 
same temperature otherwise one contracts quicker then the other.

Re: Epson R285

2008-01-13 by peripherin

I think I have established what the problem may be the staples paper 
I have form a UK branch has a very waxy finish on the rear non 
printable side almost like the paper/film they print photographs on. 
Is this the correct paper or is the stuff over here different to the 
photo basic glossy in the US? I know the SKU code on the packet is 
different to the US version. What is the rear side like rough like 
normal copier paper?


When I get some more time next week I am going to try another brand 
as I want to avoid having to buy Toner reactive foil as its another 
step in the process to go wrong and after many hours of searching the 
net I can only find it in the US. Is thier another name for it other 
then TRF ?

Also I have decided to modify an old epson printer I have to print a 
solder resist  and any other artwork onto the board. I will keep 
people posted on how this goes.


--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "peripherin" <peripherin@...> 
wrote:
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Lez <lez.briddon@> wrote:
> >
> > Just tried some UK asda paper, 2.97 25 sheets, seems 'ok' but the 
> shiny
> > surface sticks to the copper as well as the toner making a little 
> more thumb
> > work needed, but on the good side the actual paper is quite easy 
to 
> remove
> > and wicks water up quickly.
> > 
> > paper is ''asda a4 glossy inkjet photo paper '' 25 sheets 180gsm
> > 
> > 
> > I also have had my old problem of the paper 'jumping' off the pcb 
> when it
> > hits the coldwater, like the pcb shrinks in the cold water, 
should 
> I try hot
> > water? (all my papers do this, I think its my pcb material to 
> blame, very
> > 'expansive' when hot)
> > (This is after an iron at cotton setting for 60 seconds)
> > 
> > If the paper does not 'jump off' it wrinkles like a wave shape 
> leaving
> > toner/no toner/toner along the edges.
> > 
> > Its an effect like you see on your fingertips if you have spent 
> along time
> > in the bath/shower
> > 
> > Like I said all my papers have done this, the asda is no worse, 
but 
> cheaper
> > to buy.
> > 
> > 
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> Yes I use warm water to remove the paper I also let the PCB cool 
> slightly before putting it in the water so that they are roughly 
the 
> same temperature otherwise one contracts quicker then the other.
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-13 by Lez

On 13/01/2008, peripherin <peripherin@...> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I think I have established what the problem may be the staples paper
>  I have form a UK branch has a very waxy finish on the rear non
>  printable side almost like the paper/film they print photographs on.


I found I could not get the staples paper from staples, I suggest you
try the asda paper I posted earlier, sounds like the paper you are
getting from staples is like the fake clone kodak paper I originally
had caller ''kodaper'' - that had a coated rear, and took a lot of
scrubbing with a plastic pan scrubber (scotchbrite US ?) (when it
stayed on it was very high res and left a lot of fibre in the toner)

Re: Epson R285

2008-01-14 by Len Warner

At 6:41 am ((PST)) Sun Jan 13, 2008, in Digest 2374 Stefan Trethan wrote:
>[snip]
>I also see the wrinkling when put in water, but i believe this is
>different to the thermal expansion/contraction. Paper tends to get a
>lot larger when taking up water.

This is because it is made of fibres of cellulose, a long-chain
carbohydrate molecule, which absorb the water and swell up
in all directions - but only the X & Y directions are particularly
noticeable. Water also loosens the bonds between fibres
leading to permanent effects, such as the wrinkling of a
previously smoothly calendered sheet due to the disturbance
of the fibres being retained on drying.

>[snip] It is different to your fingers getting all
>wrinkly by the way,

Not very different, except that skin has a high content of
structural protein rather than carbohydrate. Proteins
generally have quite a high affinity for water.

>this is because the salty water inside you is
>drawn out into the less salty water on the outside,

Not true, body membranes are quite retentive of electrolytes:
the presence of salt in sweat is only because the glands
actively pump out the ions (and the water follows) not
because the salt leaks from your body.

Otherwise bathing would be a very risky activity rather than
a pleasure, a pastime and a sport.

As a further example of this, consider death by drowning.
(That's not a recommendation of a course of action, btw ;-).

If a child drowns in fresh water and is resuscitated there is
still a possibility of death through electrolyte imbalance
from the amount of water which has passed through the
thin lung membrane, diluting the child's small blood.volume.

If a person drowns in sea water and is resuscitated there
is still a risk of secondary drowning caused by salty
residues accumulating water out of the bloodstream.

In both these cases the water chases the electrolytes,
the "salt" doesn't move: look up "osmosis".

>not because of your skin expanding
>(although it may do that, too).

Nope, that's exactly what it is.

The skin is fairly waterproof, so that we don't leak away,
and relatively dry on the outside since most of us live in a
low RH atmosphere. (There are comfort and health problems
with living in a high humidity environment.)

So the outer layer, high in the protein keratin, has a lower
hydration level than if it were in equilibrium contact with water.

Given prolonged contact with water, there isn't enough real
estate on your body to accommodate the skin's expansion in
area but since your skin is anchored in place it has to wrinkle
rather than sliding off one end or the other.

>I'm told if you bathe in very salty water (e.g. dead sea)
>this effect does not occur.
>I am not certain if this is a myth or true.

The effect can be true and your explanation a myth:
it is the high osmotic pressure of the salt water that
counteracts the hydrophilic nature of the skin protein
restricting any water absorbtion to a level below which
wrinkling is evident.


Regards, LenW
-- 
   From Yahoo! Groups Help: ... trim all the irrelevant quoted text
   out of your message (as a courtesy to the other members of
   the group to make the digest easier to read).

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-14 by James Smith

Does anybody know what temperature toner transitions from solid to liquid ? 
 
 


To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.comFrom: novost@...: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 07:50:54 +0000Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285




At 6:41 am ((PST)) Sun Jan 13, 2008, in Digest 2374 Stefan Trethan wrote:>[snip]>I also see the wrinkling when put in water, but i believe this is>different to the thermal expansion/contraction. Paper tends to get a>lot larger when taking up water.This is because it is made of fibres of cellulose, a long-chaincarbohydrate molecule, which absorb the water and swell upin all directions - but only the X & Y directions are particularlynoticeable. Water also loosens the bonds between fibresleading to permanent effects, such as the wrinkling of apreviously smoothly calendered sheet due to the disturbanceof the fibres being retained on drying.>[snip] It is different to your fingers getting all>wrinkly by the way,Not very different, except that skin has a high content ofstructural protein rather than carbohydrate. Proteinsgenerally have quite a high affinity for water.>this is because the salty water inside you is>drawn out into the less salty water on the outside,Not true, body membranes are quite retentive of electrolytes:the presence of salt in sweat is only because the glandsactively pump out the ions (and the water follows) notbecause the salt leaks from your body.Otherwise bathing would be a very risky activity rather thana pleasure, a pastime and a sport.As a further example of this, consider death by drowning.(That's not a recommendation of a course of action, btw ;-).If a child drowns in fresh water and is resuscitated there isstill a possibility of death through electrolyte imbalancefrom the amount of water which has passed through thethin lung membrane, diluting the child's small blood.volume.If a person drowns in sea water and is resuscitated thereis still a risk of secondary drowning caused by saltyresidues accumulating water out of the bloodstream.In both these cases the water chases the electrolytes,the "salt" doesn't move: look up "osmosis".>not because of your skin expanding>(although it may do that, too).Nope, that's exactly what it is.The skin is fairly waterproof, so that we don't leak away,and relatively dry on the outside since most of us live in alow RH atmosphere. (There are comfort and health problemswith living in a high humidity environment.)So the outer layer, high in the protein keratin, has a lowerhydration level than if it were in equilibrium contact with water.Given prolonged contact with water, there isn't enough realestate on your body to accommodate the skin's expansion inarea but since your skin is anchored in place it has to wrinklerather than sliding off one end or the other.>I'm told if you bathe in very salty water (e.g. dead sea)>this effect does not occur.>I am not certain if this is a myth or true.The effect can be true and your explanation a myth:it is the high osmotic pressure of the salt water thatcounteracts the hydrophilic nature of the skin proteinrestricting any water absorbtion to a level below whichwrinkling is evident.Regards, LenW-- From Yahoo! Groups Help: ... trim all the irrelevant quoted textout of your message (as a courtesy to the other members ofthe group to make the digest easier to read).  






_________________________________________________________________
Free games, great prizes - get gaming at Gamesbox. 
http://www.searchgamesbox.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-14 by Stefan Trethan

Oh well, another great example of the crap i was taught at school and
never considered properly ;-)

So, just to get this straight, The process actually goes the other
way, bathwater is drawn into the skin by osmosis, making it larger and
wrinkly? If you bathe in very salty water the osmotic pressure is the
other way and water is sucked out of your skin?


ST
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On Jan 14, 2008 8:50 AM, Len Warner <novost@...> wrote:
> At 6:41 am ((PST)) Sun Jan 13, 2008, in Digest 2374 Stefan Trethan wrote:
> >[snip]
> >I also see the wrinkling when put in water, but i believe this is
> >different to the thermal expansion/contraction. Paper tends to get a
> >lot larger when taking up water.
>
> This is because it is made of fibres of cellulose, a long-chain
> carbohydrate molecule, which absorb the water and swell up
> in all directions - but only the X & Y directions are particularly
> noticeable. Water also loosens the bonds between fibres
> leading to permanent effects, such as the wrinkling of a
> previously smoothly calendered sheet due to the disturbance
> of the fibres being retained on drying.
>
> >[snip] It is different to your fingers getting all
> >wrinkly by the way,
>
> Not very different, except that skin has a high content of
> structural protein rather than carbohydrate. Proteins
> generally have quite a high affinity for water.
>
> >this is because the salty water inside you is
> >drawn out into the less salty water on the outside,
>
> Not true, body membranes are quite retentive of electrolytes:
> the presence of salt in sweat is only because the glands
> actively pump out the ions (and the water follows) not
> because the salt leaks from your body.
>
> Otherwise bathing would be a very risky activity rather than
> a pleasure, a pastime and a sport.
>
> As a further example of this, consider death by drowning.
> (That's not a recommendation of a course of action, btw ;-).
>
> If a child drowns in fresh water and is resuscitated there is
> still a possibility of death through electrolyte imbalance
> from the amount of water which has passed through the
> thin lung membrane, diluting the child's small blood.volume.
>
> If a person drowns in sea water and is resuscitated there
> is still a risk of secondary drowning caused by salty
> residues accumulating water out of the bloodstream.
>
> In both these cases the water chases the electrolytes,
> the "salt" doesn't move: look up "osmosis".
>
> >not because of your skin expanding
> >(although it may do that, too).
>
> Nope, that's exactly what it is.
>
> The skin is fairly waterproof, so that we don't leak away,
> and relatively dry on the outside since most of us live in a
> low RH atmosphere. (There are comfort and health problems
> with living in a high humidity environment.)
>
> So the outer layer, high in the protein keratin, has a lower
> hydration level than if it were in equilibrium contact with water.
>
> Given prolonged contact with water, there isn't enough real
> estate on your body to accommodate the skin's expansion in
> area but since your skin is anchored in place it has to wrinkle
> rather than sliding off one end or the other.
>
> >I'm told if you bathe in very salty water (e.g. dead sea)
> >this effect does not occur.
> >I am not certain if this is a myth or true.
>
> The effect can be true and your explanation a myth:
> it is the high osmotic pressure of the salt water that
> counteracts the hydrophilic nature of the skin protein
> restricting any water absorbtion to a level below which
> wrinkling is evident.
>
>
> Regards, LenW
> --
>   From Yahoo! Groups Help: ... trim all the irrelevant quoted text
>   out of your message (as a courtesy to the other members of
>   the group to make the digest easier to read).
>
>
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

TONER

2008-01-14 by peripherin

Okay an interesting point but what temperature doe the HP toner melt 
at looking on the web it seems that people say anywere between 100deg 
C and 220 Deg C ? 

Using my iron I achieve the best tranfere on the 3 dot setting (I 
think this means 200Deg C but havent measured it) but I am thinking 
of using a hot roller laminator that I bought for £14.99. The problem 
is that the thermostat is only 150Deg C IE to low to heat the toner 
surfficently enough to tranfere.
The good thing about the laminator is that it does not need any 
modification to the rollers to take the 1.6mm board. Shame that it is 
not able to melt the toner.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan" 
<stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
>
> Oh well, another great example of the crap i was taught at school 
and
> never considered properly ;-)
> 
> So, just to get this straight, The process actually goes the other
> way, bathwater is drawn into the skin by osmosis, making it larger 
and
> wrinkly? If you bathe in very salty water the osmotic pressure is 
the
> other way and water is sucked out of your skin?
> 
> 
> ST
> 
> 
> On Jan 14, 2008 8:50 AM, Len Warner <novost@...> wrote:
> > At 6:41 am ((PST)) Sun Jan 13, 2008, in Digest 2374 Stefan 
Trethan wrote:
> > >[snip]
> > >I also see the wrinkling when put in water, but i believe this is
> > >different to the thermal expansion/contraction. Paper tends to 
get a
> > >lot larger when taking up water.
> >
> > This is because it is made of fibres of cellulose, a long-chain
> > carbohydrate molecule, which absorb the water and swell up
> > in all directions - but only the X & Y directions are particularly
> > noticeable. Water also loosens the bonds between fibres
> > leading to permanent effects, such as the wrinkling of a
> > previously smoothly calendered sheet due to the disturbance
> > of the fibres being retained on drying.
> >
> > >[snip] It is different to your fingers getting all
> > >wrinkly by the way,
> >
> > Not very different, except that skin has a high content of
> > structural protein rather than carbohydrate. Proteins
> > generally have quite a high affinity for water.
> >
> > >this is because the salty water inside you is
> > >drawn out into the less salty water on the outside,
> >
> > Not true, body membranes are quite retentive of electrolytes:
> > the presence of salt in sweat is only because the glands
> > actively pump out the ions (and the water follows) not
> > because the salt leaks from your body.
> >
> > Otherwise bathing would be a very risky activity rather than
> > a pleasure, a pastime and a sport.
> >
> > As a further example of this, consider death by drowning.
> > (That's not a recommendation of a course of action, btw ;-).
> >
> > If a child drowns in fresh water and is resuscitated there is
> > still a possibility of death through electrolyte imbalance
> > from the amount of water which has passed through the
> > thin lung membrane, diluting the child's small blood.volume.
> >
> > If a person drowns in sea water and is resuscitated there
> > is still a risk of secondary drowning caused by salty
> > residues accumulating water out of the bloodstream.
> >
> > In both these cases the water chases the electrolytes,
> > the "salt" doesn't move: look up "osmosis".
> >
> > >not because of your skin expanding
> > >(although it may do that, too).
> >
> > Nope, that's exactly what it is.
> >
> > The skin is fairly waterproof, so that we don't leak away,
> > and relatively dry on the outside since most of us live in a
> > low RH atmosphere. (There are comfort and health problems
> > with living in a high humidity environment.)
> >
> > So the outer layer, high in the protein keratin, has a lower
> > hydration level than if it were in equilibrium contact with water.
> >
> > Given prolonged contact with water, there isn't enough real
> > estate on your body to accommodate the skin's expansion in
> > area but since your skin is anchored in place it has to wrinkle
> > rather than sliding off one end or the other.
> >
> > >I'm told if you bathe in very salty water (e.g. dead sea)
> > >this effect does not occur.
> > >I am not certain if this is a myth or true.
> >
> > The effect can be true and your explanation a myth:
> > it is the high osmotic pressure of the salt water that
> > counteracts the hydrophilic nature of the skin protein
> > restricting any water absorbtion to a level below which
> > wrinkling is evident.
> >
> >
> > Regards, LenW
> > --
> >   From Yahoo! Groups Help: ... trim all the irrelevant quoted text
> >   out of your message (as a courtesy to the other members of
> >   the group to make the digest easier to read).
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, 
and Photos:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] TONER

2008-01-15 by Derryck Croker

On 14 Jan 2008, at 18:51, peripherin wrote:

> The good thing about the laminator is that it does not need any
> modification to the rollers to take the 1.6mm board. Shame that it is
> not able to melt the toner.

Use the laminator to tack your master to the PCB, may be best to pass  
it through corner first; do it a couple of times from opposite corners.

Use your iron to heat the laminate and master, resting the sandwich on  
a folded newspaper, a folded piece of kitchen paper, your sandwich,  
and another folded piece of kitchen paper. No need to move the iron,  
let it rest on top for about a minute.

Now take your by now very hot PCB and pass it through your laminator a  
few times. How many will depend on experience.

Works for me (assuming that the iron is big enough to heat the whole  
PCB at once).

<lengthy off-topic quoted message deleted>

-- 

Cheers

Derryck

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] TONER

2008-01-15 by Stefan Trethan

I know i wrote this a couple of times already, but if you have some
electrical and mechanical skill (which you have, otherwise you
wouldn't be here in the first place) it is fairly straightforward to
modify a laser printer or copier fuser unit for this purpose.
It reduces the whole process to a rather more simple single pass of
the whole stack.

ST
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On Jan 15, 2008 11:07 AM, Derryck Croker <derryck@...> wrote:
> On 14 Jan 2008, at 18:51, peripherin wrote:
>
> > The good thing about the laminator is that it does not need any
> > modification to the rollers to take the 1.6mm board. Shame that it is
> > not able to melt the toner.
>
> Use the laminator to tack your master to the PCB, may be best to pass
> it through corner first; do it a couple of times from opposite corners.
>
> Use your iron to heat the laminate and master, resting the sandwich on
> a folded newspaper, a folded piece of kitchen paper, your sandwich,
> and another folded piece of kitchen paper. No need to move the iron,
> let it rest on top for about a minute.
>
> Now take your by now very hot PCB and pass it through your laminator a
> few times. How many will depend on experience.
>
> Works for me (assuming that the iron is big enough to heat the whole
> PCB at once).
>
> <lengthy off-topic quoted message deleted>
>
> --
>
> Cheers
>
> Derryck
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

Re: TONER

2008-01-15 by peripherin

I have ordered a selection of thermostats from Radio Spares. I did 
not know which temperature would work best with the HP toner but 
guessing points me to around 200deg C. I will modify the laminator 
when they arrive. If it does not work then no loss old laser printers 
are easy to come buy and strip apart.
Does anyone know of any good threads or sites for laser printers that 
have been modified to do this ?
Just as a note I am in no way responsible for people who decide to 
carry out this modfication. You do so at your own risk.
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan" 
<stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
>
> I know i wrote this a couple of times already, but if you have some
> electrical and mechanical skill (which you have, otherwise you
> wouldn't be here in the first place) it is fairly straightforward to
> modify a laser printer or copier fuser unit for this purpose.
> It reduces the whole process to a rather more simple single pass of
> the whole stack.
> 
> ST
> 
> On Jan 15, 2008 11:07 AM, Derryck Croker <derryck@...> wrote:
> > On 14 Jan 2008, at 18:51, peripherin wrote:
> >
> > > The good thing about the laminator is that it does not need any
> > > modification to the rollers to take the 1.6mm board. Shame that 
it is
> > > not able to melt the toner.
> >
> > Use the laminator to tack your master to the PCB, may be best to 
pass
> > it through corner first; do it a couple of times from opposite 
corners.
> >
> > Use your iron to heat the laminate and master, resting the 
sandwich on
> > a folded newspaper, a folded piece of kitchen paper, your 
sandwich,
> > and another folded piece of kitchen paper. No need to move the 
iron,
> > let it rest on top for about a minute.
> >
> > Now take your by now very hot PCB and pass it through your 
laminator a
> > few times. How many will depend on experience.
> >
> > Works for me (assuming that the iron is big enough to heat the 
whole
> > PCB at once).
> >
> > <lengthy off-topic quoted message deleted>
> >
> > --
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Derryck
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, 
and Photos:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: TONER

2008-01-15 by Stefan Trethan

It is easy to figure out, pull the fuser unit, attach some slow drive
motor of your choice, attach a thermostat, preferrably electronic not
electromechanic, and you are all set.
There is a thermistor already in place on all fuser units i have ever
seen, they have already figured out how to keep it in contact with the
rotating roller for you. In can be used as an input for a thermostat,
mine is just a plain npn transistor, a pot, a transformer and a solid
state relay i had sitting around. Might not be terribly accurate or
pretty (i hid it in a junction box) but more than enough to do what is
required.

ST
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On Jan 15, 2008 6:39 PM, peripherin <peripherin@...> wrote:
> I have ordered a selection of thermostats from Radio Spares. I did
> not know which temperature would work best with the HP toner but
> guessing points me to around 200deg C. I will modify the laminator
> when they arrive. If it does not work then no loss old laser printers
> are easy to come buy and strip apart.
> Does anyone know of any good threads or sites for laser printers that
> have been modified to do this ?
> Just as a note I am in no way responsible for people who decide to
> carry out this modfication. You do so at your own risk.

