After a good handful of projects that I've had to hand solder every component and wire, I've found that it gets old real quick and many mistakes can be made super easy...
I've decided to try to get away from that and I'm curious to if any body can recommend a pcb etching system or kit?
Will I need some software to draw the circuit?
What will I need from project concept to finish product?
A PCB reduces errors, but how does it get you away from soldering?
I would still have to solder but not as much since I won't have to solder wires from component to component.
Pre-face:
WIth todays prices... unless you need an IMMEDIATE pcb (for prototyping or something).. there is not much benefit from home etching then sending out for professionally made from a fab house.. (and probably cheaper too!).
I get 10 boards for roughly $10 bucks (smaller boards..bigger board go up in price of course).. this is without shipping as well.
That being said.. I have home etched many boards..
single side board.. not an issue,
double sided boards become a pain.. not only for alignment.. but getting power/signals from top to bottom..
(it really is an art if you want to do quality home etched boards)
Top dumb it down.. (please read up on all safety matters,, gloves, eye wear.. disposal...etc)
***And there are many ways to do each step..
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You more or less print our your 'board design' (traces....pads..etc).. you can use wither specific 'blue/carbon' paper to transfer (transfer paper)...... or use some glossy photo paper and a laser printer.
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you transfer the board design to the copper clad board.. (if you are using gloss photo paper.. you will use an iron to transfer the printed image form the paper to the copper board)
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once transfer is complete.. you then remove the paper and wash off any residue.. leaving the laser printer 'ink' boneded to the copper board.
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you put this board into the 'etching solution'... warm and agitated solution is best... after a few minutes.. the exposed copper is eaten away .. leaving only the transferred image..
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you then lightly scrub off the 'ink',, leaving the copper traces/design underneath.
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populate with components.
Hi,
You are in the exact same boat i was in not even a year ago.Nothing i had no knowledge of making PCB's or how to use the software so i got myself a etching kit from Maplins and started downloading and trying different PCB software ,After many many hours of following tutorials etc i ended up using Diptrace (Free version),I did try Eagle and many other programs but i found diptrace was the one for me.
I have never used the Maplin kit as once i had what i believed was a perfect design (it was not it had 3 errors DOH) i sent it of to JLCPCB , i got 10 boards for less than 7 uk pounds delivered and they look fantastic with my name all over them,I have since had 3 more PCB made by JLCPCB and each time i am blown away by the quality..
I routinely make PCBs with DIY stuff and have a system down that uses UV-transfer onto sensitized boards that works well for me.
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Learn how to use EAGLE, not propriety stuff for fab-labs like PCB Express - those will hinder you. Seriously, Eagle is awesome and super-easy to use after you get past the initial learning curve. And first thing you do with it: learn how to draw your own components to build up a custom library, this will save a huge amount of time in the long run.
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Print your PCB image to a file as a PDF, import into Inkscape (free) to finalize image, or invert if you're using Negative Exposure UV film.
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Print PCB traces onto a transparency and use UV-A LEDs to transfer image to board. I used perf-board to make an array of LEDs and fit that inside a box below a layer of acrylic spaced above the LEDs such that the emitting angle of the bulbs creates an even exposure on the board when placed on top of the acrylic. Exposure time is around 5-10 minutes.
For double-sided boards, print an extra copy of the transparency and use that as a guide to pre-drill the vias, and use the holes in the board as a guide to get the images lined up on both sides.
- Develop using 2% NaOH, and etch.
I've found that making my own photosensitve boards is rather easy. I buy the roll of laminate and pre-cut the film to be slightly larger than my board. Then after cleaning the copper surface and sanding the cut edges of the board smooth, I lay the film on the board under COLD running water and use a squeegee to remove air bubbles. Then I pat dry with a paper towel, and run the board through a laminator, protected in between a folded piece of paper. I usually run the board through 3-4 times, waiting a moment for the heat to dissipate off the board between runs to ensure consistency and prevent damaging the film from excess heat. This saves a ton of money versus buying the pre-senstitized boards, although the pre-sensitized ones seem to give a higher resolution of fine-traces, but you'll find your printer to be the main limiting factor in terms of dimensional resolution you can achieve.
As mentioned above, a lot of fab-shops can have decent prices. But if you're just looking for a one-off board, or if you'll be going through multiple iterations of the design (which you almost 100% will), or are simply impatient, then (IMO) home-brew PCB is the way to go as it will allow you faster turnaround, lower prices, more room for error, and easier post-fab modifications or corrections.
