First attempt at solder masking

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Development
1

I know there are a lot of homebrew pcb makers here so I thought you might be interested in seeing a first attempt at using dry film solder mask.
Apart from a few obvious mistakes like guillotineing?... cutting the board to size after coating the solder resist, therefore chipping the edges, and not aligning the mask very well, everything went really well.

This added about £1.50 to the cost of producing this (6" x 7") board and two hours extra time (waiting time for curing of the laminate), but for a one off board it is worth it just for the improvement in appearance.
When I get a chance I will get some more pictures of the process from start to finish.

Edit: Forgot to add, there is a pro mini sits on the board somewhere.
Edit Edit: The board is square, the photo isn't.

2

Cool! What product are you using for solder mask?

--
The Quick Shield: breakout all 28 pins to quick-connect terminals

3

Are you just laminating the mask to the PCB? Where are you getting the film material from (and how much does it cost - one place I found online selling to the public, their film was $300.00 for a 12 inch by 40 foot roll!)? After lamination, how do you access the pads for soldering? Do you know of any online tutorials on the process?

:slight_smile:

4

It's the dry film solder mask here http://www.megauk.com/dry_film_laminators.php.

I most definitely did not use the £550 laminator on the same page, I used a £20 one from a local supermarket :slight_smile:

5

Very cool!

6

So you have to have a lamination machine to do this?

7

Yes, but not a hugely expensive one, a cheap one works perfectly well.

8

Hmm, my cheap machine has not enough clearance to deal with PCBs. What brands are you using to laminate PCBs?

Udo

9

It is rebranded by Tesco, a major supermarket chain here in the UK so there are no manufacturer names on it at all. It is made for 125 micron laminating pouches, but a 1.6mm pcb still passes through it ok.

I bought it to try toner transfer for pcb making but unfortunately it does not get hot enough for this without modifying the internal thermostat.

10

Any chance you could do a step by step on what you did, materials and such.

Understand if you don't have time, Thanks in advance.

11

yup i'd be interested in as step by step for several project i need to make my own pcb but all the DIY pcb methode just don't feel right