Re: TONER

2008-01-16 by peripherin

Well The good news is it works and it works really really well The 
toner is rock hard and fused to the board I have found that slowing 
the motro to helps as the board absorbs a lot of heat as it passes 
thru the laminator. I found that 220Deg C works well for the feed 
rate of my laminator. I am awaiting a roll of toner sensitive film to 
arrive as I believe this will stop any bleed thru problems I have 
been getting on the larger boards.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan" 
<stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
>
> It is easy to figure out, pull the fuser unit, attach some slow 
drive
> motor of your choice, attach a thermostat, preferrably electronic 
not
> electromechanic, and you are all set.
> There is a thermistor already in place on all fuser units i have 
ever
> seen, they have already figured out how to keep it in contact with 
the
> rotating roller for you. In can be used as an input for a 
thermostat,
> mine is just a plain npn transistor, a pot, a transformer and a 
solid
> state relay i had sitting around. Might not be terribly accurate or
> pretty (i hid it in a junction box) but more than enough to do what 
is
> required.
> 
> ST
> 
> On Jan 15, 2008 6:39 PM, peripherin <peripherin@...> wrote:
> > I have ordered a selection of thermostats from Radio Spares. I did
> > not know which temperature would work best with the HP toner but
> > guessing points me to around 200deg C. I will modify the laminator
> > when they arrive. If it does not work then no loss old laser 
printers
> > are easy to come buy and strip apart.
> > Does anyone know of any good threads or sites for laser printers 
that
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > have been modified to do this ?
> > Just as a note I am in no way responsible for people who decide to
> > carry out this modfication. You do so at your own risk.
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: TONER

2008-01-16 by Helge Kyndbo

Hi,
I would like to understand what is "toner sensitive film".
please show some light on this.
thanks Helge

2008/1/16, peripherin <peripherin@...>:
>
> Well The good news is it works and it works really really well The
> toner is rock hard and fused to the board I have found that slowing
> the motro to helps as the board absorbs a lot of heat as it passes
> thru the laminator. I found that 220Deg C works well for the feed
> rate of my laminator. I am awaiting a roll of toner sensitive film to
> arrive as I believe this will stop any bleed thru problems I have
> been getting on the larger boards.
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan"
> <stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
> >
> > It is easy to figure out, pull the fuser unit, attach some slow
> drive
> > motor of your choice, attach a thermostat, preferrably electronic
> not
> > electromechanic, and you are all set.
> > There is a thermistor already in place on all fuser units i have
> ever
> > seen, they have already figured out how to keep it in contact with
> the
> > rotating roller for you. In can be used as an input for a
> thermostat,
> > mine is just a plain npn transistor, a pot, a transformer and a
> solid
> > state relay i had sitting around. Might not be terribly accurate or
> > pretty (i hid it in a junction box) but more than enough to do what
> is
> > required.
> >
> > ST
> >
> > On Jan 15, 2008 6:39 PM, peripherin <peripherin@...> wrote:
> > > I have ordered a selection of thermostats from Radio Spares. I did
> > > not know which temperature would work best with the HP toner but
> > > guessing points me to around 200deg C. I will modify the laminator
> > > when they arrive. If it does not work then no loss old laser
> printers
> > > are easy to come buy and strip apart.
> > > Does anyone know of any good threads or sites for laser printers
> that
> > > have been modified to do this ?
> > > Just as a note I am in no way responsible for people who decide to
> > > carry out this modfication. You do so at your own risk.
> >
>
>
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and
> Photos:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: TONER

2008-01-16 by peripherin

TRF film is like the press and peel system that you can buy for 
manufacturing PCB's. Pulsar in the states sell rolls of it.
What it actually does is when iron onto toner it leaves an extra 
coating on platic behind which fuses to the toner. It should 
thierfore blocking the pinholes left in the toner. Thats if you have 
problems with pinholes. I am trying to produce very large PCB's with 
the toner transfere method theirfore no matter what paper I use I 
usally get a spot or two were the acid can get thru.
TRF just as a note is not a new invention it been around int the 
printing industry for decades to put coloured letter heads on and 
holgraphs on certicates etc.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Helge Kyndbo" <kyndbo@...> 
wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I would like to understand what is "toner sensitive film".
> please show some light on this.
> thanks Helge
> 
> 2008/1/16, peripherin <peripherin@...>:
> >
> > Well The good news is it works and it works really really well The
> > toner is rock hard and fused to the board I have found that 
slowing
> > the motro to helps as the board absorbs a lot of heat as it passes
> > thru the laminator. I found that 220Deg C works well for the feed
> > rate of my laminator. I am awaiting a roll of toner sensitive 
film to
> > arrive as I believe this will stop any bleed thru problems I have
> > been getting on the larger boards.
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan"
> > <stefan_trethan@> wrote:
> > >
> > > It is easy to figure out, pull the fuser unit, attach some slow
> > drive
> > > motor of your choice, attach a thermostat, preferrably 
electronic
> > not
> > > electromechanic, and you are all set.
> > > There is a thermistor already in place on all fuser units i have
> > ever
> > > seen, they have already figured out how to keep it in contact 
with
> > the
> > > rotating roller for you. In can be used as an input for a
> > thermostat,
> > > mine is just a plain npn transistor, a pot, a transformer and a
> > solid
> > > state relay i had sitting around. Might not be terribly 
accurate or
> > > pretty (i hid it in a junction box) but more than enough to do 
what
> > is
> > > required.
> > >
> > > ST
> > >
> > > On Jan 15, 2008 6:39 PM, peripherin <peripherin@> wrote:
> > > > I have ordered a selection of thermostats from Radio Spares. 
I did
> > > > not know which temperature would work best with the HP toner 
but
> > > > guessing points me to around 200deg C. I will modify the 
laminator
> > > > when they arrive. If it does not work then no loss old laser
> > printers
> > > > are easy to come buy and strip apart.
> > > > Does anyone know of any good threads or sites for laser 
printers
> > that
> > > > have been modified to do this ?
> > > > Just as a note I am in no way responsible for people who 
decide to
> > > > carry out this modfication. You do so at your own risk.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, 
and
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > Photos:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-16 by peripherin

Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and 
failed.
Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ? Also 
any good websites would be welcome ?

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Helge Kyndbo" <kyndbo@...> 
wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I would like to understand what is "toner sensitive film".
> please show some light on this.
> thanks Helge
> 
> 2008/1/16, peripherin <peripherin@...>:
> >
> > Well The good news is it works and it works really really well The
> > toner is rock hard and fused to the board I have found that 
slowing
> > the motro to helps as the board absorbs a lot of heat as it passes
> > thru the laminator. I found that 220Deg C works well for the feed
> > rate of my laminator. I am awaiting a roll of toner sensitive 
film to
> > arrive as I believe this will stop any bleed thru problems I have
> > been getting on the larger boards.
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan"
> > <stefan_trethan@> wrote:
> > >
> > > It is easy to figure out, pull the fuser unit, attach some slow
> > drive
> > > motor of your choice, attach a thermostat, preferrably 
electronic
> > not
> > > electromechanic, and you are all set.
> > > There is a thermistor already in place on all fuser units i have
> > ever
> > > seen, they have already figured out how to keep it in contact 
with
> > the
> > > rotating roller for you. In can be used as an input for a
> > thermostat,
> > > mine is just a plain npn transistor, a pot, a transformer and a
> > solid
> > > state relay i had sitting around. Might not be terribly 
accurate or
> > > pretty (i hid it in a junction box) but more than enough to do 
what
> > is
> > > required.
> > >
> > > ST
> > >
> > > On Jan 15, 2008 6:39 PM, peripherin <peripherin@> wrote:
> > > > I have ordered a selection of thermostats from Radio Spares. 
I did
> > > > not know which temperature would work best with the HP toner 
but
> > > > guessing points me to around 200deg C. I will modify the 
laminator
> > > > when they arrive. If it does not work then no loss old laser
> > printers
> > > > are easy to come buy and strip apart.
> > > > Does anyone know of any good threads or sites for laser 
printers
> > that
> > > > have been modified to do this ?
> > > > Just as a note I am in no way responsible for people who 
decide to
> > > > carry out this modfication. You do so at your own risk.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, 
and
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > Photos:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-16 by Leon

----- Original Message ----- 
Show quoted textHide quoted text
From: "peripherin" <peripherin@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 4:11 PM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] THRU HOLE PLATEING


> Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and
> failed.
> Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ? Also
> any good websites would be welcome ?

It's difficult! Commercial PCB manufacturers have a lot of problems getting 
it to work reliably.

Leon

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-16 by Markus Zingg

I'm right now through plating a board, and quickly took a picture for 
you. The board is now in the last step, the copper plating bath.

The station you see on the picture was built by myself. It's the second 
generation, and I intend to put a website online about several processes 
around making even multilayer boards at home with home built equipement. 
I just did not had the time yet to upload and document everything. The 
old page I once had online is gone due to me changing providers.

You basically need a laminator and laminate (since you must tent the 
through plated holes cause you have to make them bevore you etch the 
artwork). You also need a through plating station. I use one with five 
baths. It's acutally not all that complicated, and does also not have to 
be expensive, but you must be prepared for initial costs of ~$1000 if 
you have nothing. I mean you need copper anodes (coper is expensive 
these days), a relatively simple electronic cirquit, some motors, some 
heaters, a lot of plastic sheets, a big plastic box and a lot of time 
and ideas :-). I intend to sell stations once said page is up but also 
publish plans for those who want to build one on their own. The selling 
part is more thought as a help for those who don't want to spend the 
time on building one themselves or those who want to take profit from 
the experience made here.

The plating process can be done differently. I use an aproach as it's 
also used in the industry. The advanteage of this is that you get very 
consistant beautiful absolutely repeteable results. The disadvantage is 
that you have to buy the chemistry. It's however relatively easy to buy 
and if you buy it at the right place not at all that expensive.

Anyways, I use five baths. The process I use in the order applied follows:

- The first bath micro etches the FR4 material (and of course also a 
little the copper but thats a side effect). The purpose of this is to 
assure that the palladium emulsion which is applied in the fourth bath 
(see below) can stick to the FR4 makeing it conductive to the degree 
needed for the effective plating process. You have to rinse the PCB with 
water after this step.

- The second bath is a so called predip. It's a sodium cloride solution 
with aditives and the same as the third bath, but there is no palladium 
emusion in it. The purpose of this bath is to aclimate the PCB to the 
following bath and thereby avoiding contamination of the third, bath 
which is a bit critical and contains the most expensive chemistry (the 
palladium emusion). There is therfore NO rinsing after this step.

- The third bath is the one makeing the holes conductive for the 
subsequent plating process. It's the same as above, but contains the 
palladium emulsion. The emusion is somewhat expensive, but to give you 
an idea, half a litter costs ~80$, and said half litter will last you 
for the next ten years with a station of the size of the one I build, so 
costs are relative. You must rinse the PCB after this step.

- The fourth bath is hardening the palladium. This is having the effect 
that it sticks better to the FR4, but splitters of from the copper. Also 
rinse after this step.

- The fifth bath is the effective copper plating. The attached picture 
(don't know if this works with this group, if I see that the picture is 
not attached, I will upload it to the files secion and post in a second 
mail where it is) showes the board in this bath. You apply ~2.5 amps per 
square decimeter of copper material to this bath and run the PCB in 
there acording to the thikness of copper you want to end up with. After 
this the plating is done. What's left is to trughly rinse the PCB, and 
then of course continue with laminating dryfilm resist, expose and etch 
the outher layers (or only layers in case of a double sided board).

On the picture you see that you need several tanks and a mechanical 
construction to swing the PCB back and forth.


HTH

Markus
pic of throughplating station



peripherin schrieb:
>
> Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and
> failed.
> Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ? Also
> any good websites would be welcome ?
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-16 by Markus Zingg

Ok, the picture did not made it through. I created an album and uploaded 
it to the photo section, but the group moderator first must aprove the 
picture.... So you need some patience.

Markus


peripherin schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and
> failed.
> Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ? Also
> any good websites would be welcome ?
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-16 by Michel Baguet

Hi,

Can you give more infos about the 3M transparency you use ?
Have you any reference ?

Mike.

Derward <wdmyrick@...> wrote:                                Mike, I have some 3M transparency film for use with
 Laser printers and I started using this for toner transfer
 (type cg5000).  I am using a HP 2600 color laser printer
 and this does the best boards of any thing I have used.
 
 I do not use ferric chloride but  I use muratic acid and
 hydrogen peroxide.  2 parts hydrogen peroxide and
 1 part muratic acid and use at room temp.  This does 
 the best and fastest etching of any thing I have seen.
 You do not want to breathe the fumes and the fumes 
 are corrosive so don't expose any metal to the fumes.
 
 I think you will find the HP toner is the best (for PCB making)
  on the market.
 
 Derward Myrick KD5WWI
Show quoted textHide quoted text
 ----- Original Message ----- 
   From: michael tenore 
   To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
   Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 3:35 PM
   Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285
 
 Hi!
 
 I ran my Staples paper thru the printer a second time by printing just a period (.) so the fuser turns on!
 
 The The image transfered very well to the board. The white residue was only on top of the toner.But I did not etech it as that was only 
   a test run. but the traces were beautifully done..I cleaned the paper off the traces with a old tooth brush..
 
 Regards
 
 mike..
 
 ----- Original Message ----
   From: peripherin <peripherin@...>
   To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 9:23:47 PM
   Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285
 
 --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ ...> 
   wrote:
   >
   > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ > 
   > wrote:
   > >
   > > Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with 
   > varying 
   > > degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure 
   method 
   > > with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can 
   > reliabley 
   > > turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which seems 
   to 
   > be 
   > > the minimum width that most manufacturers can achieve reliably.
   > > However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to be 
   > giving 
   > > some very good results with the mispro inks. 
   > > My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not seem 
   > to 
   > > find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson R285 
   > > printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers must 
   be 
   > > far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one this 
   > > afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
   > > Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as I 
   > > understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should also be 
   > > etch resistant.
   > > I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times but I 
   > have 
   > > found it does not work to well with ground planned boards due to 
   > > toner density which after trying on several different media types 
   > and 
   > > printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive 
   > results 
   > > with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being 
   etched. 
   > I 
   > > have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try 
   useing 
   > > the best media I have found which they say will have uniform 
   toner 
   > > density so we will see how this turns out.
   > > 
   > > Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know what the 
   > > results were like and what ink you have use?
   > >
   > 
   > Update: Ok spent the afternoon really upsetting the sales person in 
   > PC world by making him demonstrate two laser printers HP1018 and 
   1022.
   > 
   > I also got a demonstration of the CD printing facility on the R285 
   > and all I can say is that it is that the way the feed mechnism 
   works 
   > is slightly different from what i expected yes the rollers are 
   > further apart but because of the issues over board size I did not 
   go 
   > any further with this mainly because if I was to use this for 
   > production boards it would use to many processes and again prove as 
   > complex to fix the ink as a normal UV method. If someone has the 
   time 
   > then it may be a great printer to modify. I have however been told 
   by 
   > our by someone I trust that photoresist can be printed from a 
   normal 
   > inkjet cartridge but because the liquid is to viscous it produces 
   to 
   > larger droplet size. Aparently thier is a company who is 
   researching 
   > into produceing a Piezoelectric print head for PCB's. 
   > 
   http://www.electron icsweekly. com/Articles/ 2005/04/14/ 34905/pcb+ maker+p
   > lans+ink-jet+ printing. htm?
   > Unfortunately I do not know what has become of this company anybody 
   > know ?
   > Getting back to the laser printers I followed this up again as 
   > talking to the salesman some of the modern lasers printers increase 
   > toner density in large areas of Mono. If you look at the resulting 
   > prints from different printers you can see more matt areas within 
   the 
   > large areas of ground plans which I have found porous when 
   etching. 
   > With the HP's this does not seem to be the case and remember I am 
   not 
   > using special paper I am talking about printing onto standard 90gsm 
   > paper.
   > Anyhow I have taken the sample prints on three types of paper home 
   to 
   > etch. I have used 90 GSM laser paper Xerox, Epson photo matt paper 
   > and staples photo basic glossy.
   > I also asked about life of the printer by useing non reccommended 
   > papers they said that it would wear the fuser and tonner drum 
   faster 
   > and possibley the rollers but considering the printers are sub £100 
   > thats not really an issue.
   > Anyhow I will comment on the results latter.
   >
   Okay have now etched the test board the results vary a little. 
   Admittedly the etchant is used and cold so probably the worst way to 
   etch. The xerox paper gave results which were acceptable with slight 
   bleed thru on tracks around 35 Microns and small pin holes on the 
   larger areas of tonner. Admittedly this would not have been a problem 
   if the acid was new and I had the heater on. The staples paper I 
   suspect has changes recently as after striping back the paper I 
   noticed it had left a nasty white residue perhapes something the 
   treat the paper evapourating while I ironed it onto the board. This 
   rendered the board un etchable as it turned it to resist all over. By 
   far the epson paper has given the better results the tracks are clean 
   all the way down to 25 Microns. The larger areas again were a bit 
   disapointing the echant had bled thru. I am sure the result could be 
   improved. I am however going to empty the etching tank and mix up a 
   new batch of ferric clorid and heat it to 50deg c on the next attempt 
   I am also going to try Epson Gloss Paper. I understand that because 
   of the coating on the photopapers the tonner takes to the paper 
   better because of the smoother surface and the coating applied to the 
   paper.
   Out of the printers the HP 1022 seems to give better results which is 
   no surprise as the DPI count is higher. 
 
 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 
 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 
 
     
                               

       
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Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-16 by Derward

Mike, this is overhead projector transparency for laser printers
so it will take the iron heat.  I iron on like any paper and let cool.
Once it is cool I peal the transparency back directly over its self.
DO NOT SOAK IN WATER.  It comes off clean this way.

I have not tried any other brand, but if it is for laser printers 
I think it would work.

The CG5000 is the number on the box.

Any other questions please ask.

Derward myrick KD5WWI




  Hi,

  Can you give more infos about the 3M transparency you use ?
  Have you any reference ?

  Mike.

  Derward <wdmyrick@...> wrote: Mike, I have some 3M transparency film for use with
  Laser printers and I started using this for toner transfer
  (type cg5000). I am using a HP 2600 color laser printer
  and this does the best boards of any thing I have used.

  I do not use ferric chloride but I use muratic acid and
  hydrogen peroxide. 2 parts hydrogen peroxide and
  1 part muratic acid and use at room temp. This does 
  the best and fastest etching of any thing I have seen.
  You do not want to breathe the fumes and the fumes 
  are corrosive so don't expose any metal to the fumes.

  I think you will find the HP toner is the best (for PCB making)
  on the market.

  Derward Myrick KD5WWI
Show quoted textHide quoted text
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: michael tenore 
  To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 3:35 PM
  Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

  Hi!

  I ran my Staples paper thru the printer a second time by printing just a period (.) so the fuser turns on!

  The The image transfered very well to the board. The white residue was only on top of the toner.But I did not etech it as that was only 
  a test run. but the traces were beautifully done..I cleaned the paper off the traces with a old tooth brush..

  Regards

  mike..

  ----- Original Message ----
  From: peripherin <peripherin@...>
  To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 9:23:47 PM
  Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

  --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ ...> 
  wrote:
  >
  > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ > 
  > wrote:
  > >
  > > Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with 
  > varying 
  > > degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure 
  method 
  > > with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can 
  > reliabley 
  > > turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which seems 
  to 
  > be 
  > > the minimum width that most manufacturers can achieve reliably.
  > > However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to be 
  > giving 
  > > some very good results with the mispro inks. 
  > > My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not seem 
  > to 
  > > find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson R285 
  > > printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers must 
  be 
  > > far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one this 
  > > afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
  > > Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as I 
  > > understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should also be 
  > > etch resistant.
  > > I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times but I 
  > have 
  > > found it does not work to well with ground planned boards due to 
  > > toner density which after trying on several different media types 
  > and 
  > > printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive 
  > results 
  > > with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being 
  etched. 
  > I 
  > > have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try 
  useing 
  > > the best media I have found which they say will have uniform 
  toner 
  > > density so we will see how this turns out.
  > > 
  > > Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know what the 
  > > results were like and what ink you have use?
  > >
  > 
  > Update: Ok spent the afternoon really upsetting the sales person in 
  > PC world by making him demonstrate two laser printers HP1018 and 
  1022.
  > 
  > I also got a demonstration of the CD printing facility on the R285 
  > and all I can say is that it is that the way the feed mechnism 
  works 
  > is slightly different from what i expected yes the rollers are 
  > further apart but because of the issues over board size I did not 
  go 
  > any further with this mainly because if I was to use this for 
  > production boards it would use to many processes and again prove as 
  > complex to fix the ink as a normal UV method. If someone has the 
  time 
  > then it may be a great printer to modify. I have however been told 
  by 
  > our by someone I trust that photoresist can be printed from a 
  normal 
  > inkjet cartridge but because the liquid is to viscous it produces 
  to 
  > larger droplet size. Aparently thier is a company who is 
  researching 
  > into produceing a Piezoelectric print head for PCB's. 
  > 
  http://www.electron icsweekly. com/Articles/ 2005/04/14/ 34905/pcb+ maker+p
  > lans+ink-jet+ printing. htm?
  > Unfortunately I do not know what has become of this company anybody 
  > know ?
  > Getting back to the laser printers I followed this up again as 
  > talking to the salesman some of the modern lasers printers increase 
  > toner density in large areas of Mono. If you look at the resulting 
  > prints from different printers you can see more matt areas within 
  the 
  > large areas of ground plans which I have found porous when 
  etching. 
  > With the HP's this does not seem to be the case and remember I am 
  not 
  > using special paper I am talking about printing onto standard 90gsm 
  > paper.
  > Anyhow I have taken the sample prints on three types of paper home 
  to 
  > etch. I have used 90 GSM laser paper Xerox, Epson photo matt paper 
  > and staples photo basic glossy.
  > I also asked about life of the printer by useing non reccommended 
  > papers they said that it would wear the fuser and tonner drum 
  faster 
  > and possibley the rollers but considering the printers are sub £100 
  > thats not really an issue.
  > Anyhow I will comment on the results latter.
  >
  Okay have now etched the test board the results vary a little. 
  Admittedly the etchant is used and cold so probably the worst way to 
  etch. The xerox paper gave results which were acceptable with slight 
  bleed thru on tracks around 35 Microns and small pin holes on the 
  larger areas of tonner. Admittedly this would not have been a problem 
  if the acid was new and I had the heater on. The staples paper I 
  suspect has changes recently as after striping back the paper I 
  noticed it had left a nasty white residue perhapes something the 
  treat the paper evapourating while I ironed it onto the board. This 
  rendered the board un etchable as it turned it to resist all over. By 
  far the epson paper has given the better results the tracks are clean 
  all the way down to 25 Microns. The larger areas again were a bit 
  disapointing the echant had bled thru. I am sure the result could be 
  improved. I am however going to empty the etching tank and mix up a 
  new batch of ferric clorid and heat it to 50deg c on the next attempt 
  I am also going to try Epson Gloss Paper. I understand that because 
  of the coating on the photopapers the tonner takes to the paper 
  better because of the smoother surface and the coating applied to the 
  paper.
  Out of the printers the HP 1022 seems to give better results which is 
  no surprise as the DPI count is higher. 

  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-16 by peripherin

Okay did some experiments with The Toner senstive foil. My general 
impression is that the toner needs to be really clean and that you 
need a lot of heat and pressure by that i means I had the laminator 
set to 250deg C. Just as a note I used a sheet of paper to protect 
the laminator rollers from getting stuck to the Foil. I have found 
that since switching to the laminator that i get far less problems 
with pinholes. perhapes it is because the laminator imparts far more 
pressure then I can with a clothes iron. I have also noticed that the 
film makes the edges of tracks rough and jagged which is not a 
particulary desirable effect. I do not surggest anybody pursues this 
as it give worse results then not haveing it.
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...> 
wrote:
>
> Ok, the picture did not made it through. I created an album and 
uploaded 
> it to the photo section, but the group moderator first must aprove 
the 
> picture.... So you need some patience.
> 
> Markus
> 
> 
> peripherin schrieb:
> >
> > Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and
> > failed.
> > Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ? 
Also
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > any good websites would be welcome ?
> >
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285

2008-01-16 by Michel Baguet

Thank you,

I already use HP inkjet photopaper which works without soaking in water, just peel it off. But for double sided PCB, it's difficult to align both sheet. And  those transparencies seems to be the solutions.

Mike.

Derward <wdmyrick@...> wrote:                               Mike, this is overhead projector transparency for laser printers
 so it will take the iron heat.  I iron on like any paper and let cool.
 Once it is cool I peal the transparency back directly over its self.
 DO NOT SOAK IN WATER.  It comes off clean this way.
 
 I have not tried any other brand, but if it is for laser printers 
 I think it would work.
 
 The CG5000 is the number on the box.
 
 Any other questions please ask.
 
 Derward myrick KD5WWI
 
 Hi,
 
 Can you give more infos about the 3M transparency you use ?
   Have you any reference ?
 
 Mike.
 
 Derward <wdmyrick@...> wrote: Mike, I have some 3M transparency film for use with
   Laser printers and I started using this for toner transfer
   (type cg5000). I am using a HP 2600 color laser printer
   and this does the best boards of any thing I have used.
 
 I do not use ferric chloride but I use muratic acid and
   hydrogen peroxide. 2 parts hydrogen peroxide and
   1 part muratic acid and use at room temp. This does 
   the best and fastest etching of any thing I have seen.
   You do not want to breathe the fumes and the fumes 
   are corrosive so don't expose any metal to the fumes.
 
 I think you will find the HP toner is the best (for PCB making)
   on the market.
 
 Derward Myrick KD5WWI
Show quoted textHide quoted text
 ----- Original Message ----- 
   From: michael tenore 
   To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
   Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 3:35 PM
   Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285
 
 Hi!
 