Other methods I've tried and quickly abandoned are the toner-transfer method and laser-engraving through a mask. Toner transfer is super-frustrating and highly unpredictable. Laser engraving may have worked better the right mask, but with spray-paint there tended to leave a film and didn't give great resolution.
Since moving to smd components, 44-64tqfp chips and dense double sided pcbs, home etching is practically impossible any more....
Ps: Wished i had learned kicad instead of Eagle. Free for ever and gets better every day
haha, it was AFTER moving to making my PCBs that I fell in love with SMT. I've pretty much abandoned THM except where necessary.
That being said, I have a pretty hard time soldering anything smaller than 0805 parts, but even those aren't bad at all, depending on what you're doing.
Board complexity will definitely be a limiting factor, but I daresay many DIY 'duino projects wouldn't exceed home-brew capability.
what would you say are the benefits of kicad over eagle? eagle is also free, but you're limited to a certain number of layers and a board size of 100 x 100 mm with the free version. you also don't get auto-route, but I found that to be generally useless anyway.
To expand on this...
(since were talking part size and soldering/completing boards)..
I HIGHLY recommend every get a vinyl plotter.
I personally use an older version of the Silhouette Cameo..
I use some thin transparency film.. and I cut my own solder paste masks..
There is a little custom 'app' for taking gerber files and sending them to the viinyl cutter to get GREAT cuts.. (trying to use a DFX or whatever is a waste of time.. this take the gerber file in its natural form to cut from!)
You can read all about it here.. (I posted on it before).. or on the Dangerous Protoypes Forums
Form there.. you just take you newly cut mask/stencil..
lay it over your 'pcb'.. use whatever credit card style piece of plastic to squeegee some solder PASTE over it...
remove the stencil.. and your left with nice little blobs of solder paste where your pads/components will go.
populate with components and some tweezers..
and I throw into a toaster oven I got form Wal-Mart for $17... and in 5 minutes.. I have a professional looking board..
Fit into the size of a watch face. (TASM/spider-man watch)
And another (heavily populated board)
Everything is 0603 sized caps/resistors as well... (just an FYI on size)
Re: Eagle vs Kicad
I use Eagle... but if I started now.. I would be chasing Kicad instead.
Eagle was (is?) the standard for a very long time.. HUGE community support.. tons of parts/libraries and add-ons.
Once you understand it was built to use a '3' button mouse (left, right and mouse wheel).. you will get a better workflow and what menus appear form what actions..
Now that is been bought out by Autocad... its pretty much a death sentence for everyone except those who have their jobs/companies pay for it..etc..
I was just at the eagle page, and they still have a freeware version for non-commercial applications that will do 2 signal layers and schematics per board of up to an area of 80 cm2. That doesn't seem to have changed in the last couple years; I'm not sure when they were bought out.
NO.. the 'free version' is still the same... (2-layers, and a small, limited dimension/size)..
For myself... that works, because I try to make as small of boards as I can. (I usually do electronics for props and stuff.. so they need to be small and fit into tiny places..etc)
Bought out in the last year or two.. I believe..
Autocad might change the agreements at any time though.... its theirs to do with as they wish.
Wow, thanks for the info and insight guys
I make my own PCBs using UV method.
I can etch, drill, solder, a 5” X 5” (250 holes) board in ~2 hours.
However, you must have all the chemicals, UV light source, PCB software, clear acetate, drill press and bits and the photo sensitive PCB material.
I can get the same board delivered from China to Canada delivered into my hands in 6 days, @ 10 boards 5x5 inches.
$150, this includes delivery.
And their boards have solder masking. 
Too old, too lazy to do multiples any more , but still, I DIY for one of a kind PCBs.
Oh, my boards are single sided 
theirs are double sided 
Here is an old thread:
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=177629.0
I downloaded eagle... it looks like its a lot to learn. seems like a bit of a pain in the ass too. a project that I intend to start uses a TP4056, reg09b (3.3v VR), a teensy 3.2, and a amg8833.... and they are obviously on their own separate boards.
will I be able to download the schematics of those board and edit/combine them as needed?
There are quite a few places you can pre-built libraries. Here a few helpful ones:
DIY-Modules
Sparkfun Library
Adafruit Library
Also, once you've drawn a custom part once or twice, you get the hang of it and can do them in just a couple minutes by looking at the datasheet.