 I ran my Staples paper thru the printer a second time by printing just a period (.) so the fuser turns on!
 
 The The image transfered very well to the board. The white residue was only on top of the toner.But I did not etech it as that was only 
   a test run. but the traces were beautifully done..I cleaned the paper off the traces with a old tooth brush..
 
 Regards
 
 mike..
 
 ----- Original Message ----
   From: peripherin <peripherin@...>
   To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 9:23:47 PM
   Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285
 
 --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ ...> 
   wrote:
   >
   > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" <peripherin@ > 
   > wrote:
   > >
   > > Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with 
   > varying 
   > > degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure 
   method 
   > > with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can 
   > reliabley 
   > > turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which seems 
   to 
   > be 
   > > the minimum width that most manufacturers can achieve reliably.
   > > However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to be 
   > giving 
   > > some very good results with the mispro inks. 
   > > My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not seem 
   > to 
   > > find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson R285 
   > > printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers must 
   be 
   > > far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one this 
   > > afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
   > > Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as I 
   > > understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should also be 
   > > etch resistant.
   > > I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times but I 
   > have 
   > > found it does not work to well with ground planned boards due to 
   > > toner density which after trying on several different media types 
   > and 
   > > printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive 
   > results 
   > > with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being 
   etched. 
   > I 
   > > have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try 
   useing 
   > > the best media I have found which they say will have uniform 
   toner 
   > > density so we will see how this turns out.
   > > 
   > > Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know what the 
   > > results were like and what ink you have use?
   > >
   > 
   > Update: Ok spent the afternoon really upsetting the sales person in 
   > PC world by making him demonstrate two laser printers HP1018 and 
   1022.
   > 
   > I also got a demonstration of the CD printing facility on the R285 
   > and all I can say is that it is that the way the feed mechnism 
   works 
   > is slightly different from what i expected yes the rollers are 
   > further apart but because of the issues over board size I did not 
   go 
   > any further with this mainly because if I was to use this for 
   > production boards it would use to many processes and again prove as 
   > complex to fix the ink as a normal UV method. If someone has the 
   time 
   > then it may be a great printer to modify. I have however been told 
   by 
   > our by someone I trust that photoresist can be printed from a 
   normal 
   > inkjet cartridge but because the liquid is to viscous it produces 
   to 
   > larger droplet size. Aparently thier is a company who is 
   researching 
   > into produceing a Piezoelectric print head for PCB's. 
   > 
   http://www.electron icsweekly. com/Articles/ 2005/04/14/ 34905/pcb+ maker+p
   > lans+ink-jet+ printing. htm?
   > Unfortunately I do not know what has become of this company anybody 
   > know ?
   > Getting back to the laser printers I followed this up again as 
   > talking to the salesman some of the modern lasers printers increase 
   > toner density in large areas of Mono. If you look at the resulting 
   > prints from different printers you can see more matt areas within 
   the 
   > large areas of ground plans which I have found porous when 
   etching. 
   > With the HP's this does not seem to be the case and remember I am 
   not 
   > using special paper I am talking about printing onto standard 90gsm 
   > paper.
   > Anyhow I have taken the sample prints on three types of paper home 
   to 
   > etch. I have used 90 GSM laser paper Xerox, Epson photo matt paper 
   > and staples photo basic glossy.
   > I also asked about life of the printer by useing non reccommended 
   > papers they said that it would wear the fuser and tonner drum 
   faster 
   > and possibley the rollers but considering the printers are sub £100 
   > thats not really an issue.
   > Anyhow I will comment on the results latter.
   >
   Okay have now etched the test board the results vary a little. 
   Admittedly the etchant is used and cold so probably the worst way to 
   etch. The xerox paper gave results which were acceptable with slight 
   bleed thru on tracks around 35 Microns and small pin holes on the 
   larger areas of tonner. Admittedly this would not have been a problem 
   if the acid was new and I had the heater on. The staples paper I 
   suspect has changes recently as after striping back the paper I 
   noticed it had left a nasty white residue perhapes something the 
   treat the paper evapourating while I ironed it onto the board. This 
   rendered the board un etchable as it turned it to resist all over. By 
   far the epson paper has given the better results the tracks are clean 
   all the way down to 25 Microns. The larger areas again were a bit 
   disapointing the echant had bled thru. I am sure the result could be 
   improved. I am however going to empty the etching tank and mix up a 
   new batch of ferric clorid and heat it to 50deg c on the next attempt 
   I am also going to try Epson Gloss Paper. I understand that because 
   of the coating on the photopapers the tonner takes to the paper 
   better because of the smoother surface and the coating applied to the 
   paper.
   Out of the printers the HP 1022 seems to give better results which is 
   no surprise as the DPI count is higher. 
 
 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 
 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 
 ---------------------------------
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 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 
 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 
 
     
                               

       
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Re:THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by James Newton

http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcbholes.htm has a good over view of
options for holes and layers in homemade PCBs.

--
James.

Posted by: "peripherin" peripherin@...   peripherin 
Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:11 am (PST) 
Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and 
failed.
Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ? Also 
any good websites would be welcome ?

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by James Newton

Wow... 

Are you willing to tell us the exact chemicals and times for those 
baths?

How do you keep the holes from being eched off along with the 
unwanted copper on the boards? Do the holes get plugged somehow?

--
James.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...> 
wrote:
>
> I'm right now through plating a board, and quickly took a picture 
for 
> you. The board is now in the last step, the copper plating bath.
> 
> The station you see on the picture was built by myself. It's the 
second 
> generation, and I intend to put a website online about several 
processes 
> around making even multilayer boards at home with home built 
equipement. 
> I just did not had the time yet to upload and document everything. 
The 
> old page I once had online is gone due to me changing providers.
> 
> You basically need a laminator and laminate (since you must tent 
the 
> through plated holes cause you have to make them bevore you etch 
the 
> artwork). You also need a through plating station. I use one with 
five 
> baths. It's acutally not all that complicated, and does also not 
have to 
> be expensive, but you must be prepared for initial costs of ~$1000 
if 
> you have nothing. I mean you need copper anodes (coper is expensive 
> these days), a relatively simple electronic cirquit, some motors, 
some 
> heaters, a lot of plastic sheets, a big plastic box and a lot of 
time 
> and ideas :-). I intend to sell stations once said page is up but 
also 
> publish plans for those who want to build one on their own. The 
selling 
> part is more thought as a help for those who don't want to spend 
the 
> time on building one themselves or those who want to take profit 
from 
> the experience made here.
> 
> The plating process can be done differently. I use an aproach as 
it's 
> also used in the industry. The advanteage of this is that you get 
very 
> consistant beautiful absolutely repeteable results. The 
disadvantage is 
> that you have to buy the chemistry. It's however relatively easy to 
buy 
> and if you buy it at the right place not at all that expensive.
> 
> Anyways, I use five baths. The process I use in the order applied 
follows:
> 
> - The first bath micro etches the FR4 material (and of course also 
a 
> little the copper but thats a side effect). The purpose of this is 
to 
> assure that the palladium emulsion which is applied in the fourth 
bath 
> (see below) can stick to the FR4 makeing it conductive to the 
degree 
> needed for the effective plating process. You have to rinse the PCB 
with 
> water after this step.
> 
> - The second bath is a so called predip. It's a sodium cloride 
solution 
> with aditives and the same as the third bath, but there is no 
palladium 
> emusion in it. The purpose of this bath is to aclimate the PCB to 
the 
> following bath and thereby avoiding contamination of the third, 
bath 
> which is a bit critical and contains the most expensive chemistry 
(the 
> palladium emusion). There is therfore NO rinsing after this step.
> 
> - The third bath is the one makeing the holes conductive for the 
> subsequent plating process. It's the same as above, but contains 
the 
> palladium emulsion. The emusion is somewhat expensive, but to give 
you 
> an idea, half a litter costs ~80$, and said half litter will last 
you 
> for the next ten years with a station of the size of the one I 
build, so 
> costs are relative. You must rinse the PCB after this step.
> 
> - The fourth bath is hardening the palladium. This is having the 
effect 
> that it sticks better to the FR4, but splitters of from the copper. 
Also 
> rinse after this step.
> 
> - The fifth bath is the effective copper plating. The attached 
picture 
> (don't know if this works with this group, if I see that the 
picture is 
> not attached, I will upload it to the files secion and post in a 
second 
> mail where it is) showes the board in this bath. You apply ~2.5 
amps per 
> square decimeter of copper material to this bath and run the PCB in 
> there acording to the thikness of copper you want to end up with. 
After 
> this the plating is done. What's left is to trughly rinse the PCB, 
and 
> then of course continue with laminating dryfilm resist, expose and 
etch 
> the outher layers (or only layers in case of a double sided board).
> 
> On the picture you see that you need several tanks and a mechanical 
> construction to swing the PCB back and forth.
> 
> 
> HTH
> 
> Markus
> pic of throughplating station
> 
> 
> 
> peripherin schrieb:
> >
> > Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and
> > failed.
> > Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ? 
Also
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > any good websites would be welcome ?
> >
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by peripherin

I am sure thier are a lot of people who would be very interested in 
exactly how you are getting success with this process.Please tell the 
group when the web site will be up and running?
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...> 
wrote:
>
> Ok, the picture did not made it through. I created an album and 
uploaded 
> it to the photo section, but the group moderator first must aprove 
the 
> picture.... So you need some patience.
> 
> Markus
> 
> 
> peripherin schrieb:
> >
> > Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and
> > failed.
> > Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ? 
Also
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > any good websites would be welcome ?
> >
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re:THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by Myc Holmes

Interesting, wen Iopen the massmind website, i get a "phishing" alert from
Micorsoft Onecare.

Myc

On Jan 17, 2008 2:16 PM, James Newton <jamesmichaelnewton@...> wrote:

>   http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcbholes.htm has a good over view of
> options for holes and layers in homemade PCBs.
>
> --
> James.
>
> Posted by: "peripherin" peripherin@... <peripherin%40hotmail.com>peripherin
> Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:11 am (PST)
> Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and
> failed.
> Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ? Also
> any good websites would be welcome ?
>
> 
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re:THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by DJ Delorie

"James Newton" <jamesmichaelnewton@...> writes:
> http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcbholes.htm has a good over
> view of options for holes and layers in homemade PCBs.

What I've been doing lately is thusly:

Strip a couple inches of wire wrap wire.  It's 13 mil, fits into a
13.5 mil hole.

Put something under the PCB to hold it slightly off the working
surface.  I use solder, as it's 20 mil diam, so my board is 20 mil off
my table.  My boards tend to have enough bigger holes to run the bits
of solder through to hold them in place, or just wrap it around the
whole board.

For each via:  Drop the wire through the hole, solder the top, cut.

When you flip the board over, you see that each wire extends 20 mil
past the pcb.  Fold them flat if you want, or just solder them as-is.

It's not through-plating, but it is quick, easy, and reliable.

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by Markus Zingg

James,

I only have an incomplete know how of what's inside the baths cause I 
bought the chemistry, but for those willing to also buy such chemistry, 
this is a reliable, easy and quick way to homebrew thru hole plating. 
The chemistry suppliers obviousely look at the exact formulas of their 
baths as a trade secret and won't tell you the exact content. Apart from 
those who want to mix their own chemistry me thinks that buying it is 
definately a simple, feasable way. Remember that the chemistry 
maufactures have spent years of reserch and developement on this. Adam, 
also a member of this group showed in the past that you can suceed with 
your own chemistry, but I doubth you get the same quality and 
consistence as you do with the comercial products, and in order to do 
this you would need a deep understanding of chemistry to an extent that 
is definately beond me.

I meanwhile changed from buying the chemistry from small suppliers of it 
to simply being in touch with a boardhouse which is kind enough to sell 
me the rediculousely small amount of it that I need. I must say though 
that I meanwhile have enough of it here so as it will last for the next 
10 years or so. You will be surprized how many of the board houses are 
acutally willing to help you out if you ask politely and make it obvious 
to them that you are far away from being a competition. Most board 
houses are not really well suited to produce one offs or prototypes, and 
it should be easy to make them belive that you are after one offs and 
prototypes only. As such you are no competition and also no customer - 
unless you are sucessfull and then you need a series production which 
the board house then would have good chances of doing for you. At least 
that was the line of argumentation I used. Might be that you are not 
sucessfull at the first attempt, but if your are presistent and ask 
around, I'm 100% sure you would suceed. Anyways, the chemistry is also 
available on the market. There are usually specialized firms who supply 
it. At least a board house is willing to tell you the names of their 
suppliers and you then could knock on their door. For those who live in 
the EU and don't want to ask a board house, Bungard Elektronik is 
selling a chemistry at reasonable prices and in quantities small enough.

I figure some members of this group which regularly do PCBs definately 
fall into the cathegory of potential candidates of this aproach or else 
they would not make their own boards in the first place.

The running times are no secret. The first bath is 7 minutes, second one 
minute, third 7 minutes, fourth is 4 minutes, the plating bath starts at 
20 miuntes up to the thickness you want. I usually run it ~30 minutes. 
It also depends a little on the current. My bath allows me to run it at 
~2.5amps per square decimeter. Between bath 1 and 2, and bath 3 and 4 
and 4 and 5 you must rinse the board with running water for ~1minute. If 
you do the math, this means that a board is tru plated in less than one 
hour!

Regarding "keep the holes from being eched off ". That's the point why 
you have to use dryfilm resist. The resist "tents" the holes (this is 
called tenting) and therby protects them from being etched away. That 
works very reliably. You just must take care to adjust the artwork 
precisely with the previousely plated holes. Once you get the hang of 
working with dryfilm resist you realize how flexible this method is and 
you hardly will return to anything else. I meanwhile sometimes even 
strip old base material that is coated with a photosensitive laquer and 
laminate it therafter just because of the advantages of this method. One 
advantage is i.e. that you can always start over if after exposing and 
developping you discover that something is not shart enough etc. by just 
stripping the resist away and relaminate the board.

Markus

James Newton schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Wow...
>
> Are you willing to tell us the exact chemicals and times for those
> baths?
>
> How do you keep the holes from being eched off along with the
> unwanted copper on the boards? Do the holes get plugged somehow?
>
> --
> James.
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > I'm right now through plating a board, and quickly took a picture
> for
> > you. The board is now in the last step, the copper plating bath.
> >
> > The station you see on the picture was built by myself. It's the
> second
> > generation, and I intend to put a website online about several
> processes
> > around making even multilayer boards at home with home built
> equipement.
> > I just did not had the time yet to upload and document everything.
> The
> > old page I once had online is gone due to me changing providers.
> >
> > You basically need a laminator and laminate (since you must tent
> the
> > through plated holes cause you have to make them bevore you etch
> the
> > artwork). You also need a through plating station. I use one with
> five
> > baths. It's acutally not all that complicated, and does also not
> have to
> > be expensive, but you must be prepared for initial costs of ~$1000
> if
> > you have nothing. I mean you need copper anodes (coper is expensive
> > these days), a relatively simple electronic cirquit, some motors,
> some
> > heaters, a lot of plastic sheets, a big plastic box and a lot of
> time
> > and ideas :-). I intend to sell stations once said page is up but
> also
> > publish plans for those who want to build one on their own. The
> selling
> > part is more thought as a help for those who don't want to spend
> the
> > time on building one themselves or those who want to take profit
> from
> > the experience made here.
> >
> > The plating process can be done differently. I use an aproach as
> it's
> > also used in the industry. The advanteage of this is that you get
> very
> > consistant beautiful absolutely repeteable results. The
> disadvantage is
> > that you have to buy the chemistry. It's however relatively easy to
> buy
> > and if you buy it at the right place not at all that expensive.
> >
> > Anyways, I use five baths. The process I use in the order applied
> follows:
> >
> > - The first bath micro etches the FR4 material (and of course also
> a
> > little the copper but thats a side effect). The purpose of this is
> to
> > assure that the palladium emulsion which is applied in the fourth
> bath
> > (see below) can stick to the FR4 makeing it conductive to the
> degree
> > needed for the effective plating process. You have to rinse the PCB
> with
> > water after this step.
> >
> > - The second bath is a so called predip. It's a sodium cloride
> solution
> > with aditives and the same as the third bath, but there is no
> palladium
> > emusion in it. The purpose of this bath is to aclimate the PCB to
> the
> > following bath and thereby avoiding contamination of the third,
> bath
> > which is a bit critical and contains the most expensive chemistry
> (the
> > palladium emusion). There is therfore NO rinsing after this step.
> >
> > - The third bath is the one makeing the holes conductive for the
> > subsequent plating process. It's the same as above, but contains
> the
> > palladium emulsion. The emusion is somewhat expensive, but to give
> you
> > an idea, half a litter costs ~80$, and said half litter will last
> you
> > for the next ten years with a station of the size of the one I
> build, so
> > costs are relative. You must rinse the PCB after this step.
> >
> > - The fourth bath is hardening the palladium. This is having the
> effect
> > that it sticks better to the FR4, but splitters of from the copper.
> Also
> > rinse after this step.
> >
> > - The fifth bath is the effective copper plating. The attached
> picture
> > (don't know if this works with this group, if I see that the
> picture is
> > not attached, I will upload it to the files secion and post in a
> second
> > mail where it is) showes the board in this bath. You apply ~2.5
> amps per
> > square decimeter of copper material to this bath and run the PCB in
> > there acording to the thikness of copper you want to end up with.
> After
> > this the plating is done. What's left is to trughly rinse the PCB,
> and
> > then of course continue with laminating dryfilm resist, expose and
> etch
> > the outher layers (or only layers in case of a double sided board).
> >
> > On the picture you see that you need several tanks and a mechanical
> > construction to swing the PCB back and forth.
> >
> >
> > HTH
> >
> > Markus
> > pic of throughplating station
> >
> >
> >
> > peripherin schrieb:
> > >
> > > Now I am going to ask a question that I have tryed at before and
> > > failed.
> > > Does anybody know how to thru hole plate useing home equipment ?
> Also
> > > any good websites would be welcome ?
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by Markus Zingg

Rest asured that I will post the link here once it's ready. I just saw 
that the pic I uploaded yesterday meanwhile was checked by the group 
administrator and thus can be viewed. It's here

http://tech.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs/photos/browse/26bb

Markus

peripherin schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> I am sure thier are a lot of people who would be very interested in
> exactly how you are getting success with this process.Please tell the
> group when the web site will be up and running?
>

Re:THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by javaguy11111

That is the method I have used. I put a few layers of scotch tape on
the corners to develop the gap. Works quite nicely when I have a via
that has to go under a chip package. 


--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, DJ Delorie <dj@...> wrote:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> 
> "James Newton" <jamesmichaelnewton@...> writes:
> > http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcbholes.htm has a good over
> > view of options for holes and layers in homemade PCBs.
> 
> What I've been doing lately is thusly:
> 
> Strip a couple inches of wire wrap wire.  It's 13 mil, fits into a
> 13.5 mil hole.
> 
> Put something under the PCB to hold it slightly off the working
> surface.  I use solder, as it's 20 mil diam, so my board is 20 mil off
> my table.  My boards tend to have enough bigger holes to run the bits
> of solder through to hold them in place, or just wrap it around the
> whole board.
> 
> For each via:  Drop the wire through the hole, solder the top, cut.
> 
> When you flip the board over, you see that each wire extends 20 mil
> past the pcb.  Fold them flat if you want, or just solder them as-is.
> 
> It's not through-plating, but it is quick, easy, and reliable.
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re:THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by Stefan Trethan

So why not simply disable it?
It's not like anyone with more intelligence than a carp will fall
victim to phishing.

ST
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On Jan 17, 2008 9:00 PM, Myc Holmes <mycroft2152y@...> wrote:
> Interesting, wen Iopen the massmind website, i get a "phishing" alert from
> Micorsoft Onecare.
>
> Myc
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re:THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-17 by Mark Brueggemann

--- DJ Delorie <dj@...> wrote:

> For each via:  Drop the wire through the hole, solder the top, cut.
... 
> It's not through-plating, but it is quick, easy, and reliable.

I've been doing it this way for years, and have made evaluation
boards for ~1GHz components and microstrips that work fine.



Mark K5LXP
Albuquerque, NM

Laser Toner Trials And Next Project

2008-01-18 by peripherin

I have started using sainburys Photo paper gloss which is £2.99 for a 
pack of 25 sheets with a HP1022 printer I have found I get flawless 
double sided ground planned boards with some 10Mil tracks. The boards 
are 8"x5" and are very dense. I say flawless I have done 3 so far and 
I can only find one flaw which was due to a small spec of dust 
getting under the paper durring lamination. As a note I use A PC line 
laminator with modifcation to the thermostate I run it thru once 
without the paper to preheat it then apply the paper to a side run it 
thru again. then apply the paper to the remaining side. Soak in hot 
water for 10 minutes rub the paper of using a toothbrush. The ferric 
clorid heated to 50DegC Useing 1oz copper it usally takes about 
3mins  to etch. I use heated spray etching the etchant is sprayed on 
in a mist. I a perspex box at 30PSI. I am thinking about modifying 
the etching camber so that it also washes the board / boards as 
ferric clorid is horrible stuff when I get round to this I put some 
info up on how i made the chamber.
Just as a note my orignal intention was to prove you could get 
commercial results with this home methods that are quicker then the 
trditional UV method and cheaper. My verdict is yes once setup its 
deffiantly faster and cheaper. If you can find an old laminator and 
HP laser printer then your nearly thier my main problem was finding a 
good paper to use in the UK. 
Also the reason the gloss paper works so well is the resin coating 
that seals the pourousity in the toner.
My next project is going to be an old Epson printer I have and 
converting it to print using Solder resist and paint for masks etc. I 
will leave thru hole plateing for now as I have no current 
requirement that justifyies the costs of setting it up. 
Also has anyone done any soldering of SMT useing a more automated 
process then a soldering Iron ??
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Michel Baguet <bagmik@...> 
wrote:
>
> Thank you,
> 
> I already use HP inkjet photopaper which works without soaking in 
water, just peel it off. But for double sided PCB, it's difficult to 
align both sheet. And  those transparencies seems to be the solutions.
> 
> Mike.
> 
> Derward <wdmyrick@...> wrote:                               Mike, 
this is overhead projector transparency for laser printers
>  so it will take the iron heat.  I iron on like any paper and let 
cool.
>  Once it is cool I peal the transparency back directly over its 
self.
>  DO NOT SOAK IN WATER.  It comes off clean this way.
>  
>  I have not tried any other brand, but if it is for laser printers 
>  I think it would work.
>  
>  The CG5000 is the number on the box.
>  
>  Any other questions please ask.
>  
>  Derward myrick KD5WWI
>  
>  Hi,
>  
>  Can you give more infos about the 3M transparency you use ?
>    Have you any reference ?
>  
>  Mike.
>  
>  Derward <wdmyrick@...> wrote: Mike, I have some 3M transparency 
film for use with
>    Laser printers and I started using this for toner transfer
>    (type cg5000). I am using a HP 2600 color laser printer
>    and this does the best boards of any thing I have used.
>  
>  I do not use ferric chloride but I use muratic acid and
>    hydrogen peroxide. 2 parts hydrogen peroxide and
>    1 part muratic acid and use at room temp. This does 
>    the best and fastest etching of any thing I have seen.
>    You do not want to breathe the fumes and the fumes 
>    are corrosive so don't expose any metal to the fumes.
>  
>  I think you will find the HP toner is the best (for PCB making)
>    on the market.
>  
>  Derward Myrick KD5WWI
>  
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>    From: michael tenore 
>    To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
>    Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 3:35 PM
>    Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285
>  
>  Hi!
>  
>  I ran my Staples paper thru the printer a second time by printing 
just a period (.) so the fuser turns on!
>  
>  The The image transfered very well to the board. The white residue 
was only on top of the toner.But I did not etech it as that was only 
>    a test run. but the traces were beautifully done..I cleaned the 
paper off the traces with a old tooth brush..
>  
>  Regards
>  
>  mike..
>  
>  ----- Original Message ----
>    From: peripherin <peripherin@...>
>    To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
>    Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 9:23:47 PM
>    Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Epson R285
>  
>  --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" 
<peripherin@ ...> 
>    wrote:
>    >
>    > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@ yahoogroups. com, "peripherin" 
<peripherin@ > 
>    > wrote:
>    > >
>    > > Over the last 10 years I have been producing home PCB's with 
>    > varying 
>    > > degrees of complexity useing the traditional photo exposure 
>    method 
>    > > with my local print shop providing 2400dpi negatives. I can 
>    > reliabley 
>    > > turn out boards with 35 micron tracks in 1oz copper which 
seems 
>    to 
>    > be 
>    > > the minimum width that most manufacturers can achieve 
reliably.
>    > > However I have noticed that Direct resist printing seems to 
be 
>    > giving 
>    > > some very good results with the mispro inks. 
>    > > My question is what inks are availble in the UK as I can not 
seem 
>    > to 
>    > > find MISpro over here? Also has anybody looked at the Epson 
R285 
>    > > printer as it prints CD's DVD which means the feed rollers 
must 
>    be 
>    > > far enough apart to accept PCB's. I am going to look at one 
this 
>    > > afternoon so will post a comment if it is suitable. 
>    > > Going back to the inks has anyone tryed the Acrylic inks as 
I 
>    > > understand they can be made inkjet compatible? and should 
also be 
>    > > etch resistant.
>    > > I have tryed the laser toner tranfer method several times 
but I 
>    > have 
>    > > found it does not work to well with ground planned boards 
due to 
>    > > toner density which after trying on several different media 
types 
>    > and 
>    > > printers I can not improve. It however gives some impressive 
>    > results 
>    > > with tracks down to 17 microns reliabley and cleanly being 
>    etched. 
>    > I 
>    > > have ordered a negative from my local print shop just to try 
>    useing 
>    > > the best media I have found which they say will have uniform 
>    toner 
>    > > density so we will see how this turns out.
>    > > 
>    > > Anyhow if anybody has tryed an Epson R285 I like to know 
what the 
>    > > results were like and what ink you have use?
>    > >
>    > 
>    > Update: Ok spent the afternoon really upsetting the sales 
person in 
>    > PC world by making him demonstrate two laser printers HP1018 
and 
>    1022.
>    > 
>    > I also got a demonstration of the CD printing facility on the 
R285 
>    > and all I can say is that it is that the way the feed mechnism 
>    works 
>    > is slightly different from what i expected yes the rollers are 
>    > further apart but because of the issues over board size I did 
not 
>    go 
>    > any further with this mainly because if I was to use this for 
>    > production boards it would use to many processes and again 
prove as 
>    > complex to fix the ink as a normal UV method. If someone has 
the 
>    time 
>    > then it may be a great printer to modify. I have however been 
told 
>    by 
>    > our by someone I trust that photoresist can be printed from a 
>    normal 
>    > inkjet cartridge but because the liquid is to viscous it 
produces 
>    to 
>    > larger droplet size. Aparently thier is a company who is 
>    researching 
>    > into produceing a Piezoelectric print head for PCB's. 
>    > 
>    http://www.electron icsweekly. com/Articles/ 2005/04/14/ 
34905/pcb+ maker+p
>    > lans+ink-jet+ printing. htm?
>    > Unfortunately I do not know what has become of this company 
anybody 
>    > know ?
>    > Getting back to the laser printers I followed this up again as 
>    > talking to the salesman some of the modern lasers printers 
increase 
>    > toner density in large areas of Mono. If you look at the 
resulting 
>    > prints from different printers you can see more matt areas 
within 
>    the 
>    > large areas of ground plans which I have found porous when 
>    etching. 
>    > With the HP's this does not seem to be the case and remember I 
am 
>    not 
>    > using special paper I am talking about printing onto standard 
90gsm 
>    > paper.
>    > Anyhow I have taken the sample prints on three types of paper 
home 
>    to 
>    > etch. I have used 90 GSM laser paper Xerox, Epson photo matt 
paper 
>    > and staples photo basic glossy.
>    > I also asked about life of the printer by useing non 
reccommended 
>    > papers they said that it would wear the fuser and tonner drum 
>    faster 
>    > and possibley the rollers but considering the printers are sub 
£100 
>    > thats not really an issue.
>    > Anyhow I will comment on the results latter.
>    >
>    Okay have now etched the test board the results vary a little. 
>    Admittedly the etchant is used and cold so probably the worst 
way to 
>    etch. The xerox paper gave results which were acceptable with 
slight 
>    bleed thru on tracks around 35 Microns and small pin holes on 
the 
>    larger areas of tonner. Admittedly this would not have been a 
problem 
>    if the acid was new and I had the heater on. The staples paper I 
>    suspect has changes recently as after striping back the paper I 
>    noticed it had left a nasty white residue perhapes something the 
>    treat the paper evapourating while I ironed it onto the board. 
This 
>    rendered the board un etchable as it turned it to resist all 
over. By 
>    far the epson paper has given the better results the tracks are 
clean 
>    all the way down to 25 Microns. The larger areas again were a 
bit 
>    disapointing the echant had bled thru. I am sure the result 
could be 
>    improved. I am however going to empty the etching tank and mix 
up a 
>    new batch of ferric clorid and heat it to 50deg c on the next 
attempt 
>    I am also going to try Epson Gloss Paper. I understand that 
because 
>    of the coating on the photopapers the tonner takes to the paper 
>    better because of the smoother surface and the coating applied 
to the 
>    paper.
>    Out of the printers the HP 1022 seems to give better results 
which is 
>    no surprise as the DPI count is higher. 
>  
>  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>  
>  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>  
>  ---------------------------------
>    Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.
>  
>  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>  
>  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>  
>  
>      
>                                
> 
>        
> ---------------------------------
> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  
Try it now.
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Re: Massmind is not phishing! was:THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-18 by James Newton

I may have found the cause of that... It was nothing malicious, I 
assure you: Just an attempt to find out how long it was taking users 
to download images on a given web page. There is a script that 
calcuates the kbps at which the images are loaded, and I was saving 
the value to a form element so that if people posted a comment, I 
also got a message showing how long thier browser actually took to 
render the page. Apparently M$ taking a dim view of ANY script which 
puts ANY data in a form field that might then be submitted back to 
the site. I've removed that form element.

Sorry for the hijack on this thread... I've changed the subject a bit 
to help differintiate the post.

Could you please hit that page again and tell me if you get a warning 
this time?

http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcbholes.htm

It really is a good site and I'm proud of it. There is a lot of very 
usefull data and it doesn't deserve to get a bad reputation.

--
James.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Myc Holmes" <mycroft2152y@...> 
wrote:
>
> Interesting, wen Iopen the massmind website, i get a "phishing" 
alert from
> Micorsoft Onecare.
> 
> Myc
> 
> On Jan 17, 2008 2:16 PM, James Newton <jamesmichaelnewton@...> 
wrote:
> 
> >   http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcbholes.htm has a good 
over view of
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > options for holes and layers in homemade PCBs.
> >
> > --
> > James.
> >

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-18 by James Newton

First, thanks so much for sharing this information. I've taken the 
liberty of quoting you on my web site and when you have a web page, I 
will be very happy to link to it... Or even help you set it up.

Now: This is probably a really stupid question, but when you 
say "dryfilm resist" what exactly do you mean?

--
James.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...> 
wrote:
>
> James,
> 
> Regarding "keep the holes from being eched off ". That's the point 
why 
> you have to use dryfilm resist. The resist "tents" the holes (this 
is 
> called tenting) and therby protects them from being etched away. 
That 
> works very reliably. You just must take care to adjust the artwork 
> precisely with the previousely plated holes. Once you get the hang 
of 
> working with dryfilm resist you realize how flexible this method is 
and 
> you hardly will return to anything else. I meanwhile sometimes even 
> strip old base material that is coated with a photosensitive laquer 
and 
> laminate it therafter just because of the advantages of this 
method. One 
> advantage is i.e. that you can always start over if after exposing 
and 
> developping you discover that something is not shart enough etc. by 
just 
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> stripping the resist away and relaminate the board.
> 
> Markus

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-18 by Markus Zingg

James

Dryfilm foto sensitive resist is a kind of a foil, well, it's a 
chemical, foto sensitive layer that is put on a plastic film, and that 
layer then also is having a plastic film on top of it. So, it's a 
sandwich kind of foil with the foto sensitive layer in the middle.

The process to use it is as follows:

- You remove the lower protective plastic film, then laminate this onto 
a copper cladded piece of PCB. You can do so with a standard office 
laminator (there are some constrains here, see my other posts from 
yesterday).

- The resulting PCB is then photo sensitve, quite the same like coated 
PCB material, that said you can expose it. However, exposure time is a 
lot shorter. Usually the process is three to ten times times faster 
depending on the exposer method used.

- You then remove the other protective foil and put it into a developper 
bath. That bath is however not natrium hydroxid (not sure if that's the 
propper term in english), but what I think is called caustic soda 
(sodium carbonate solution).

- You then can etch the result. If you have a tru plated board, you just 
make the film so as the holes remain covered. Note that usually the 
dryfilm fotosensitive resist is a negative. That said, exposed areas 
will protect the underlaying copper from being etched away, where as the 
unexposed areas are taken away by the developper and alas the copper 
there will be etched away
.
- After the etching you stripp of the remaining resist in a natrium 
hydroxid bath (the same you otherwise use with standard coated boards 
for developping). That's the same step as with a regular board where you 
may would use aceton or something like this to remove the remaining 
parts of the protective laquer.

There are some advantages over standard coated sensitive boards. In 
particulare those advantages are:

- If you see after either exposing or developping that the result is not 
satisfactory, you simply strip the resist off (see above) and start all 
over where as with standard coated material you would have to dump the 
whole board
- You can tent the holes. That's of course important only if the holes 
are tru plated.
- You can easily "abuse" the resist for all kind of other photo 
sensitive work like etching other metal foils etc.
- You can use much cheaper base material, and you can also use non 
standard thinkesses which is important if you intend to produce a 
multilayer board.

HTH

Markus

James Newton schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> First, thanks so much for sharing this information. I've taken the
> liberty of quoting you on my web site and when you have a web page, I
> will be very happy to link to it... Or even help you set it up.
>
> Now: This is probably a really stupid question, but when you
> say "dryfilm resist" what exactly do you mean?
>
> --
> James.
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > James,
> >
> > Regarding "keep the holes from being eched off ". That's the point
> why
> > you have to use dryfilm resist. The resist "tents" the holes (this
> is
> > called tenting) and therby protects them from being etched away.
> That
> > works very reliably. You just must take care to adjust the artwork
> > precisely with the previousely plated holes. Once you get the hang
> of
> > working with dryfilm resist you realize how flexible this method is
> and
> > you hardly will return to anything else. I meanwhile sometimes even
> > strip old base material that is coated with a photosensitive laquer
> and
> > laminate it therafter just because of the advantages of this
> method. One
> > advantage is i.e. that you can always start over if after exposing
> and
> > developping you discover that something is not shart enough etc. by
> just
> > stripping the resist away and relaminate the board.
> >
> > Markus
>
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-19 by Adam Seychell

James Newton wrote:
> 
> 
> Now: This is probably a really stupid question, but when you
> say "dryfilm resist" what exactly do you mean?
> 
http://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/akemd/dfr/en/SUNFORT_DFR.htm

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-19 by Leon

----- Original Message ----- 
Show quoted textHide quoted text
From: "Markus Zingg" <homebrew-pcb@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 9:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING


> - You then remove the other protective foil and put it into a developper 
> bath. That bath is however not natrium hydroxid (not sure if that's the 
> propper term in english), but what I think is called caustic soda 
> (sodium carbonate solution).

Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is caustic soda. Sodium carbonate is washing soda.

Leon
--
Leon Heller
Amateur radio call-sign G1HSM
Yaesu FT-817ND and FT-857D transceivers
Suzuki SV1000S motorcycle
leon355@...
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-19 by Markus Zingg

Hi Leon

Thanks for clarifying this. It's a difficult thing for me to translate 
those chemical terms propperly.

Thanks again

Markus

Leon schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Markus Zingg" <homebrew-pcb@... 
> <mailto:homebrew-pcb%40shdesign.info>>
> To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>>
> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 9:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING
>
> > - You then remove the other protective foil and put it into a 
> developper
> > bath. That bath is however not natrium hydroxid (not sure if that's the
> > propper term in english), but what I think is called caustic soda
> > (sodium carbonate solution).
>
> Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is caustic soda. Sodium carbonate is washing soda.
>
> Leon
> --
> Leon Heller
> Amateur radio call-sign G1HSM
> Yaesu FT-817ND and FT-857D transceivers
> Suzuki SV1000S motorcycle
> leon355@... <mailto:leon355%40btinternet.com>
> http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller 
> <http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller>
>
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-28 by suskeb

Hi Markus,

Can you please tell me what is tanks capacity of your plating system 
baths?

Second question is how much did you pay for chemicals to fill system 
for the first time, and how long can you use it chemicals without 
additional cost, or what is lifetime of that chemicals?
I ask "Bungard" and they give me export prices. All it seems to me 
wery expensive.
Chemicals starter kit for "COMPACTA 30 ABC" cost 670 euros.
Only 500lm of activator cost 200 euros (it is most expesive chemical).
One set of anodes depend of size 150x200mm(200x300mm) cost 110(180) 
euros.
Andodes bag cost 23(25) euros/pcs.
It seems to me that chemicals are more expensive part of whole 
plating system.
You did say whole system cost is ~1000$. 
I think you did'nt include price of chemicals in that amount, or 
maybe I'm in wrong.:-)

Can you please give as more pictures and/or details of plating system 
you made.

Soryy to all for my BAD English.

Best regars,

Suske

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-28 by Markus Zingg

Hi Suske

No worries about your english :-) I'm not sure if mine is so much better.

To answer your questions.

The small tanks hold 2.2 liters. The amount of fluid you need per tank 
also depends on wether there is a heater in this bath or not. The bigger 
tank (the one which must be big enough for the anodes) is double that 
size (alas, twice as wide).

The activator is in fact the most expensive part, thats why I strongly 
suggest to try to get it from a local board house. That way I was able 
to get 500ml for just about 60\ufffd. If you can get the chemistry form a 
local source, it's likely to be much less expensive. With Bungard, the 
point is that the remaining chemistry is so much (i.e.25liters of 
predip) that it will last you for 10 years. Btw, the same holds probably 
true for the 500ml activator (which is the palladium emulsion). If you 
find a local contact, be sure to understand their process first, and 
adapt your plan (number of tanks etc.) to this method if it differs in 
the number of tanks needed.

You do not need anodes that big. The one in my current system are 
100x80x8 mm and as such are cheaper, and they work great. You are right 
though that copper these days is fairly expensive but anodes of that 
size seem afordable to me. You can also easily get away without anode 
bags. You have two options here:

a) I empty my station if not in use anyways. During this process I 
simply filter the electrolytic bath every now and then (probably every 2 
months).
b) You can make them on your own. All you need is some textile material 
that can withstand the bath. I use aproach a) for the sake of simplicity 
even though I have the original anode bags here from my first setup.

Your chemistry will last very long if you treat it good. If you treat it 
bad, it will only last for a short time. That said, and as above 
mentioned, I always empty my station if I don't use it for more than say 
8 hours. I firmly close the containers, and store them on a dark, dry 
and somewhat cool place. I also take GREAT care not to contaminate the 
baths among eachother by strictly following the procedures, and using 
different containers, pumps etc. for each and every bath all times. If 
you follow these actually simple and IMHO obvious rules, you will have 
your chemistry last very very long (i.e. 3 - 4 - 5 years should be no 
problem). You have to replish depending on the amount of tru plating 
operations, vapourisation etc. You soon will have some experience to see 
where you can replish with demineralized water cause this is the only 
thing that vaporizes in a given bath and where you have to use chemistry 
that you got in your initial delivery. Again, with the 500ml activator 
and the starter kit I bet you are done for the next 10 years unless you 
are not carefull with it.

I don't have more pics at the moment. As mentioned previousely, I will 
setup a website with all the information I figure is intersting for 
others, including information on how to build the equipement (not only 
the tru plating station) and step by step instructions on how to create 
professionally looking multi layer boards etc. Not to be misunderstood, 
the website will be available for everyone intersted. In other words, 
I'm just limitted on time and I want to do it in a structured way. I 
otherwise end up maling/posting the same information 1000 times. I MAY 
(haven't made up my mind yet) even offer kits or even built equipement 
for those who don't want to spend the time on doing it themselves, or 
don't have the equipement to do so but again, theres no final decission 
on this part yet.

As for the cost, it depends of course a great deal how you calculate 
this. If you make your own tanks, it depends on how good you are with 
work like this. It very well might be that you waste money with even a 
significant amout of material up until you have that process under 
controll. Makeing SAVE tanks which DO NOT LEAK is NOT so easy. If you 
want to be on the save side you have to weld them and this also 
requieres the right tools and ability to use them. The cost also depend 
on the kind of material you use, where you get it and of couse wether 
you want to calculate the time you spend on this or not. etc. etc. From 
a strict material point of view you are probably right that the 
chemistry is the most expensive part if you have to buy it from Bungard. 
Not to be misunderstood, buying from Bungard is a good option if you 
have no other contact. You should not forgett that there you get 
support, can ask questions, get clear instructions on how to use it, CAN 
officially buy in that small quantities and all this is adding to the 
price. So, the mentioned 670\ufffd are probably not that bad spent if you are 
a beginner and have no one else who can assist you. It's otherwise easy 
to spend more money and still not have useable results, but of course 
your mileage may varry.

HTH

Markus

suskeb schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Hi Markus,
>
> Can you please tell me what is tanks capacity of your plating system
> baths?
>
> Second question is how much did you pay for chemicals to fill system
> for the first time, and how long can you use it chemicals without
> additional cost, or what is lifetime of that chemicals?
> I ask "Bungard" and they give me export prices. All it seems to me
> wery expensive.
> Chemicals starter kit for "COMPACTA 30 ABC" cost 670 euros.
> Only 500lm of activator cost 200 euros (it is most expesive chemical).
> One set of anodes depend of size 150x200mm(200x300mm) cost 110(180)
> euros.
> Andodes bag cost 23(25) euros/pcs.
> It seems to me that chemicals are more expensive part of whole
> plating system.
> You did say whole system cost is ~1000$.
> I think you did'nt include price of chemicals in that amount, or
> maybe I'm in wrong.:-)
>
> Can you please give as more pictures and/or details of plating system
> you made.
>
> Soryy to all for my BAD English.
>
> Best regars,
>
> Suske
>
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-01-30 by _bojan_

Hi Markus

This is a lot of useful information for me and thank you for that.
I'll be free to ask jou again if somethig is not clear to me.

Best regards,

Suske

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-06 by _bojan_

Hi Markus,

I have another question.

In Bungard catalog is price for 500ml of Activator(Catalist). Is it
suppose that it need to be mixed with 2l of something to get 2,5l of
ready-to-use solution, or I must to buy 5 x 500ml to get my 2,5l of
solution.

Same question for other chemicals, cleaner, pre-dip, intensifier &
copper plating.

P.S. I know it is better to ask Bungard, but you have experience and
others can learn something from this.

Best regards

Suske

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-06 by Markus Zingg

Suske,

With the chemistry from Bungard it's like this:
Bath #1, #4,#5 are "on their own". That said you must mix each of them 
according to the information you get along with it. Typically you have 
to mix one to three different fluids togeher, add some distilated water 
to come to the right mix. Bungard gives the quantites of each component 
in relation to their "Compacta 30" station in liters of it's size which 
if I remember right is using 15l tanks (alas way too much for our 
typical use). You therefore divide each component by 15 and multiply 
acording to the amount of liters you want to end up with.

Bath #2 and #3 are almost identical. It's the so called "Predip" and an 
identical bath with the difference that there you also add the 
Activator. So for a tank in my size ( 2.2 liters) bath #3 consists of 
2.1 liters of predip, and 0.1 liters of the activator. Out of this you 
see that you can make a new bath #3 five times up until you have used up 
all of the activator. If you now consider that - provided you treat it 
propperly - you can keep such a bath for multiple years..... While we 
are at it, the predip's purpose is actually only to aclimate the PCB to 
the next bath (the activator). In other words the purpose is to protect 
the expensive activator from being contaminated by bath #1 or reminders 
from the rinsing. That's also the reason why the run time for bath #2 is 
only one minute.

The predip is deliverd in 25 litter containers, same is true for the 
copper soultion. From the first - as you could see above you would use 
4.3 liters (2.2 and 2.1) initially and each time you do the baths new. 
Again, this would last for about five complete fillings. The situation 
is simillar with the other baths.

So, if you buy the Bungard chemistry once, you are probably done for a 
fairly long time unless you really produce many many square meters of 
PBCs per year or treat it bad. You definately should look at it like an 
investment. The main advantage of this aproach is that sucess is 
actually guaranteed. I know from other aproaches - i.e. one german forum 
I read is full of such attempts - usually they lead to a whole lot of 
experimentation with nowhere near as good results (if at all). IMHO this 
more boils down to asking yourself if your hobby or job is to produce 
electronics (thus in some casese produce PCBs) or if your hobby is to 
fiddle out how to through plate on the cheap. There is nothing wrong 
with the latter of course but it was not what I was after. I can say 
that using the Bungard chemistry you WILL get high quality results and 
you will have exceptioinally short processing times. Just to mention it, 
thru plating in professional shops easily takes 3 - 4 hours whereas with 
the Bungard chemistry you can run the bath at relatively high ampereage 
resulting in a shorter time. In other words, the complete thru plating 
process this way takes about 50 minutes for standard 18 micron plating.

HTH

Markus

_bojan_ schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Hi Markus,
>
> I have another question.
>
> In Bungard catalog is price for 500ml of Activator(Catalist). Is it
> suppose that it need to be mixed with 2l of something to get 2,5l of
> ready-to-use solution, or I must to buy 5 x 500ml to get my 2,5l of
> solution.
>
> Same question for other chemicals, cleaner, pre-dip, intensifier &
> copper plating.
>
> P.S. I know it is better to ask Bungard, but you have experience and
> others can learn something from this.
>
> Best regards
>
> Suske
>
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-07 by _bojan_

Hi Markus,

Thanks  a lot for your writing.

Another detail   ar fluid heating. Bungard use PTFE plated large area
heaters. What did you use for fluids heating in tanks?

What about anodes, can I use some copper plate or I must use that
sulphurised copper.

B.T.W. I am on the way to get my chemicals but not from Bungard. ;)

Best regards,

Suske

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-07 by Markus Zingg

Hi Suske,

I obviousely don't care too much from where you get the chemistry as 
long as it hopefully works out well for you :-). In other words, I 
apreciate the service Bungard is providing and as such wish them a 
looong life. Apart from this I'm not related to them in any ways. :-)

For the heaters, I use just dirt cheap regular aquarim heaters. The only 
thing to watch out here is that they usually don't go up to the 
temperature you need. However, they are (usually, check with what's 
available at your place) built using bimetal switches to switch the 
power on and off. The ones I found here (really the very cheapest ones, 
I use 100W heaters) have inside a little plastic part that sits on a 
fine threaded screw which is what you turn from outside to set the 
temperature. That plastic part is having a nose to limit the "hottest" 
end position. By simply cutting of that nose you can modify the heaters 
so as they go up to the requiered 75 degree celsius. There is usually no 
problem or security issue involved here apart from the obivous safety 
handling of such heaters. The heaters are made for such temperatures. 
Those for the aquarium are just limitted so as the average aquarium user 
does not end up unintentionally boiling the fishes.... :-) Just make 
sure you never turn the heaters on if they are not COMPLETELY flodded in 
the fluid or else the surrounding glass will instantly break.

As far as the anodes go I think the phosphor is important to get good 
results. I bougth my material from a source here in Switzerland 
(Haeuselmann Metalle) which is carrying different alloys of copper. One 
of them is having a small percentage of phosphor in it. So you may shop 
around a little up until you find such a source. If you have found an 
alternative source for the chemistry - why not ask them for a pointer to 
annodes? Professionals use copper nuggets in titanium containers which 
are then flodded in the copper solution and at least those must be 
available near you if there are also board houses since this is what 
they use. As a last straw, you could use such nuggets, melt them and 
found anodes this way. I of course also could buy you the raw material 
here at the 1:1 costs of what I pay. However, shipping the ~2KG of 
material might be a bit costly but feel free to get back to me if that's 
what you want.

HTH

Markus

_bojan_ schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Hi Markus,
>
> Thanks a lot for your writing.
>
> Another detail ar fluid heating. Bungard use PTFE plated large area
> heaters. What did you use for fluids heating in tanks?
>
> What about anodes, can I use some copper plate or I must use that
> sulphurised copper.
>
> B.T.W. I am on the way to get my chemicals but not from Bungard. ;)
>
> Best regards,
>
> Suske
>
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-07 by tsescrl

Hello,

For Anodes copper, very necesary use "PHOSPHORIC COPPER"

For me, after 20 year using electrolitic copper bath, is no heating, 
to min 15° centigrade.

Attention for the surface of the anodes, anodic surface is maximum, 
but very very  maximum 1/2 the surface of the plate per faces.

Normaly, use 1.6 Amps per Dm2 of visible copper surface, not the 
print surface, but only the copper you see after insolation and 
develop dry film is so little wat you think.

Use also 40 minutes electrolitic immersion time and you obtain a good 
result, normaly, 17.5 microns déposition.

The déposition is glossy, if you obtain a mat surface, you are higt 
for the ampérage.

In first time, with a new bath, attention with the brigtner, not add 
bigger, is necessary a long time before add replenisher brigtner.

For brigtner, you add replenisher if you see the external coin are 
mat.

For a new bath, use a brush plate, just a double face plate, no dry 
film, put on the bath, and use 0.2 Amp per dm2 to 2 hours, your bath 
is started, all the impurity is go, and important, your anodes is 
flashed, normaly hi come black.

After 2 our, your plate is very glossy.

Also important, put your anodes in a polypropilene sac, al the 
impurity go not in bath.

Very important, if you d'ont use the bath for a long time, put out 
the anode, and look for the watter évaporation, adjust only with 
deminéralised watter, only, no chemestery.

For anode, you can obtain to "AMPERE" in France, very nice matérial, 
also for tin or tin-lead anode.

For electrolityc bath, normaly is also a pump and a filter to make 
recirculation.

Is also very important you have pressure air with a ramp in the 
bottom off the tank with small drilling holle, the air go to the top 
off the bath, just a little pressure

Put this ramp just at the bottom of the plate.

Good ammusement, best regards, and d'ont hésitate to ask me.

Pleasure

Patrick Belgium Europe



--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...> 
wrote:
>
> Hi Suske,
> 
> I obviousely don't care too much from where you get the chemistry 
as 
> long as it hopefully works out well for you :-). In other words, I 
> apreciate the service Bungard is providing and as such wish them a 
> looong life. Apart from this I'm not related to them in any ways. :-
)
> 
> For the heaters, I use just dirt cheap regular aquarim heaters. The 
only 
> thing to watch out here is that they usually don't go up to the 
> temperature you need. However, they are (usually, check with what's 
> available at your place) built using bimetal switches to switch the 
> power on and off. The ones I found here (really the very cheapest 
ones, 
> I use 100W heaters) have inside a little plastic part that sits on 
a 
> fine threaded screw which is what you turn from outside to set the 
> temperature. That plastic part is having a nose to limit 
the "hottest" 
> end position. By simply cutting of that nose you can modify the 
heaters 
> so as they go up to the requiered 75 degree celsius. There is 
usually no 
> problem or security issue involved here apart from the obivous 
safety 
> handling of such heaters. The heaters are made for such 
temperatures. 
> Those for the aquarium are just limitted so as the average aquarium 
user 
> does not end up unintentionally boiling the fishes.... :-) Just 
make 
> sure you never turn the heaters on if they are not COMPLETELY 
flodded in 
> the fluid or else the surrounding glass will instantly break.
> 
> As far as the anodes go I think the phosphor is important to get 
good 
> results. I bougth my material from a source here in Switzerland 
> (Haeuselmann Metalle) which is carrying different alloys of copper. 
One 
> of them is having a small percentage of phosphor in it. So you may 
shop 
> around a little up until you find such a source. If you have found 
an 
> alternative source for the chemistry - why not ask them for a 
pointer to 
> annodes? Professionals use copper nuggets in titanium containers 
which 
> are then flodded in the copper solution and at least those must be 
> available near you if there are also board houses since this is 
what 
> they use. As a last straw, you could use such nuggets, melt them 
and 
> found anodes this way. I of course also could buy you the raw 
material 
> here at the 1:1 costs of what I pay. However, shipping the ~2KG of 
> material might be a bit costly but feel free to get back to me if 
that's 
> what you want.
> 
> HTH
> 
> Markus
> 
> _bojan_ schrieb:
> >
> > Hi Markus,
> >
> > Thanks a lot for your writing.
> >
> > Another detail ar fluid heating. Bungard use PTFE plated large 
area
> > heaters. What did you use for fluids heating in tanks?
> >
> > What about anodes, can I use some copper plate or I must use that
> > sulphurised copper.
> >
> > B.T.W. I am on the way to get my chemicals but not from 
Bungard. ;)
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Suske
> >
> >
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-07 by Markus Zingg

Patrick,

Your input is highly apreciated. However, I made the experience that 
wiht the very small tanks I use (remember, 4 liters for the copper 
solution, 2 for the others) it turned out that some shortcuts are possible.

#1 I tried air agitation. It did NOT change ANYTHING to better or to 
worse. So one really can savely omitt this.

#2 I can run the copper solution at 2.5 t 3 amperes per Dm2 of  visible 
copper. Since you mention dry film resist, you must obviousely use a 
different aproach (care to explain it to us?) than I do cause at the 
time I thru plate, I have no laminate on the PCB. The laminate is 
applied there after. That way, I can reduce the time in this bath to 20 
- 25minutes. Not that I usually care that much though, but I made 
experiments with less amp\ufffdres and again, it did not changed the quality. 
Of course, if I go really to 3+ amps what you describe starts to happen 
(mat surface, small nails on the borders etc.).

#3 the anode bags (polypropylene) is not THAT important for me cause I 
always empty the tanks after use and every now and then filter the tank 
contents while doing so. I fully agree that they are "nice to have" 
cause they probably could omitt the filtering but it's really easy to do 
so while emptying the tanks versus getting bags that fit the size of the 
home made anodes seems difficult.

All other statements you made are also along my experience. Again, I 
think above differences have to do with the very much smaller tanks I 
use versus your setup - right?

Markus


tsescrl schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Hello,
>
> For Anodes copper, very necesary use "PHOSPHORIC COPPER"
>
> For me, after 20 year using electrolitic copper bath, is no heating,
> to min 15\ufffd centigrade.
>
> Attention for the surface of the anodes, anodic surface is maximum,
> but very very maximum 1/2 the surface of the plate per faces.
>
> Normaly, use 1.6 Amps per Dm2 of visible copper surface, not the
> print surface, but only the copper you see after insolation and
> develop dry film is so little wat you think.
>
> Use also 40 minutes electrolitic immersion time and you obtain a good
> result, normaly, 17.5 microns d\ufffdposition.
>
> The d\ufffdposition is glossy, if you obtain a mat surface, you are higt
> for the amp\ufffdrage.
>
> In first time, with a new bath, attention with the brigtner, not add
> bigger, is necessary a long time before add replenisher brigtner.
>
> For brigtner, you add replenisher if you see the external coin are
> mat.
>
> For a new bath, use a brush plate, just a double face plate, no dry
> film, put on the bath, and use 0.2 Amp per dm2 to 2 hours, your bath
> is started, all the impurity is go, and important, your anodes is
> flashed, normaly hi come black.
>
> After 2 our, your plate is very glossy.
>
> Also important, put your anodes in a polypropilene sac, al the
> impurity go not in bath.
>
> Very important, if you d'ont use the bath for a long time, put out
> the anode, and look for the watter \ufffdvaporation, adjust only with
> demin\ufffdralised watter, only, no chemestery.
>
> For anode, you can obtain to "AMPERE" in France, very nice mat\ufffdrial,
> also for tin or tin-lead anode.
>
> For electrolityc bath, normaly is also a pump and a filter to make
> recirculation.
>
> Is also very important you have pressure air with a ramp in the
> bottom off the tank with small drilling holle, the air go to the top
> off the bath, just a little pressure
>
> Put this ramp just at the bottom of the plate.
>
> Good ammusement, best regards, and d'ont h\ufffdsitate to ask me.
>
> Pleasure
>
> Patrick Belgium Europe
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Suske,
> >
> > I obviousely don't care too much from where you get the chemistry
> as
> > long as it hopefully works out well for you :-). In other words, I
> > apreciate the service Bungard is providing and as such wish them a
> > looong life. Apart from this I'm not related to them in any ways. :-
> )
> >
> > For the heaters, I use just dirt cheap regular aquarim heaters. The
> only
> > thing to watch out here is that they usually don't go up to the
> > temperature you need. However, they are (usually, check with what's
> > available at your place) built using bimetal switches to switch the
> > power on and off. The ones I found here (really the very cheapest
> ones,
> > I use 100W heaters) have inside a little plastic part that sits on
> a
> > fine threaded screw which is what you turn from outside to set the
> > temperature. That plastic part is having a nose to limit
> the "hottest"
> > end position. By simply cutting of that nose you can modify the
> heaters
> > so as they go up to the requiered 75 degree celsius. There is
> usually no
> > problem or security issue involved here apart from the obivous
> safety
> > handling of such heaters. The heaters are made for such
> temperatures.
> > Those for the aquarium are just limitted so as the average aquarium
> user
> > does not end up unintentionally boiling the fishes.... :-) Just
> make
> > sure you never turn the heaters on if they are not COMPLETELY
> flodded in
> > the fluid or else the surrounding glass will instantly break.
> >
> > As far as the anodes go I think the phosphor is important to get
> good
> > results. I bougth my material from a source here in Switzerland
> > (Haeuselmann Metalle) which is carrying different alloys of copper.
> One
> > of them is having a small percentage of phosphor in it. So you may
> shop
> > around a little up until you find such a source. If you have found
> an
> > alternative source for the chemistry - why not ask them for a
> pointer to
> > annodes? Professionals use copper nuggets in titanium containers
> which
> > are then flodded in the copper solution and at least those must be
> > available near you if there are also board houses since this is
> what
> > they use. As a last straw, you could use such nuggets, melt them
> and
> > found anodes this way. I of course also could buy you the raw
> material
> > here at the 1:1 costs of what I pay. However, shipping the ~2KG of
> > material might be a bit costly but feel free to get back to me if
> that's
> > what you want.
> >
> > HTH
> >
> > Markus
> >
> > _bojan_ schrieb:
> > >
> > > Hi Markus,
> > >
> > > Thanks a lot for your writing.
> > >
> > > Another detail ar fluid heating. Bungard use PTFE plated large
> area
> > > heaters. What did you use for fluids heating in tanks?
> > >
> > > What about anodes, can I use some copper plate or I must use that
> > > sulphurised copper.
> > >
> > > B.T.W. I am on the way to get my chemicals but not from
> Bungard. ;)
> > >
> > > Best regards,
> > >
> > > Suske
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-07 by tsescrl

Markus,

I appreciate your reflexion for copper electroiltic bath.

For me, English is not simple...

Yes, this is a problem to obtain a good result in small tanks and he 
is also many money and techical approch to obtain the same result 
from the profesional PCB industry.

The pro-industry look also for a good stable process in the time for 
big square meter production.

If i have answer your question about dry film.

In industry, after metalisation baths, pre-dip, dip, henhancer etc, 
you have 2 possibility.

#1 Just a difference what you explain, go directly to electrolitic 
copper bats, but just a few minute, just to create the copper hole, 3 
or 5 microns, go to dry film, exposure, developpement and return to 
copper baths for the rest to 17.5 microns.

#2 directly after metalisation bath, no electrolitic copper, go 
directly to dry film, exposur, devellopement, and come in 
electrolitic bath to ceate 17.5 microns deposition.

Why this process,

1, Minder comsomation off copper bath, and important, to etch, the 
etch process is so speed, you have only 17.5 or 22 microns to etch.

If you make copper electrolityc bath for the entire 17.5 microns you 
have base material 17.5 microns(in indudtry only 17.5 microns) + 17.5 
microns from electrolitic deposition, is it 35 microns to etch, 
double etch consomation to make only output your 17.5 microns 
déposition.

This is a stupid action,- make to distroy - .....

And, i think you use base matérial 35 microns + 17.5 microns electro 
deposition.

You obtain 52 or 55 microns copper to etch, so bigger for life time 
of the etch bath.

Other problem occur, etching a big copper cause under-etch problem 
for the fine line, you obtain fine line look a kabalero cigar...

He is preferable to make the copper electro deposition only is 
necessary.

But, to make this process, is necessary make the insolation in 
négative, normaly all dry film make directly negative image from a 
positive film.

Also, your developement bath have a long time life because he 
develope only pad and track an not the inverse.

Normaly, after copper electro deposition, you have also tin or tin-
lead electro deposition, you put out your dry film, and etch with 
amonia solution or persufate, he destroy the copper and not tin or 
tin-lead.

Yes i understand, the is an other way, but it work very very fine.

The air pressure in industry is very important to obtain a oxidation 
in bath copper for long time life.

If you use big amperage per dm2, the problem occur is a non 
equilibration off the brigtner A and B, normaly in the same 
concentration, and is so difficult to make a reequilbration.

You brigtner normaly come in 2 séparate bottle A and B,  or only one 
with A and B in the same concentration.

Yes for the filtration, but not for a long time, residue come from 2 
origin, 1 from anodic film is created on the anode, the anode become 
black, and if you put overamperage, the exess copper oxide go to the 
filter, if you d'ont filter this excess, after a short time, your 
anode d'ont have a good distribution off copper and you make a 
consomation off your copper inside the bath, and the bath dead.

And 2 from the little epoxy fiber from your plate, is necessary put 
out the glass fiber, if not, you obtain inclusion in your drill 
metelalised holle, and the hole have a no good copper deposition.

Patrick





 

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...> 
wrote:
>
> Patrick,
> 
> Your input is highly apreciated. However, I made the experience 
that 
> wiht the very small tanks I use (remember, 4 liters for the copper 
> solution, 2 for the others) it turned out that some shortcuts are 
possible.
> 
> #1 I tried air agitation. It did NOT change ANYTHING to better or 
to 
> worse. So one really can savely omitt this.
> 
> #2 I can run the copper solution at 2.5 t 3 amperes per Dm2 of  
visible 
> copper. Since you mention dry film resist, you must obviousely use 
a 
> different aproach (care to explain it to us?) than I do cause at 
the 
> time I thru plate, I have no laminate on the PCB. The laminate is 
> applied there after. That way, I can reduce the time in this bath 
to 20 
> - 25minutes. Not that I usually care that much though, but I made 
> experiments with less ampères and again, it did not changed the 
quality. 
> Of course, if I go really to 3+ amps what you describe starts to 
happen 
> (mat surface, small nails on the borders etc.).
> 
> #3 the anode bags (polypropylene) is not THAT important for me 
cause I 
> always empty the tanks after use and every now and then filter the 
tank 
> contents while doing so. I fully agree that they are "nice to have" 
> cause they probably could omitt the filtering but it's really easy 
to do 
> so while emptying the tanks versus getting bags that fit the size 
of the 
> home made anodes seems difficult.
> 
> All other statements you made are also along my experience. Again, 
I 
> think above differences have to do with the very much smaller tanks 
I 
> use versus your setup - right?
> 
> Markus
> 
> 
> tsescrl schrieb:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > For Anodes copper, very necesary use "PHOSPHORIC COPPER"
> >
> > For me, after 20 year using electrolitic copper bath, is no 
heating,
> > to min 15° centigrade.
> >
> > Attention for the surface of the anodes, anodic surface is 
maximum,
> > but very very maximum 1/2 the surface of the plate per faces.
> >
> > Normaly, use 1.6 Amps per Dm2 of visible copper surface, not the
> > print surface, but only the copper you see after insolation and
> > develop dry film is so little wat you think.
> >
> > Use also 40 minutes electrolitic immersion time and you obtain a 
good
> > result, normaly, 17.5 microns déposition.
> >
> > The déposition is glossy, if you obtain a mat surface, you are 
higt
> > for the ampérage.
> >
> > In first time, with a new bath, attention with the brigtner, not 
add
> > bigger, is necessary a long time before add replenisher brigtner.
> >
> > For brigtner, you add replenisher if you see the external coin are
> > mat.
> >
> > For a new bath, use a brush plate, just a double face plate, no 
dry
> > film, put on the bath, and use 0.2 Amp per dm2 to 2 hours, your 
bath
> > is started, all the impurity is go, and important, your anodes is
> > flashed, normaly hi come black.
> >
> > After 2 our, your plate is very glossy.
> >
> > Also important, put your anodes in a polypropilene sac, al the
> > impurity go not in bath.
> >
> > Very important, if you d'ont use the bath for a long time, put out
> > the anode, and look for the watter évaporation, adjust only with
> > deminéralised watter, only, no chemestery.
> >
> > For anode, you can obtain to "AMPERE" in France, very nice 
matérial,
> > also for tin or tin-lead anode.
> >
> > For electrolityc bath, normaly is also a pump and a filter to make
> > recirculation.
> >
> > Is also very important you have pressure air with a ramp in the
> > bottom off the tank with small drilling holle, the air go to the 
top
> > off the bath, just a little pressure
> >
> > Put this ramp just at the bottom of the plate.
> >
> > Good ammusement, best regards, and d'ont hésitate to ask me.
> >
> > Pleasure
> >
> > Patrick Belgium Europe
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> > <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Markus Zingg <homebrew-
pcb@>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Suske,
> > >
> > > I obviousely don't care too much from where you get the 
chemistry
> > as
> > > long as it hopefully works out well for you :-). In other 
words, I
> > > apreciate the service Bungard is providing and as such wish 
them a
> > > looong life. Apart from this I'm not related to them in any 
ways. :-
> > )
> > >
> > > For the heaters, I use just dirt cheap regular aquarim heaters. 
The
> > only
> > > thing to watch out here is that they usually don't go up to the
> > > temperature you need. However, they are (usually, check with 
what's
> > > available at your place) built using bimetal switches to switch 
the
> > > power on and off. The ones I found here (really the very 
cheapest
> > ones,
> > > I use 100W heaters) have inside a little plastic part that sits 
on
> > a
> > > fine threaded screw which is what you turn from outside to set 
the
> > > temperature. That plastic part is having a nose to limit
> > the "hottest"
> > > end position. By simply cutting of that nose you can modify the
> > heaters
> > > so as they go up to the requiered 75 degree celsius. There is
> > usually no
> > > problem or security issue involved here apart from the obivous
> > safety
> > > handling of such heaters. The heaters are made for such
> > temperatures.
> > > Those for the aquarium are just limitted so as the average 
aquarium
> > user
> > > does not end up unintentionally boiling the fishes.... :-) Just
> > make
> > > sure you never turn the heaters on if they are not COMPLETELY
> > flodded in
> > > the fluid or else the surrounding glass will instantly break.
> > >
> > > As far as the anodes go I think the phosphor is important to get
> > good
> > > results. I bougth my material from a source here in Switzerland
> > > (Haeuselmann Metalle) which is carrying different alloys of 
copper.
> > One
> > > of them is having a small percentage of phosphor in it. So you 
may
> > shop
> > > around a little up until you find such a source. If you have 
found
> > an
> > > alternative source for the chemistry - why not ask them for a
> > pointer to
> > > annodes? Professionals use copper nuggets in titanium containers
> > which
> > > are then flodded in the copper solution and at least those must 
be
> > > available near you if there are also board houses since this is
> > what
> > > they use. As a last straw, you could use such nuggets, melt them
> > and
> > > found anodes this way. I of course also could buy you the raw
> > material
> > > here at the 1:1 costs of what I pay. However, shipping the ~2KG 
of
> > > material might be a bit costly but feel free to get back to me 
if
> > that's
> > > what you want.
> > >
> > > HTH
> > >
> > > Markus
> > >
> > > _bojan_ schrieb:
> > > >
> > > > Hi Markus,
> > > >
> > > > Thanks a lot for your writing.
> > > >
> > > > Another detail ar fluid heating. Bungard use PTFE plated large
> > area
> > > > heaters. What did you use for fluids heating in tanks?
> > > >
> > > > What about anodes, can I use some copper plate or I must use 
that
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > > > sulphurised copper.
> > > >
> > > > B.T.W. I am on the way to get my chemicals but not from
> > Bungard. ;)
> > > >
> > > > Best regards,
> > > >
> > > > Suske
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-07 by Markus Zingg

Patrick,

First off, your english is better than my french :-) Many thanks for 
taking the effort!

Thanks for the insight here. I'm lucky enough to have 17.5micron base 
material, but you are right that I of course end up having to etch away 
35microns with my aproach.

The amperage I use is based on recommendations of the bath manufacturer 
(which seems to be J-Chem btw.). I obviousely only have experience based 
on my real small setup - I never worked in the PCB industry and as such 
followed the instructions given to me to the letter. :-) I could of 
course run the board with a smaller ampereage. So far I did not 
experienced drawbacks from not doing so, but its only lately that I have 
a somewhat higher demand for boards.

Interesting aproach you describe really. I have to try this out. 
However, what makes me wonder a bit - I figure you then have to use two 
films right? I may misunderstand the process thoug.... But if I get that 
right, I would have to build up copper in the holes (obviousely) and 
where the traces otherwise are.If you use two film sets, I'm not sure if 
that would pay off here cause makeing the films is one of the more 
expensive parts here. In other words, using the copper bath and etchant 
(Fe3Cl in my case) a bit more seems cheaper in the end. Still, very 
interesting and I may will try this out. Could be that it would pay off 
especially with very fine traces. I sucessfully made 5 mil traces 
already (did not had a board that requiered 4 mil which is from what I 
understand also the end of the rope in the industry) but making them in 
fact is a bit demanding in terms of etching (etch process is often 
stopped to check, bord must be repositioned etc. something I of course 
can do in my "one off" kind of aproach).

Could you tell me a bit more about how you do the tin electro deposition 
process? I actually use a kind of tin paste that I apply to the board 
and then use a heat gun... Probably a bit crude, but it works. I'm 
however intersted to hear what alternatives I might would have. Do you 
think it would be feasable to make gold imersion, and if so, how would 
that have to be done?

Markus

tsescrl schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Markus,
>
> I appreciate your reflexion for copper electroiltic bath.
>
> For me, English is not simple...
>
> Yes, this is a problem to obtain a good result in small tanks and he
> is also many money and techical approch to obtain the same result
> from the profesional PCB industry.
>
> The pro-industry look also for a good stable process in the time for
> big square meter production.
>
> If i have answer your question about dry film.
>
> In industry, after metalisation baths, pre-dip, dip, henhancer etc,
> you have 2 possibility.
>
> #1 Just a difference what you explain, go directly to electrolitic
> copper bats, but just a few minute, just to create the copper hole, 3
> or 5 microns, go to dry film, exposure, developpement and return to
> copper baths for the rest to 17.5 microns.
>
> #2 directly after metalisation bath, no electrolitic copper, go
> directly to dry film, exposur, devellopement, and come in
> electrolitic bath to ceate 17.5 microns deposition.
>
> Why this process,
>
> 1, Minder comsomation off copper bath, and important, to etch, the
> etch process is so speed, you have only 17.5 or 22 microns to etch.
>
> If you make copper electrolityc bath for the entire 17.5 microns you
> have base material 17.5 microns(in indudtry only 17.5 microns) + 17.5
> microns from electrolitic deposition, is it 35 microns to etch,
> double etch consomation to make only output your 17.5 microns
> d\ufffdposition.
>
> This is a stupid action,- make to distroy - .....
>
> And, i think you use base mat\ufffdrial 35 microns + 17.5 microns electro
> deposition.
>
> You obtain 52 or 55 microns copper to etch, so bigger for life time
> of the etch bath.
>
> Other problem occur, etching a big copper cause under-etch problem
> for the fine line, you obtain fine line look a kabalero cigar...
>
> He is preferable to make the copper electro deposition only is
> necessary.
>
> But, to make this process, is necessary make the insolation in
> n\ufffdgative, normaly all dry film make directly negative image from a
> positive film.
>
> Also, your developement bath have a long time life because he
> develope only pad and track an not the inverse.
>
> Normaly, after copper electro deposition, you have also tin or tin-
> lead electro deposition, you put out your dry film, and etch with
> amonia solution or persufate, he destroy the copper and not tin or
> tin-lead.
>
> Yes i understand, the is an other way, but it work very very fine.
>
> The air pressure in industry is very important to obtain a oxidation
> in bath copper for long time life.
>
> If you use big amperage per dm2, the problem occur is a non
> equilibration off the brigtner A and B, normaly in the same
> concentration, and is so difficult to make a reequilbration.
>
> You brigtner normaly come in 2 s\ufffdparate bottle A and B, or only one
> with A and B in the same concentration.
>
> Yes for the filtration, but not for a long time, residue come from 2
> origin, 1 from anodic film is created on the anode, the anode become
> black, and if you put overamperage, the exess copper oxide go to the
> filter, if you d'ont filter this excess, after a short time, your
> anode d'ont have a good distribution off copper and you make a
> consomation off your copper inside the bath, and the bath dead.
>
> And 2 from the little epoxy fiber from your plate, is necessary put
> out the glass fiber, if not, you obtain inclusion in your drill
> metelalised holle, and the hole have a no good copper deposition.
>
> Patrick
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Patrick,
> >
> > Your input is highly apreciated. However, I made the experience
> that
> > wiht the very small tanks I use (remember, 4 liters for the copper
> > solution, 2 for the others) it turned out that some shortcuts are
> possible.
> >
> > #1 I tried air agitation. It did NOT change ANYTHING to better or
> to
> > worse. So one really can savely omitt this.
> >
> > #2 I can run the copper solution at 2.5 t 3 amperes per Dm2 of
> visible
> > copper. Since you mention dry film resist, you must obviousely use
> a
> > different aproach (care to explain it to us?) than I do cause at
> the
> > time I thru plate, I have no laminate on the PCB. The laminate is
> > applied there after. That way, I can reduce the time in this bath
> to 20
> > - 25minutes. Not that I usually care that much though, but I made
> > experiments with less amp\ufffdres and again, it did not changed the
> quality.
> > Of course, if I go really to 3+ amps what you describe starts to
> happen
> > (mat surface, small nails on the borders etc.).
> >
> > #3 the anode bags (polypropylene) is not THAT important for me
> cause I
> > always empty the tanks after use and every now and then filter the
> tank
> > contents while doing so. I fully agree that they are "nice to have"
> > cause they probably could omitt the filtering but it's really easy
> to do
> > so while emptying the tanks versus getting bags that fit the size
> of the
> > home made anodes seems difficult.
> >
> > All other statements you made are also along my experience. Again,
> I
> > think above differences have to do with the very much smaller tanks
> I
> > use versus your setup - right?
> >
> > Markus
> >
> >
> > tsescrl schrieb:
> > >
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > For Anodes copper, very necesary use "PHOSPHORIC COPPER"
> > >
> > > For me, after 20 year using electrolitic copper bath, is no
> heating,
> > > to min 15\ufffd centigrade.
> > >
> > > Attention for the surface of the anodes, anodic surface is
> maximum,
> > > but very very maximum 1/2 the surface of the plate per faces.
> > >
> > > Normaly, use 1.6 Amps per Dm2 of visible copper surface, not the
> > > print surface, but only the copper you see after insolation and
> > > develop dry film is so little wat you think.
> > >
> > > Use also 40 minutes electrolitic immersion time and you obtain a
> good
> > > result, normaly, 17.5 microns d\ufffdposition.
> > >
> > > The d\ufffdposition is glossy, if you obtain a mat surface, you are
> higt
> > > for the amp\ufffdrage.
> > >
> > > In first time, with a new bath, attention with the brigtner, not
> add
> > > bigger, is necessary a long time before add replenisher brigtner.
> > >
> > > For brigtner, you add replenisher if you see the external coin are
> > > mat.
> > >
> > > For a new bath, use a brush plate, just a double face plate, no
> dry
> > > film, put on the bath, and use 0.2 Amp per dm2 to 2 hours, your
> bath
> > > is started, all the impurity is go, and important, your anodes is
> > > flashed, normaly hi come black.
> > >
> > > After 2 our, your plate is very glossy.
> > >
> > > Also important, put your anodes in a polypropilene sac, al the
> > > impurity go not in bath.
> > >
> > > Very important, if you d'ont use the bath for a long time, put out
> > > the anode, and look for the watter \ufffdvaporation, adjust only with
> > > demin\ufffdralised watter, only, no chemestery.
> > >
> > > For anode, you can obtain to "AMPERE" in France, very nice
> mat\ufffdrial,
> > > also for tin or tin-lead anode.
> > >
> > > For electrolityc bath, normaly is also a pump and a filter to make
> > > recirculation.
> > >
> > > Is also very important you have pressure air with a ramp in the
> > > bottom off the tank with small drilling holle, the air go to the
> top
> > > off the bath, just a little pressure
> > >
> > > Put this ramp just at the bottom of the plate.
> > >
> > > Good ammusement, best regards, and d'ont h\ufffdsitate to ask me.
> > >
> > > Pleasure
> > >
> > > Patrick Belgium Europe
> > >
> > > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>
> > > <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Markus Zingg <homebrew-
> pcb@>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hi Suske,
> > > >
> > > > I obviousely don't care too much from where you get the
> chemistry
> > > as
> > > > long as it hopefully works out well for you :-). In other
> words, I
> > > > apreciate the service Bungard is providing and as such wish
> them a
> > > > looong life. Apart from this I'm not related to them in any
> ways. :-
> > > )
> > > >
> > > > For the heaters, I use just dirt cheap regular aquarim heaters.
> The
> > > only
> > > > thing to watch out here is that they usually don't go up to the
> > > > temperature you need. However, they are (usually, check with
> what's
> > > > available at your place) built using bimetal switches to switch
> the
> > > > power on and off. The ones I found here (really the very
> cheapest
> > > ones,
> > > > I use 100W heaters) have inside a little plastic part that sits
> on
> > > a
> > > > fine threaded screw which is what you turn from outside to set
> the
> > > > temperature. That plastic part is having a nose to limit
> > > the "hottest"
> > > > end position. By simply cutting of that nose you can modify the
> > > heaters
> > > > so as they go up to the requiered 75 degree celsius. There is
> > > usually no
> > > > problem or security issue involved here apart from the obivous
> > > safety
> > > > handling of such heaters. The heaters are made for such
> > > temperatures.
> > > > Those for the aquarium are just limitted so as the average
> aquarium
> > > user
> > > > does not end up unintentionally boiling the fishes.... :-) Just
> > > make
> > > > sure you never turn the heaters on if they are not COMPLETELY
> > > flodded in
> > > > the fluid or else the surrounding glass will instantly break.
> > > >
> > > > As far as the anodes go I think the phosphor is important to get
> > > good
> > > > results. I bougth my material from a source here in Switzerland
> > > > (Haeuselmann Metalle) which is carrying different alloys of
> copper.
> > > One
> > > > of them is having a small percentage of phosphor in it. So you
> may
> > > shop
> > > > around a little up until you find such a source. If you have
> found
> > > an
> > > > alternative source for the chemistry - why not ask them for a
> > > pointer to
> > > > annodes? Professionals use copper nuggets in titanium containers
> > > which
> > > > are then flodded in the copper solution and at least those must
> be
> > > > available near you if there are also board houses since this is
> > > what
> > > > they use. As a last straw, you could use such nuggets, melt them
> > > and
> > > > found anodes this way. I of course also could buy you the raw
> > > material
> > > > here at the 1:1 costs of what I pay. However, shipping the ~2KG
> of
> > > > material might be a bit costly but feel free to get back to me
> if
> > > that's
> > > > what you want.
> > > >
> > > > HTH
> > > >
> > > > Markus
> > > >
> > > > _bojan_ schrieb:
> > > > >
> > > > > Hi Markus,
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks a lot for your writing.
> > > > >
> > > > > Another detail ar fluid heating. Bungard use PTFE plated large
> > > area
> > > > > heaters. What did you use for fluids heating in tanks?
> > > > >
> > > > > What about anodes, can I use some copper plate or I must use
> that
> > > > > sulphurised copper.
> > > > >
> > > > > B.T.W. I am on the way to get my chemicals but not from
> > > Bungard. ;)
> > > > >
> > > > > Best regards,
> > > > >
> > > > > Suske
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-07 by tsescrl

Ok Markus,

All i have describe is an industry process but perhaps you can apply 
somme partial to your labo for electronic developement.

No, we d'ont use two films, only one before big copper electro 
deposition.

To make trough hole in a Double face PCB, in a first time you drill 
in PCB plate with 17.5 microns copper on the 2 faces.

You go to chemical process, 

Permanganate (desmear),
Pre-dip
Dip
Henhancer
Micro-etch

A this moment, you dry the plate, brushing, an you put the dry film 
on the plate with laminator.

Normaly, your dry film is an negative photo emulsion.
You make thes UV exposition + developpement.

Normaly, at your pad and your track you can see the base copper.
(negative)and on hal the plate you have the dry film; inverse at you 
obtain at this.

You make the copper electro deposition,
The electro copper go inside the hole and on the pad and the track, 
not on the rest off the plate, the dry film protect.

You continue in an other tank with an other bath Fluoboric acid + Tin 
or Tin-lead anode.

You make also an electro deposition, 10 or 12 minutes at 1.4 Amp Dm2

After, you disolve the dry film, you obtain:

The base copper 17.5 micron, only on the pad and track, copper 
deposition from you first bath,+- 17.5 microm copper + tin or tin-
lead deposition.

The problem is for etching, Fe3Cl is not a good way, hi etch all, but 
if you use amonium persulfate, you etch the copper and not the tin or 
tin lead on the pad + trace + holes.

After etching, you put special oil ont the Plate, and make a fusion 
of the tin or tin-lead, you can make with a heat gun, way not.

Your PCB is finish with Tin or tin-lead, and you have a nice aspect, 
very glossy for tin or tin-lead.

The principe for electro deposition for Tin or Tin-lead is the same 
off copper, but an other bath and other anode.

Bath is: Fluoboric acid + watter + Tin fluoborate or + Lead 
fluaborate + brigtner, thats all.
Attention, some dangerous, his etch this glass, and etch the brill.

The coposition for copper bath is Sulfuric acid + watter + copper 
sulfate + brigner, thats all.

For gold immersion, this is an other system very very hight price
After etching, you disolve the tin or tin lead, put the solder mask, 
green ink, and continue to an chemical imersion line , normaly 8 or 
10 different bath, Micro etching to obtain a pur copper, a new dip, a 
new henhancer, a gold preparation, the gold ionic transfer, a hardner 
and big rinc watter, the gold ionic transfer is an cyanate bath, very 
dangerous, not drink...

This is so so expensive, and the gold are not gold, but an 
association with a little gold and an other, i d'ont remeber, it come 
after. The gold is price hight an not so hard.

Good reflexion for your trough hole plating line and congratulation, 
because is not simple to process little serias PCB.

Patrick 

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...> 
wrote:
>
> Patrick,
> 
> First off, your english is better than my french :-) Many thanks 
for 
> taking the effort!
> 
> Thanks for the insight here. I'm lucky enough to have 17.5micron 
base 
> material, but you are right that I of course end up having to etch 
away 
> 35microns with my aproach.
> 
> The amperage I use is based on recommendations of the bath 
manufacturer 
> (which seems to be J-Chem btw.). I obviousely only have experience 
based 
> on my real small setup - I never worked in the PCB industry and as 
such 
> followed the instructions given to me to the letter. :-) I could of 
> course run the board with a smaller ampereage. So far I did not 
> experienced drawbacks from not doing so, but its only lately that I 
have 
> a somewhat higher demand for boards.
> 
> Interesting aproach you describe really. I have to try this out. 
> However, what makes me wonder a bit - I figure you then have to use 
two 
> films right? I may misunderstand the process thoug.... But if I get 
that 
> right, I would have to build up copper in the holes (obviousely) 
and 
> where the traces otherwise are.If you use two film sets, I'm not 
sure if 
> that would pay off here cause makeing the films is one of the more 
> expensive parts here. In other words, using the copper bath and 
etchant 
> (Fe3Cl in my case) a bit more seems cheaper in the end. Still, very 
> interesting and I may will try this out. Could be that it would pay 
off 
> especially with very fine traces. I sucessfully made 5 mil traces 
> already (did not had a board that requiered 4 mil which is from 
what I 
> understand also the end of the rope in the industry) but making 
them in 
> fact is a bit demanding in terms of etching (etch process is often 
> stopped to check, bord must be repositioned etc. something I of 
course 
> can do in my "one off" kind of aproach).
> 
> Could you tell me a bit more about how you do the tin electro 
deposition 
> process? I actually use a kind of tin paste that I apply to the 
board 
> and then use a heat gun... Probably a bit crude, but it works. I'm 
> however intersted to hear what alternatives I might would have. Do 
you 
> think it would be feasable to make gold imersion, and if so, how 
would 
> that have to be done?
> 
> Markus
> 
> tsescrl schrieb:
> >
> > Markus,
> >
> > I appreciate your reflexion for copper electroiltic bath.
> >
> > For me, English is not simple...
> >
> > Yes, this is a problem to obtain a good result in small tanks and 
he
> > is also many money and techical approch to obtain the same result
> > from the profesional PCB industry.
> >
> > The pro-industry look also for a good stable process in the time 
for
> > big square meter production.
> >
> > If i have answer your question about dry film.
> >
> > In industry, after metalisation baths, pre-dip, dip, henhancer 
etc,
> > you have 2 possibility.
> >
> > #1 Just a difference what you explain, go directly to electrolitic
> > copper bats, but just a few minute, just to create the copper 
hole, 3
> > or 5 microns, go to dry film, exposure, developpement and return 
to
> > copper baths for the rest to 17.5 microns.
> >
> > #2 directly after metalisation bath, no electrolitic copper, go
> > directly to dry film, exposur, devellopement, and come in
> > electrolitic bath to ceate 17.5 microns deposition.
> >
> > Why this process,
> >
> > 1, Minder comsomation off copper bath, and important, to etch, the
> > etch process is so speed, you have only 17.5 or 22 microns to 
etch.
> >
> > If you make copper electrolityc bath for the entire 17.5 microns 
you
> > have base material 17.5 microns(in indudtry only 17.5 microns) + 
17.5
> > microns from electrolitic deposition, is it 35 microns to etch,
> > double etch consomation to make only output your 17.5 microns
> > déposition.
> >
> > This is a stupid action,- make to distroy - .....
> >
> > And, i think you use base matérial 35 microns + 17.5 microns 
electro
> > deposition.
> >
> > You obtain 52 or 55 microns copper to etch, so bigger for life 
time
> > of the etch bath.
> >
> > Other problem occur, etching a big copper cause under-etch problem
> > for the fine line, you obtain fine line look a kabalero cigar...
> >
> > He is preferable to make the copper electro deposition only is
> > necessary.
> >
> > But, to make this process, is necessary make the insolation in
> > négative, normaly all dry film make directly negative image from a
> > positive film.
> >
> > Also, your developement bath have a long time life because he
> > develope only pad and track an not the inverse.
> >
> > Normaly, after copper electro deposition, you have also tin or 
tin-
> > lead electro deposition, you put out your dry film, and etch with
> > amonia solution or persufate, he destroy the copper and not tin or
> > tin-lead.
> >
> > Yes i understand, the is an other way, but it work very very fine.
> >
> > The air pressure in industry is very important to obtain a 
oxidation
> > in bath copper for long time life.
> >
> > If you use big amperage per dm2, the problem occur is a non
> > equilibration off the brigtner A and B, normaly in the same
> > concentration, and is so difficult to make a reequilbration.
> >
> > You brigtner normaly come in 2 séparate bottle A and B, or only 
one
> > with A and B in the same concentration.
> >
> > Yes for the filtration, but not for a long time, residue come 
from 2
> > origin, 1 from anodic film is created on the anode, the anode 
become
> > black, and if you put overamperage, the exess copper oxide go to 
the
> > filter, if you d'ont filter this excess, after a short time, your
> > anode d'ont have a good distribution off copper and you make a
> > consomation off your copper inside the bath, and the bath dead.
> >
> > And 2 from the little epoxy fiber from your plate, is necessary 
put
> > out the glass fiber, if not, you obtain inclusion in your drill
> > metelalised holle, and the hole have a no good copper deposition.
> >
> > Patrick
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> > <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Markus Zingg <homebrew-
pcb@>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Patrick,
> > >
> > > Your input is highly apreciated. However, I made the experience
> > that
> > > wiht the very small tanks I use (remember, 4 liters for the 
copper
> > > solution, 2 for the others) it turned out that some shortcuts 
are
> > possible.
> > >
> > > #1 I tried air agitation. It did NOT change ANYTHING to better 
or
> > to
> > > worse. So one really can savely omitt this.
> > >
> > > #2 I can run the copper solution at 2.5 t 3 amperes per Dm2 of
> > visible
> > > copper. Since you mention dry film resist, you must obviousely 
use
> > a
> > > different aproach (care to explain it to us?) than I do cause at
> > the
> > > time I thru plate, I have no laminate on the PCB. The laminate 
is
> > > applied there after. That way, I can reduce the time in this 
bath
> > to 20
> > > - 25minutes. Not that I usually care that much though, but I 
made
> > > experiments with less ampères and again, it did not changed the
> > quality.
> > > Of course, if I go really to 3+ amps what you describe starts to
> > happen
> > > (mat surface, small nails on the borders etc.).
> > >
> > > #3 the anode bags (polypropylene) is not THAT important for me
> > cause I
> > > always empty the tanks after use and every now and then filter 
the
> > tank
> > > contents while doing so. I fully agree that they are "nice to 
have"
> > > cause they probably could omitt the filtering but it's really 
easy
> > to do
> > > so while emptying the tanks versus getting bags that fit the 
size
> > of the
> > > home made anodes seems difficult.
> > >
> > > All other statements you made are also along my experience. 
Again,
> > I
> > > think above differences have to do with the very much smaller 
tanks
> > I
> > > use versus your setup - right?
> > >
> > > Markus
> > >
> > >
> > > tsescrl schrieb:
> > > >
> > > > Hello,
> > > >
> > > > For Anodes copper, very necesary use "PHOSPHORIC COPPER"
> > > >
> > > > For me, after 20 year using electrolitic copper bath, is no
> > heating,
> > > > to min 15° centigrade.
> > > >
> > > > Attention for the surface of the anodes, anodic surface is
> > maximum,
> > > > but very very maximum 1/2 the surface of the plate per faces.
> > > >
> > > > Normaly, use 1.6 Amps per Dm2 of visible copper surface, not 
the
> > > > print surface, but only the copper you see after insolation 
and
> > > > develop dry film is so little wat you think.
> > > >
> > > > Use also 40 minutes electrolitic immersion time and you 
obtain a
> > good
> > > > result, normaly, 17.5 microns déposition.
> > > >
> > > > The déposition is glossy, if you obtain a mat surface, you are
> > higt
> > > > for the ampérage.
> > > >
> > > > In first time, with a new bath, attention with the brigtner, 
not
> > add
> > > > bigger, is necessary a long time before add replenisher 
brigtner.
> > > >
> > > > For brigtner, you add replenisher if you see the external 
coin are
> > > > mat.
> > > >
> > > > For a new bath, use a brush plate, just a double face plate, 
no
> > dry
> > > > film, put on the bath, and use 0.2 Amp per dm2 to 2 hours, 
your
> > bath
> > > > is started, all the impurity is go, and important, your 
anodes is
> > > > flashed, normaly hi come black.
> > > >
> > > > After 2 our, your plate is very glossy.
> > > >
> > > > Also important, put your anodes in a polypropilene sac, al the
> > > > impurity go not in bath.
> > > >
> > > > Very important, if you d'ont use the bath for a long time, 
put out
> > > > the anode, and look for the watter évaporation, adjust only 
with
> > > > deminéralised watter, only, no chemestery.
> > > >
> > > > For anode, you can obtain to "AMPERE" in France, very nice
> > matérial,
> > > > also for tin or tin-lead anode.
> > > >
> > > > For electrolityc bath, normaly is also a pump and a filter to 
make
> > > > recirculation.
> > > >
> > > > Is also very important you have pressure air with a ramp in 
the
> > > > bottom off the tank with small drilling holle, the air go to 
the
> > top
> > > > off the bath, just a little pressure
> > > >
> > > > Put this ramp just at the bottom of the plate.
> > > >
> > > > Good ammusement, best regards, and d'ont hésitate to ask me.
> > > >
> > > > Pleasure
> > > >
> > > > Patrick Belgium Europe
> > > >
> > > > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> > <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>
> > > > <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Markus Zingg 
<homebrew-
> > pcb@>
> > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Hi Suske,
> > > > >
> > > > > I obviousely don't care too much from where you get the
> > chemistry
> > > > as
> > > > > long as it hopefully works out well for you :-). In other
> > words, I
> > > > > apreciate the service Bungard is providing and as such wish
> > them a
> > > > > looong life. Apart from this I'm not related to them in any
> > ways. :-
> > > > )
> > > > >
> > > > > For the heaters, I use just dirt cheap regular aquarim 
heaters.
> > The
> > > > only
> > > > > thing to watch out here is that they usually don't go up to 
the
> > > > > temperature you need. However, they are (usually, check with
> > what's
> > > > > available at your place) built using bimetal switches to 
switch
> > the
> > > > > power on and off. The ones I found here (really the very
> > cheapest
> > > > ones,
> > > > > I use 100W heaters) have inside a little plastic part that 
sits
> > on
> > > > a
> > > > > fine threaded screw which is what you turn from outside to 
set
> > the
> > > > > temperature. That plastic part is having a nose to limit
> > > > the "hottest"
> > > > > end position. By simply cutting of that nose you can modify 
the
> > > > heaters
> > > > > so as they go up to the requiered 75 degree celsius. There 
is
> > > > usually no
> > > > > problem or security issue involved here apart from the 
obivous
> > > > safety
> > > > > handling of such heaters. The heaters are made for such
> > > > temperatures.
> > > > > Those for the aquarium are just limitted so as the average
> > aquarium
> > > > user
> > > > > does not end up unintentionally boiling the fishes.... :-) 
Just
> > > > make
> > > > > sure you never turn the heaters on if they are not 
COMPLETELY
> > > > flodded in
> > > > > the fluid or else the surrounding glass will instantly 
break.
> > > > >
> > > > > As far as the anodes go I think the phosphor is important 
to get
> > > > good
> > > > > results. I bougth my material from a source here in 
Switzerland
> > > > > (Haeuselmann Metalle) which is carrying different alloys of
> > copper.
> > > > One
> > > > > of them is having a small percentage of phosphor in it. So 
you
> > may
> > > > shop
> > > > > around a little up until you find such a source. If you have
> > found
> > > > an
> > > > > alternative source for the chemistry - why not ask them for 
a
> > > > pointer to
> > > > > annodes? Professionals use copper nuggets in titanium 
containers
> > > > which
> > > > > are then flodded in the copper solution and at least those 
must
> > be
> > > > > available near you if there are also board houses since 
this is
> > > > what
> > > > > they use. As a last straw, you could use such nuggets, melt 
them
> > > > and
> > > > > found anodes this way. I of course also could buy you the 
raw
> > > > material
> > > > > here at the 1:1 costs of what I pay. However, shipping the 
~2KG
> > of
> > > > > material might be a bit costly but feel free to get back to 
me
> > if
> > > > that's
> > > > > what you want.
> > > > >
> > > > > HTH
> > > > >
> > > > > Markus
> > > > >
> > > > > _bojan_ schrieb:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Hi Markus,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Thanks a lot for your writing.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Another detail ar fluid heating. Bungard use PTFE plated 
large
> > > > area
> > > > > > heaters. What did you use for fluids heating in tanks?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > What about anodes, can I use some copper plate or I must 
use
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > that
> > > > > > sulphurised copper.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > B.T.W. I am on the way to get my chemicals but not from
> > > > Bungard. ;)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Best regards,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Suske
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-08 by dandumit

Patrick and Markus, THANK YOU !
I am following this group for more than one year but your revealings
shared here it is the first professional  information that I have
found it here. Are indeed some ingenious hacks in this group too but
you two deserve a prize.  I would like you to have some beers on my
account or a bottle of wine.

Continuing on trough hole plating :
1. Patrick - your solution it is very ingenious to have more simple 
holes plated and ready etched. I have understood that in this process
you use the film positive (tracks and pads are black) and the
photoresist negative. This spray :
http://www.crceurope.com/csp/web/ProdDisp.csp?lng=3&country=ALL&product=TRANSPARANT%2021&business=ELECTRONIC
Makes a regular printer paper transparent to UV light. Could you
please tell us what could be used to replace it ? (of course a cheaper
version). This way a regular laser print could be used as a film !

Patrick could you also give us some recipes some of baths ? Did you
prepared at your work or you have bought them from a specialized company ?

2. Suske - could you share with us from where do you plan to buy the
chemicals for baths ?

Kind Regards,
Daniel

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-08 by tsescrl

Hello,

Thanks for beer, here in Belgium we love beer...

You pupose a transparent spray for paper, wy not.

But, for photoresist, is necesary you expose with strong UV due to 20 
microns higth of the photoresist ==> is also necesary you have a very 
hard black film on pads and track normaly density 3 or 4.

But in industy, we d'ont use the black and transparent film, this 
film is the original film come from a lazer photoplotter.

We make a copy of the original film for 2 raison.

1, If we have a production problem ( foot on film, scratch...) we 
have a good original to make a new copy.

But an other very important raison:

With the black and transparent film, you d'ont see correctly to 
adjust your film and center the holes in the center of your pads.

We make a copy on a diazo amber film.

This film have an orange or amber transparent color on pads and 
tracks, he stop very strong the UV, and you can see the hole to 
adjust and register the pad in hole center.

This film is so simple to make, this film is an autopositive process, 
exposition with UV from your exposur unit, and developpement in vapor 
amonia, the same for architechtural plant.

We use A film from "ROHM&HAAS" type "ULTRAYIELD 200 or 300 or 310"
The problem for you is to obtain smal quatity, only box with 100 film.

But also the problem for you is to obtain a film have the correct 
dimmension, if you drill with a little CNC, you are correct with the 
coordinate "X" and "Y", bur your image have a deformation due to 
lazer cook.

But, for little dimension PCB perhaps you d'ont see this deformation.

I have a friend hi make a transparent on a inkjet printer, EPSON, and 
in A3, he have no deformation, this printer have 2 position scale for 
the 2 axes, and i am very impresioned with the precision if i see the 
difference of price of my photoploter and this little non expensive 
printer...

After print on the transparent, we make a copy on diazofilm, and no 
problem to expose with UV on dry film.

For dry film, we use "LAMINAR 5038" form "ROHM&HAAS"

The diazo film exist also from other fabricator, DUPONT and an other 
in Zwitserland.

Also with a friend, we make test with direct inkjet printing on the 
PCB plate after métalisation with special ink.

He is a group on YAHOO, and different site with this techinque.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/08/how_to_direct_to_pcb_ink_jet_
r.html

http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcb/etch/directinkjetresist.htm

I have a big interest for this procedure for ptototype, because, no 
film, no copy, no dry film, no developement.

For direct inkjet image for simple face and etch with Fe3cl, non 
problem, the problem is for make a registration if i drill before 
inkjet printing, we see also in the futur if the special ink is 
resistant in copper and tin-lead electolitic bath.

We see, and make information to you in a few week.

For chemical trouhg holes line, from 10 year ago, i have make mysef 
the bath, but new procces are come on the market, and now we use a 
complete chemical line from "ROHM&HAAS" this proces is the "CRIMSON 
LINE" before, the name of this company is "SHIPLEY" he have good 
representation in europe and in USA.
But hi exist also an other system from "MACK DERMIT" this is 
the "BLACK HOLE".
From Bungard, i d'ont now the origin of the chemical, Bungard is not 
a fabricator of chemical, perhaps he make little bottle conditionment 
for you, i think this is an good idea for your market.

For copper and Tin or Tin-lead electro deposition, i make myself, 
this 2 bath are very stable, 8 or 10 years time life, no problem.

Just i buy the brigtner to "ROHM&HAAS" the brigtner is so difficult 
to make, this is a special preparation of "PEPTONE", hi come of 
muscle of animal, yes yes.

Other:

After etching with the process i have decribe, your Tin or tin-lead 
is MAT, to obtain glossy, is necesary to make a fusion with higt 
température oil, and heat gun, not automobile oil...but special oil, 
and this oil is clean after with watter and little of "DEFT" or "PER" 
or other liquid spons, the same use your wife to clean after 
heat...this oil is watter soluble.

To make start up solution for copper electro plating:
For 100 litres:

Demineralised watter : 54.00 liter
Sulfurik acid : 11.00 liter
Liquid copper sulfate: 29.00 liter
Brigtner type M : 4.00 litre
Brigtner type B : 0.25 litre
Brigtner type L : 0.25 litre
Ad the rest with demineralised watter.
Attention with Sulfiric acid, only acid in watter and not inverse 
watter in acid = explosion, very very dangerous!!!use glove and brill.
Add Sulfiric acid very very slowly, because you have big temperature 
elevation
Liquid copper sulfate is a 68.7 gr/litre special electro.

To make Tin-Lead start up solution electro plating:
For 100 litres:

Demineralised watter   : 50.00 litres
Fluoborik acid at 50%  : 30.00 litres
Borick acid             : 1.5 Kg disolved in warm watter before
Tin fluoborate at 50%  : 6.75 litres
Lead fluoborate at 50% : 2.25 litres
Brigtner A             : 1.75 litre
Brigtner B             : 1.75 litre
Brigtner R             : 1.00 litre
Complete with demineralised watter.
Put a back with 5 kilos of borick acid in a coin of thank permanently


Good amusement

Patrick





--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "dandumit" <dandumit@...> wrote:
>
> Patrick and Markus, THANK YOU !
> I am following this group for more than one year but your revealings
> shared here it is the first professional  information that I have
> found it here. Are indeed some ingenious hacks in this group too but
> you two deserve a prize.  I would like you to have some beers on my
> account or a bottle of wine.
> 
> Continuing on trough hole plating :
> 1. Patrick - your solution it is very ingenious to have more simple 
> holes plated and ready etched. I have understood that in this 
process
> you use the film positive (tracks and pads are black) and the
> photoresist negative. This spray :
> http://www.crceurope.com/csp/web/ProdDisp.csp?
lng=3&country=ALL&product=TRANSPARANT%2021&business=ELECTRONIC
> Makes a regular printer paper transparent to UV light. Could you
> please tell us what could be used to replace it ? (of course a 
cheaper
> version). This way a regular laser print could be used as a film !
> 
> Patrick could you also give us some recipes some of baths ? Did you
> prepared at your work or you have bought them from a specialized 
company ?
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> 
> 2. Suske - could you share with us from where do you plan to buy the
> chemicals for baths ?
> 
> Kind Regards,
> Daniel
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-09 by _bojan_

Hi to all of you,

This is an eruption of very very useful information and tank you all.:)

Yesterday I visit an board house and man who is boss there, promise me hi
will help me to setup my TH plating
station. I will buy chemicals from they but first I must setup station
what will take me some time.

Daniel, it is an local board house and in fact they do not
sell chemicals, but we have good cooperation in last several years,
therefore they will help me.

Oh man, I must now find some plastic plates for
tank walls. I am so busy this days. Maybe it will wait some free time to
start that project. I'll see.

Best regards

Suske


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-10 by dandumit

Patrick, thank you for this precise and good informations ! Please
keep doing this. Next week I will go to a local distributor for
chemicals to  build first the tin plating bath (I will keep ask you
for details).

Regarding the hole plating, look what I have saved few years ago on my
local computer - and I think that's belonging to Mr Zingg :
http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine.html
http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine2.html
http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine3.html
http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine4.html
http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine5.html
http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine6.html
http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine7.html

Unfortunately the original site is not working anymore.

Small descriptive diagram about this process (I think that MegaUK it
is reseller of Bungard).
http://www.megauk.com/through_hole_plating.php

Talking about alternative solutions to this complicate baths :
Silver and Copper trough hole (STH PCB)
http://www.eecoswitch.com/Catalog%20Files/cat_sth.htm
http://www.creativematerials.com/products/conductive-inks.html
http://www.thinktink.com/stack/volumes/volvi/condink.htm
http://www.achesonelectronicmaterials.com/doc/pds/USA/Ed461ss.pdf
LKPF has a similar solution and a video tutorial about usage.

Kind Regards
Daniel

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-10 by Markus Zingg

Patrick,

I'm in the lucky position that I can get chemistry from ROHM&HAAS 
through a local board house kind enough to give away small quantities 
(ok, I have to pay for the really expensive stuff, but a lot less than 
at other places). Unfortunately the local ROHM&HAAS supplier is not 
willing to directly sell to me due to the way too small quantities I 
would take (even if I buy their smallest containers, aparently this is 
too much work for them for the money). Anyways, since I can get it 
thorugh the board house I don't care too much about that aspect.

Do I asume correctly that your references to Brighner 'A', 'B', 'R' and 
so on you refer to products from ROHM&HAAS? Is " Tin fluoborate" also a 
product from there?

As for the film makeing, I'm using an Epson Stylus C62 ink jet printer. 
Unfortunately THIS little print wonder (really, you can't compare this 
with other regular inkjets) is no longer produced. However, I heard from 
people in a german PCB forum that the Cannon Pixma 4500 is in the same 
league and this one is still actively produced and sold. These printers 
produce very high quality results when you print on overhead 
transparencies from Avery/Zweckform (250x series). One must set the 
driver to use "glossy quailty photopaper" (or similar). Such film is 
very well suited to be used with photoresist. The only drawback here is 
that if you print big areas in black, the amount of ink used will be 
impressive. In fact, that's the reason why I think that the method you 
presented of using dryfilm on the PCB during thru plating will probalby 
be more expensive for me versus the way I do it now (cause in my case 
most areas of the film don't have to contain ink), but again the process 
seems intersting, and especially the fact of having a higher quality 
finish with the tin plating is tempting. Do you also have a recipe to 
make a lead free thin plating bath?

In order to position the film, I usually print diagonal 6mm diameter 
rings (inner diameter is 3.1mm) outside of the PCB area (well, I always 
make PCBs as a small pannel which surrounds the real PCB which is cut 
out as the last step) and then I use a home made film puncher to 
precisely punch 3mm holes. The extra 0.1mm then helps me to very very 
precisely alling the film on the puncher using my eitght times 
magnifying head googles. I also drill 3mm holes through the whole PCB 
stack (in case of makeing multilayers) using a small CNC drill as one of 
the very first steps of the PCB makeing process. Since the exposer unit 
is also having holes in the glass at those positions, I can simply stick 
the film over the laminated base material and then expose. This way I 
get a precision good enough for the process. It's true though that one 
must work very carefully here.

Your statement " The diazo film exist also from other fabricator, DUPONT 
and an other in Zwitserland." Seems intersting to me. Could it be that 
you meant "Switzerland"? If so, I would be interested to hear the name 
of this firm.

Markus

tsescrl schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Hello,
>
> Thanks for beer, here in Belgium we love beer...
>
> You pupose a transparent spray for paper, wy not.
>
> But, for photoresist, is necesary you expose with strong UV due to 20
> microns higth of the photoresist ==> is also necesary you have a very
> hard black film on pads and track normaly density 3 or 4.
>
> But in industy, we d'ont use the black and transparent film, this
> film is the original film come from a lazer photoplotter.
>
> We make a copy of the original film for 2 raison.
>
> 1, If we have a production problem ( foot on film, scratch...) we
> have a good original to make a new copy.
>
> But an other very important raison:
>
> With the black and transparent film, you d'ont see correctly to
> adjust your film and center the holes in the center of your pads.
>
> We make a copy on a diazo amber film.
>
> This film have an orange or amber transparent color on pads and
> tracks, he stop very strong the UV, and you can see the hole to
> adjust and register the pad in hole center.
>
> This film is so simple to make, this film is an autopositive process,
> exposition with UV from your exposur unit, and developpement in vapor
> amonia, the same for architechtural plant.
>
> We use A film from "ROHM&HAAS" type "ULTRAYIELD 200 or 300 or 310"
> The problem for you is to obtain smal quatity, only box with 100 film.
>
> But also the problem for you is to obtain a film have the correct
> dimmension, if you drill with a little CNC, you are correct with the
> coordinate "X" and "Y", bur your image have a deformation due to
> lazer cook.
>
> But, for little dimension PCB perhaps you d'ont see this deformation.
>
> I have a friend hi make a transparent on a inkjet printer, EPSON, and
> in A3, he have no deformation, this printer have 2 position scale for
> the 2 axes, and i am very impresioned with the precision if i see the
> difference of price of my photoploter and this little non expensive
> printer...
>
> After print on the transparent, we make a copy on diazofilm, and no
> problem to expose with UV on dry film.
>
> For dry film, we use "LAMINAR 5038" form "ROHM&HAAS"
>
> The diazo film exist also from other fabricator, DUPONT and an other
> in Zwitserland.
>
> Also with a friend, we make test with direct inkjet printing on the
> PCB plate after m\ufffdtalisation with special ink.
>
> He is a group on YAHOO, and different site with this techinque.
>
> http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/08/how_to_direct_to_pcb_ink_jet_ 
> <http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/08/how_to_direct_to_pcb_ink_jet_>
> r.html
>
> http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcb/etch/directinkjetresist.htm 
> <http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcb/etch/directinkjetresist.htm>
>
> I have a big interest for this procedure for ptototype, because, no
> film, no copy, no dry film, no developement.
>
> For direct inkjet image for simple face and etch with Fe3cl, non
> problem, the problem is for make a registration if i drill before
> inkjet printing, we see also in the futur if the special ink is
> resistant in copper and tin-lead electolitic bath.
>
> We see, and make information to you in a few week.
>
> For chemical trouhg holes line, from 10 year ago, i have make mysef
> the bath, but new procces are come on the market, and now we use a
> complete chemical line from "ROHM&HAAS" this proces is the "CRIMSON
> LINE" before, the name of this company is "SHIPLEY" he have good
> representation in europe and in USA.
> But hi exist also an other system from "MACK DERMIT" this is
> the "BLACK HOLE".
> >From Bungard, i d'ont now the origin of the chemical, Bungard is not
> a fabricator of chemical, perhaps he make little bottle conditionment
> for you, i think this is an good idea for your market.
>
> For copper and Tin or Tin-lead electro deposition, i make myself,
> this 2 bath are very stable, 8 or 10 years time life, no problem.
>
> Just i buy the brigtner to "ROHM&HAAS" the brigtner is so difficult
> to make, this is a special preparation of "PEPTONE", hi come of
> muscle of animal, yes yes.
>
> Other:
>
> After etching with the process i have decribe, your Tin or tin-lead
> is MAT, to obtain glossy, is necesary to make a fusion with higt
> temp\ufffdrature oil, and heat gun, not automobile oil...but special oil,
> and this oil is clean after with watter and little of "DEFT" or "PER"
> or other liquid spons, the same use your wife to clean after
> heat...this oil is watter soluble.
>
> To make start up solution for copper electro plating:
> For 100 litres:
>
> Demineralised watter : 54.00 liter
> Sulfurik acid : 11.00 liter
> Liquid copper sulfate: 29.00 liter
> Brigtner type M : 4.00 litre
> Brigtner type B : 0.25 litre
> Brigtner type L : 0.25 litre
> Ad the rest with demineralised watter.
> Attention with Sulfiric acid, only acid in watter and not inverse
> watter in acid = explosion, very very dangerous!!!use glove and brill.
> Add Sulfiric acid very very slowly, because you have big temperature
> elevation
> Liquid copper sulfate is a 68.7 gr/litre special electro.
>
> To make Tin-Lead start up solution electro plating:
> For 100 litres:
>
> Demineralised watter : 50.00 litres
> Fluoborik acid at 50% : 30.00 litres
> Borick acid : 1.5 Kg disolved in warm watter before
> Tin fluoborate at 50% : 6.75 litres
> Lead fluoborate at 50% : 2.25 litres
> Brigtner A : 1.75 litre
> Brigtner B : 1.75 litre
> Brigtner R : 1.00 litre
> Complete with demineralised watter.
> Put a back with 5 kilos of borick acid in a coin of thank permanently
>
> Good amusement
>
> Patrick
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, "dandumit" <dandumit@...> wrote:
> >
> > Patrick and Markus, THANK YOU !
> > I am following this group for more than one year but your revealings
> > shared here it is the first professional information that I have
> > found it here. Are indeed some ingenious hacks in this group too but
> > you two deserve a prize. I would like you to have some beers on my
> > account or a bottle of wine.
> >
> > Continuing on trough hole plating :
> > 1. Patrick - your solution it is very ingenious to have more simple
> > holes plated and ready etched. I have understood that in this
> process
> > you use the film positive (tracks and pads are black) and the
> > photoresist negative. This spray :
> > http://www.crceurope.com/csp/web/ProdDisp.csp? 
> <http://www.crceurope.com/csp/web/ProdDisp.csp?>
> lng=3&country=ALL&product=TRANSPARANT%2021&business=ELECTRONIC
> > Makes a regular printer paper transparent to UV light. Could you
> > please tell us what could be used to replace it ? (of course a
> cheaper
> > version). This way a regular laser print could be used as a film !
> >
> > Patrick could you also give us some recipes some of baths ? Did you
> > prepared at your work or you have bought them from a specialized
> company ?
> >
> > 2. Suske - could you share with us from where do you plan to buy the
> > chemicals for baths ?
> >
> > Kind Regards,
> > Daniel
> >
>
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-10 by Markus Zingg

Suske,

I'm glad to hear that my tip getting in touch with a local board shop 
also payed off for you. I can only encureage others to do the same thing.

Markus

_bojan_ schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Hi to all of you,
>
> This is an eruption of very very useful information and tank you all.:)
>
> Yesterday I visit an board house and man who is boss there, promise me hi
> will help me to setup my TH plating
> station. I will buy chemicals from they but first I must setup station
> what will take me some time.
>
> Daniel, it is an local board house and in fact they do not
> sell chemicals, but we have good cooperation in last several years,
> therefore they will help me.
>
> Oh man, I must now find some plastic plates for
> tank walls. I am so busy this days. Maybe it will wait some free time to
> start that project. I'll see.
>
> Best regards
>
> Suske
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-10 by Markus Zingg

Daniel,

My site was hosted on a server of my former provider, that was the 
reason why it's no longer online. Then, I meanwhile have re-constructed 
the station quite a bit and intend to publish that work soon. I just did 
not wanted to publish the old design due to the fact that the new one is 
superior.

Markus

dandumit schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Patrick, thank you for this precise and good informations ! Please
> keep doing this. Next week I will go to a local distributor for
> chemicals to build first the tin plating bath (I will keep ask you
> for details).
>
> Regarding the hole plating, look what I have saved few years ago on my
> local computer - and I think that's belonging to Mr Zingg :
> http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine.html 
> <http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine.html>
> http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine2.html 
> <http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine2.html>
> http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine3.html 
> <http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine3.html>
> http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine4.html 
> <http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine4.html>
> http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine5.html 
> <http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine5.html>
> http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine6.html 
> <http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine6.html>
> http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine7.html 
> <http://www.dioda.ro/tutorial/TroughHole_MZingg/Welcome%20to%20the%20homebrew%20through%20plating%20machine7.html>
>
> Unfortunately the original site is not working anymore.
>
> Small descriptive diagram about this process (I think that MegaUK it
> is reseller of Bungard).
> http://www.megauk.com/through_hole_plating.php 
> <http://www.megauk.com/through_hole_plating.php>
>
> Talking about alternative solutions to this complicate baths :
> Silver and Copper trough hole (STH PCB)
> http://www.eecoswitch.com/Catalog%20Files/cat_sth.htm 
> <http://www.eecoswitch.com/Catalog%20Files/cat_sth.htm>
> http://www.creativematerials.com/products/conductive-inks.html 
> <http://www.creativematerials.com/products/conductive-inks.html>
> http://www.thinktink.com/stack/volumes/volvi/condink.htm 
> <http://www.thinktink.com/stack/volumes/volvi/condink.htm>
> http://www.achesonelectronicmaterials.com/doc/pds/USA/Ed461ss.pdf 
> <http://www.achesonelectronicmaterials.com/doc/pds/USA/Ed461ss.pdf>
> LKPF has a similar solution and a video tutorial about usage.
>
> Kind Regards
> Daniel
>
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-02-10 by tsescrl

Hello Markus,

The Diazo film from zwitserland is "FOLEX" type "DENSOTRANS"
http://www.folex.ch/index.php?
cat=21&sid=9aaecd1adb9906cfcd05c7d36d21acb0

Go to "Broschûren Download"

Folex have also other product for ink jet printer but i have not use.

For Fluoborate Tin and Fluroborate Lead, this soap come from "RIDEL 
DE AAN, CALDIC".

You can obtain from "AMPERE" in France, but the problem is also for 
the little quantity, only in 25 liter box, and this bath is only use 
for the make up solution, this bath are so expensive, and the 
quantity for make up your bath is so little.

http://www.ampere.com/indexmov.htm

Very very nice for your registation punching system, you obtain the 
same result in pro production, we use a similar method.

The problem for you, is to abtain specialised bath in smal quantity, 
i understand very well this, i thing also, if you take an arrangement 
with PCB pro productor, is an good idea, but, i thing also some door  
get close, but perhaps if you have a good simpatical contact with a 
pro PCB boss this the good way.

With my old copper bath, the refference of brigtner is "1200 -A-" 
and "1200 -B-" and "1200 -M"

For Tin- Lead fluoborate, the reference are "280 -A-", "280 -B-" 
and "280 -M-".

But this reference is old reference, now, i think they are other new 
reference, i thing now the process is "AVANTAGE 2000"

The Fluborate soap are an old system, but this is an so stabil bath, 
and simple to use, he exist also new soap bath, but i have hurt, so 
difficult to the replenisher conduction.

I think also, the direct inkjet image are in the start but for me i 
think the good futur way.

For Daniel, I have see the different Http, very very fine way for 
little tank, just, i am impressed with the proximity of electrical 
and liquid, but wy not

For the description of PTH process, yes , this is a good way, you 
thing is a complicate system, i thing no no, normaly in pro 
production, we have 20 or 24 bath with watter rinc.

These little tank is nice, but also expensive for you, we are here on 
a middle machine to make prototype in pro production.

For the ink electrical conduction, i think this is not the good way 
to obtain Troughs holes, this ink are use also in PCb production, but 
only by screen process to obtain the base for front panel toutch.

This ink are also use to make flexible ribon with bus line, you have 
the same in your inkjet printer.

This ink process use sylver or carbon paste.

I think also MegaUK have arrangement with Bungard and Cadware in Cz

http://www.cadware.cz/cad305e.htm

We can see the same material.

Hwo is the origina l producer, mistake... but Cz have perhaps the 
good price.

I can say, the little photoploter by Cadware are make by Cadware.

But i think also we are in a middel machine, and so expensive for 
Home make PCB, is necessary to make reflexion to obtain good result 
with non expensive machine and process.

For tank in pro production, we use "prolypropilen" plastic material 
and this is assembled with warm air special gun, for 
example, "LEISTER" system, "TRIAC S or PID" + special nozzle. 

Good injoy with PCB.

Patrick







--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...> 
wrote:
>
> Patrick,
> 
> I'm in the lucky position that I can get chemistry from ROHM&HAAS 
> through a local board house kind enough to give away small 
quantities 
> (ok, I have to pay for the really expensive stuff, but a lot less 
than 
> at other places). Unfortunately the local ROHM&HAAS supplier is not 
> willing to directly sell to me due to the way too small quantities 
I 
> would take (even if I buy their smallest containers, aparently this 
is 
> too much work for them for the money). Anyways, since I can get it 
> thorugh the board house I don't care too much about that aspect.
> 
> Do I asume correctly that your references to Brighner 'A', 'B', 'R' 
and 
> so on you refer to products from ROHM&HAAS? Is " Tin fluoborate" 
also a 
> product from there?
> 
> As for the film makeing, I'm using an Epson Stylus C62 ink jet 
printer. 
> Unfortunately THIS little print wonder (really, you can't compare 
this 
> with other regular inkjets) is no longer produced. However, I heard 
from 
> people in a german PCB forum that the Cannon Pixma 4500 is in the 
same 
> league and this one is still actively produced and sold. These 
printers 
> produce very high quality results when you print on overhead 
> transparencies from Avery/Zweckform (250x series). One must set the 
> driver to use "glossy quailty photopaper" (or similar). Such film 
is 
> very well suited to be used with photoresist. The only drawback 
here is 
> that if you print big areas in black, the amount of ink used will 
be 
> impressive. In fact, that's the reason why I think that the method 
you 
> presented of using dryfilm on the PCB during thru plating will 
probalby 
> be more expensive for me versus the way I do it now (cause in my 
case 
> most areas of the film don't have to contain ink), but again the 
process 
> seems intersting, and especially the fact of having a higher 
quality 
> finish with the tin plating is tempting. Do you also have a recipe 
to 
> make a lead free thin plating bath?
> 
> In order to position the film, I usually print diagonal 6mm 
diameter 
> rings (inner diameter is 3.1mm) outside of the PCB area (well, I 
always 
> make PCBs as a small pannel which surrounds the real PCB which is 
cut 
> out as the last step) and then I use a home made film puncher to 
> precisely punch 3mm holes. The extra 0.1mm then helps me to very 
very 
> precisely alling the film on the puncher using my eitght times 
> magnifying head googles. I also drill 3mm holes through the whole 
PCB 
> stack (in case of makeing multilayers) using a small CNC drill as 
one of 
> the very first steps of the PCB makeing process. Since the exposer 
unit 
> is also having holes in the glass at those positions, I can simply 
stick 
> the film over the laminated base material and then expose. This way 
I 
> get a precision good enough for the process. It's true though that 
one 
> must work very carefully here.
> 
> Your statement " The diazo film exist also from other fabricator, 
DUPONT 
> and an other in Zwitserland." Seems intersting to me. Could it be 
that 
> you meant "Switzerland"? If so, I would be interested to hear the 
name 
> of this firm.
> 
> Markus
> 
> tsescrl schrieb:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > Thanks for beer, here in Belgium we love beer...
> >
> > You pupose a transparent spray for paper, wy not.
> >
> > But, for photoresist, is necesary you expose with strong UV due 
to 20
> > microns higth of the photoresist ==> is also necesary you have a 
very
> > hard black film on pads and track normaly density 3 or 4.
> >
> > But in industy, we d'ont use the black and transparent film, this
> > film is the original film come from a lazer photoplotter.
> >
> > We make a copy of the original film for 2 raison.
> >
> > 1, If we have a production problem ( foot on film, scratch...) we
> > have a good original to make a new copy.
> >
> > But an other very important raison:
> >
> > With the black and transparent film, you d'ont see correctly to
> > adjust your film and center the holes in the center of your pads.
> >
> > We make a copy on a diazo amber film.
> >
> > This film have an orange or amber transparent color on pads and
> > tracks, he stop very strong the UV, and you can see the hole to
> > adjust and register the pad in hole center.
> >
> > This film is so simple to make, this film is an autopositive 
process,
> > exposition with UV from your exposur unit, and developpement in 
vapor
> > amonia, the same for architechtural plant.
> >
> > We use A film from "ROHM&HAAS" type "ULTRAYIELD 200 or 300 or 310"
> > The problem for you is to obtain smal quatity, only box with 100 
film.
> >
> > But also the problem for you is to obtain a film have the correct
> > dimmension, if you drill with a little CNC, you are correct with 
the
> > coordinate "X" and "Y", bur your image have a deformation due to
> > lazer cook.
> >
> > But, for little dimension PCB perhaps you d'ont see this 
deformation.
> >
> > I have a friend hi make a transparent on a inkjet printer, EPSON, 
and
> > in A3, he have no deformation, this printer have 2 position scale 
for
> > the 2 axes, and i am very impresioned with the precision if i see 
the
> > difference of price of my photoploter and this little non 
expensive
> > printer...
> >
> > After print on the transparent, we make a copy on diazofilm, and 
no
> > problem to expose with UV on dry film.
> >
> > For dry film, we use "LAMINAR 5038" form "ROHM&HAAS"
> >
> > The diazo film exist also from other fabricator, DUPONT and an 
other
> > in Zwitserland.
> >
> > Also with a friend, we make test with direct inkjet printing on 
the
> > PCB plate after métalisation with special ink.
> >
> > He is a group on YAHOO, and different site with this techinque.
> >
> > 
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/08/how_to_direct_to_pcb_ink_jet_
 
> > 
<http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/08/how_to_direct_to_pcb_ink_jet
_>
> > r.html
> >
> > 
http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcb/etch/directinkjetresist.htm 
> > 
<http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcb/etch/directinkjetresist.htm>
> >
> > I have a big interest for this procedure for ptototype, because, 
no
> > film, no copy, no dry film, no developement.
> >
> > For direct inkjet image for simple face and etch with Fe3cl, non
> > problem, the problem is for make a registration if i drill before
> > inkjet printing, we see also in the futur if the special ink is
> > resistant in copper and tin-lead electolitic bath.
> >
> > We see, and make information to you in a few week.
> >
> > For chemical trouhg holes line, from 10 year ago, i have make 
mysef
> > the bath, but new procces are come on the market, and now we use a
> > complete chemical line from "ROHM&HAAS" this proces is 
the "CRIMSON
> > LINE" before, the name of this company is "SHIPLEY" he have good
> > representation in europe and in USA.
> > But hi exist also an other system from "MACK DERMIT" this is
> > the "BLACK HOLE".
> > >From Bungard, i d'ont now the origin of the chemical, Bungard is 
not
> > a fabricator of chemical, perhaps he make little bottle 
conditionment
> > for you, i think this is an good idea for your market.
> >
> > For copper and Tin or Tin-lead electro deposition, i make myself,
> > this 2 bath are very stable, 8 or 10 years time life, no problem.
> >
> > Just i buy the brigtner to "ROHM&HAAS" the brigtner is so 
difficult
> > to make, this is a special preparation of "PEPTONE", hi come of
> > muscle of animal, yes yes.
> >
> > Other:
> >
> > After etching with the process i have decribe, your Tin or tin-
lead
> > is MAT, to obtain glossy, is necesary to make a fusion with higt
> > température oil, and heat gun, not automobile oil...but special 
oil,
> > and this oil is clean after with watter and little of "DEFT" 
or "PER"
> > or other liquid spons, the same use your wife to clean after
> > heat...this oil is watter soluble.
> >
> > To make start up solution for copper electro plating:
> > For 100 litres:
> >
> > Demineralised watter : 54.00 liter
> > Sulfurik acid : 11.00 liter
> > Liquid copper sulfate: 29.00 liter
> > Brigtner type M : 4.00 litre
> > Brigtner type B : 0.25 litre
> > Brigtner type L : 0.25 litre
> > Ad the rest with demineralised watter.
> > Attention with Sulfiric acid, only acid in watter and not inverse
> > watter in acid = explosion, very very dangerous!!!use glove and 
brill.
> > Add Sulfiric acid very very slowly, because you have big 
temperature
> > elevation
> > Liquid copper sulfate is a 68.7 gr/litre special electro.
> >
> > To make Tin-Lead start up solution electro plating:
> > For 100 litres:
> >
> > Demineralised watter : 50.00 litres
> > Fluoborik acid at 50% : 30.00 litres
> > Borick acid : 1.5 Kg disolved in warm watter before
> > Tin fluoborate at 50% : 6.75 litres
> > Lead fluoborate at 50% : 2.25 litres
> > Brigtner A : 1.75 litre
> > Brigtner B : 1.75 litre
> > Brigtner R : 1.00 litre
> > Complete with demineralised watter.
> > Put a back with 5 kilos of borick acid in a coin of thank 
permanently
> >
> > Good amusement
> >
> > Patrick
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> > <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, "dandumit" <dandumit@> 
wrote:
> > >
> > > Patrick and Markus, THANK YOU !
> > > I am following this group for more than one year but your 
revealings
> > > shared here it is the first professional information that I have
> > > found it here. Are indeed some ingenious hacks in this group 
too but
> > > you two deserve a prize. I would like you to have some beers on 
my
> > > account or a bottle of wine.
> > >
> > > Continuing on trough hole plating :
> > > 1. Patrick - your solution it is very ingenious to have more 
simple
> > > holes plated and ready etched. I have understood that in this
> > process
> > > you use the film positive (tracks and pads are black) and the
> > > photoresist negative. This spray :
> > > http://www.crceurope.com/csp/web/ProdDisp.csp? 
> > <http://www.crceurope.com/csp/web/ProdDisp.csp?>
> > lng=3&country=ALL&product=TRANSPARANT%2021&business=ELECTRONIC
> > > Makes a regular printer paper transparent to UV light. Could you
> > > please tell us what could be used to replace it ? (of course a
> > cheaper
> > > version). This way a regular laser print could be used as a 
film !
> > >
> > > Patrick could you also give us some recipes some of baths ? Did 
you
> > > prepared at your work or you have bought them from a specialized
> > company ?
> > >
> > > 2. Suske - could you share with us from where do you plan to 
buy the
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > > chemicals for baths ?
> > >
> > > Kind Regards,
> > > Daniel
> > >
> >
> >
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-12-21 by trevwhite74

Hi all. 

I am looking at sorting out my own plating process based on the great
information in this message. I do not think it would have been
possible without the fantastic work done here. 

I was wondering what the latest is with using the system. Has it
proven reliable? I did get in touch with a company that supply the
chemicals and one point they brought up was disposal of the chemicals.
Are there any safe practices for getting rid of the used chemistry?

It would be great to get all the information sorted out for the whole
process. I would be happy to put the work in to process the pages and
put them up on a website somewhere if it helps. It seems the original
place is a bit broken. Maybe a googlepage could be created. Maybe just
a nice document for this group? Anyway, the information is so great it
would be a shame to not make it available to others if that is the
original intention?


Anyway, really interested to here more about this process in action.

Trev


--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...>
wrote:
>
> Suske,
> 
> I'm glad to hear that my tip getting in touch with a local board shop 
> also payed off for you. I can only encureage others to do the same
thing.
> 
> Markus
> 
> _bojan_ schrieb:
> >
> > Hi to all of you,
> >
> > This is an eruption of very very useful information and tank you
all.:)
> >
> > Yesterday I visit an board house and man who is boss there,
promise me hi
> > will help me to setup my TH plating
> > station. I will buy chemicals from they but first I must setup station
> > what will take me some time.
> >
> > Daniel, it is an local board house and in fact they do not
> > sell chemicals, but we have good cooperation in last several years,
> > therefore they will help me.
> >
> > Oh man, I must now find some plastic plates for
> > tank walls. I am so busy this days. Maybe it will wait some free
time to
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > start that project. I'll see.
> >
> > Best regards
> >
> > Suske
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
>

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-12-21 by Markus Zingg

Trev,

The disposal of the chemistry for a setup the way I use it is much less 
of a problem than it may seems. This is because

a) Most of the chemistry is the SAME I originally sat up 5 years ago. 
It's still ok and as such there was nothing to dispose. I.e. the copper 
bath for the electrolytics is one you probably can't kill ever :-)

b) Other baths just have to be replished with either distilated water or 
some more chemistry.

The palladium bath is definately the most delicate one. I had to replace 
it already about five times (if you want once every year). At the size 
of my containers (2.2 liters for all baths except the copper one which 
is 4.4liters) this does not really give a lot to dispose and the costs 
for getting the expensive chemistry for this bath is also very 
reasonable (~$20).

I just bring the used chemistry to the same place I also bring the used 
etchant. Where I live, such small quantities can be given to any 
drugstore. Here they are obliged to take such chemistry back and then 
it's then collected at the drugstores once every month by a public 
service and brought to a professional place that deals with it 
acordingly. I'm aware that this is something which is probably different 
in every country. The all important thing is that everywhere there is 
chemistry which must be disposed propperly (i.e. painture etc. etc.) and 
if you ask your local gouverment I'm sure you get the right guidance.

I for myself of course use my through plating and well, the complete PCB 
manufacturing I do exclusively for prototypes. I never ever would want 
to make a "series" production this way no matter how small it would be. 
In other words, I use a professional PCB service for everything that 
goes into production. I consider boards I make for personal use of 
course to be prototypes.

As for the web page, I know I'm "behind". I will set up such a page. I 
alredy registered a domain for it and belive it or not, I'm truly 
working on it right now :-). That of course should not hinder you to set 
up whatever page/information you like. I just want to state that I will 
put up the pages as promissed. Workload job wise just slowed things 
down, and since I have quite something in mind about it it will also 
take some more time until it's ready.

HTH

Markus

trevwhite74 schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
>
> Hi all.
>
> I am looking at sorting out my own plating process based on the great
> information in this message. I do not think it would have been
> possible without the fantastic work done here.
>
> I was wondering what the latest is with using the system. Has it
> proven reliable? I did get in touch with a company that supply the
> chemicals and one point they brought up was disposal of the chemicals.
> Are there any safe practices for getting rid of the used chemistry?
>
> It would be great to get all the information sorted out for the whole
> process. I would be happy to put the work in to process the pages and
> put them up on a website somewhere if it helps. It seems the original
> place is a bit broken. Maybe a googlepage could be created. Maybe just
> a nice document for this group? Anyway, the information is so great it
> would be a shame to not make it available to others if that is the
> original intention?
>
> Anyway, really interested to here more about this process in action.
>
> Trev
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Suske,
> >
> > I'm glad to hear that my tip getting in touch with a local board shop
> > also payed off for you. I can only encureage others to do the same
> thing.
> >
> > Markus
> >
> > _bojan_ schrieb:
> > >
> > > Hi to all of you,
> > >
> > > This is an eruption of very very useful information and tank you
> all.:)
> > >
> > > Yesterday I visit an board house and man who is boss there,
> promise me hi
> > > will help me to setup my TH plating
> > > station. I will buy chemicals from they but first I must setup station
> > > what will take me some time.
> > >
> > > Daniel, it is an local board house and in fact they do not
> > > sell chemicals, but we have good cooperation in last several years,
> > > therefore they will help me.
> > >
> > > Oh man, I must now find some plastic plates for
> > > tank walls. I am so busy this days. Maybe it will wait some free
> time to
> > > start that project. I'll see.
> > >
> > > Best regards
> > >
> > > Suske
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-12-21 by trevwhite74

Glad you are setting up a page. You really deserve a lot of credit for
this. My offer really was to help with your documentation. After all
it is all your work. 

I am really interested in the process and really fancy trying it out.
I also think it is great that you have shared all the information with
others. 

I have actually found some plastic containers at the local
supermarket. They are 5L capacity and fit a board up to size
200mmx270mm which is more than enough. They have sealable lids to
them. I think this will really help with keeping the chemistry. What
is most amazing is that they cost just �2 each. 

I need to read up again about the electrical side of your process.
That sounds like it needs a bit of work to build. Do you have any more
information available at present regarding that side of things?
Schematics, etc?

Another thing that I have been looking at is using glass. I do not
know how well this will work out but do you think it is possible to
adapt this system to plate glass?

Trev

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-12-21 by Markus Zingg

I haven't used glass ever, but provided you manage to make the glass 
conductive, copper will deposite. It's likely that you can do this with 
the palladium bath, it's another question though wether the copper will 
stick to the glass or just fall off.

In terms of copper, I think using a foil with a glue is the way I think 
where your chances of sucess are the best. You then still could use 
through plating to plate the holes. Especially this makes kind of sense 
to me cause it also would help to make the copper stick to the glass. 
Wether the glue would react with the chemistry is yet another question 
though....

I think this is something you either find someone with the needed 
experience or else you are left with experimenting. As always in such 
cases, you don't know at the beginning if it's going to be very 
difficult or if you find a working solution quickly.

I don't think it's a good idea to start with 5 liter tanks unless you 
really need this size because of the size of the PCBs. For chemistry 
cost reasons but also handling and storeing space etc, I ended up 
makeing all containers on my own cause only this way I could make them 
as small as possible. The benefit of this is that you get away with a 
minimum of the chemistry and a setup that you can handle easily and 
safely. Remember, the baths HAVE to be replished and especially in case 
of the palladium one replaced. The bigger the bath, the more you pay 
every time it happens.

As for more information, schematics, measures, materials etc.etc. - I 
beg you to wait for the pages to be finished cause otherwise I end up 
documenting everything multiple times.

HTH

Markus

trevwhite74 schrieb:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Glad you are setting up a page. You really deserve a lot of credit for
> this. My offer really was to help with your documentation. After all
> it is all your work.
>
> I am really interested in the process and really fancy trying it out.
> I also think it is great that you have shared all the information with
> others.
>
> I have actually found some plastic containers at the local
> supermarket. They are 5L capacity and fit a board up to size
> 200mmx270mm which is more than enough. They have sealable lids to
> them. I think this will really help with keeping the chemistry. What
> is most amazing is that they cost just \ufffd2 each.
>
> I need to read up again about the electrical side of your process.
> That sounds like it needs a bit of work to build. Do you have any more
> information available at present regarding that side of things?
> Schematics, etc?
>
> Another thing that I have been looking at is using glass. I do not
> know how well this will work out but do you think it is possible to
> adapt this system to plate glass?
>
> Trev
>
>

Re: THRU HOLE PLATEING

2008-12-21 by trevwhite74

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Markus Zingg <homebrew-pcb@...>
wrote:
>
> I haven't used glass ever, but provided you manage to make the glass 
> conductive, copper will deposite. It's likely that you can do this with 
> the palladium bath, it's another question though wether the copper will 
> stick to the glass or just fall off.
> 
> In terms of copper, I think using a foil with a glue is the way I think 
> where your chances of sucess are the best. You then still could use 
> through plating to plate the holes. Especially this makes kind of sense 
> to me cause it also would help to make the copper stick to the glass. 
> Wether the glue would react with the chemistry is yet another question 
> though....
> 
> I think this is something you either find someone with the needed 
> experience or else you are left with experimenting. As always in such 
> cases, you don't know at the beginning if it's going to be very 
> difficult or if you find a working solution quickly.
> 

Well I must admit I think I will just enjoy playing around with this
and see where it takes me. Thanks for the thoughts though. The group
has been great...

> I don't think it's a good idea to start with 5 liter tanks unless
you....

Well my thought was to add some mass to the containers to reduce the
actual capacity inside. Maybe just some plain old sheets of acrylic.
The benefit with these containers is that I do not have to worry about
leaks. I also do not have to try and make all the containers. For now
anyway. I also think these containers will be very strong and with the
air tight lids to them they will store the chemistry very well. That
is my hope anyway. 

> As for more information, schematics, measures, materials etc.etc. - I 
> beg you to wait for the pages to be finished cause otherwise I end up 
> documenting everything multiple times.
> 

Well I look forward to reading your new site soon. If there is any way
I can help then please let me know. 

Trev

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