Circuit Skills: Circuit Board Etching, sponsored by Jameco

I very much enjoy making my own circuit boards. It’s a satisfying process that ties together my love of electronics with materials I used back in my art school days. It’s also the most accurate way to build a circuit short of sending away to a PCB manufacturer, and it’s much more fun.

Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, download the m4v video directly, or watch it on YouTube.

I actually got my start in electronics etching others’ designs I’d found online — long before I understood how they worked! Churning out fully-functional devices early on proved to be a great way to keep me motivated and making. The above video documents the ins and outs of my process, and can hopefully serve as a starting point for your own.

Materials I use for printing, etching, and drilling my own boards:

Transparency stock for laser printers (inkjet setups are likely as effective)
Nitrile gloves (thicker reusable gloves are good too)
Dust mask & eye protection
Good ventilation (if you can smell it – you’re breathing it!)
Inexpensive photo frame (or specialized exposure frame)
Red safe-light (optional – brief exposure to dim light is ok)
Chemicals – positive type developer, ferric chloride, nail polish remover (or acetone)
Pyrex dishes w/ lids (plastic storage containers work as well)
Desk or clip lamp + ~30W CFL bulb
Drill bits, .8mm, 1mm, 1.5mm (+ others, dependent on source design)
Small drillpress (or suitable dremel attachment)
Misc. tools – xacto knife, metal ruler, permanent marker, vacuum, etc.

Additional tips I’ve found helpful:

Warm developer and etchant do speed up the process, but keep an eye on your board’s progress!
Orient your design before printing (text should appear reversed in most cases)
Keep etchant away from any metal you don’t want etched – including stainless steel sinks!
Drilling holes systematically (i.e. left to right, top to bottom) can help prevent oversights
Keep the board clear while drilling to improve visibility/accuracy
Dedicate a workspace & prepare materials ahead of time (plastic drop-cloths are handy!)

As part of their sponsorship of these Circuit Skills videos, Jameco is offering two product bundles to help jumpstart those new to the realm of homemade PCBs -

19 Responses to Circuit Skills: Circuit Board Etching, sponsored by Jameco

Everlasting Phelps on February 17th, 2010 at 11:20 am said:

I originally read the first paragraph as “It’s also the most accurate way to build a short circuit.” Unfortunately, that’s true for most of my boards (the first time through). Xacto knife FTW!

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Dan Fekete on February 17th, 2010 at 12:26 pm said:

You can add a silkscreen to your board by printing a mirrored version of it on your laser printer, then ironing it onto the board.

Its basically the same process used for etching with a laser printer (http://www.riccibitti.com/pcb/pcb.htm), but without the etching…

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- Collin Cunningham on February 18th, 2010 at 4:52 am said:
  
  huh – good idea! How’s the text legibility of the final product. (I’ve often struggled w/ toner transfer myself)
  
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Gareth Branwyn on February 17th, 2010 at 2:06 pm said:

I just wanted to take a moment to publicly thank Jameco for being such a great company to work with on this project. We were fans of theirs before we worked with them and they’ve again proven why. It’s great that we can partner with them on this sort of really useful content. There are more “sponsored by Jameco” videos in the works, so stay tuned…

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bramm on February 17th, 2010 at 4:03 pm said:

Thanks, I’d like to try this.
Just how dangerous is the etchant and its fumes?

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- Nate on February 17th, 2010 at 6:12 pm said:
  
  I’ve never used the stuff they’re touting, so I can’t speak for the fumes…but if you just want to try your hand at it, check out the various Instructables on the subject.
  
  Use cupric chloride as the etchant (also on instructables) — it’s way cheaper for something you’re unsure of.
  
  My two favorite ‘ibles:
  http://www.instructables.com/id/Mostly-easy-PCB-manufacture/
  
  http://www.instructables.com/id/Stop-using-Ferric-Chloride-etchant!–A-better-etc/
  
  DEFINITELY not as clean and “professional” as the stuff in the video, but it’s a great starting point to see if it’s something you really want to invest in.
  
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- Collin Cunningham on February 18th, 2010 at 4:48 am said:
  
  I’ve nearly always worked with ferric chloride near a window fan so I haven’t gotten too familiar with its fumage. I do recall picking up a slightly metallic smell in the air on one or two occasions. I have also accidentally splashed it on clothing/hands back in the early days causing no physical damage (unless you count stubborn rust/orange stains).
  
  Suffice it to say, ferric chlorides nowhere near as stinky/noxious as acetone, or even cupric chloride (which I found has pretty narsty & acrid fumes). Of course, smell alone is by no means a scientific assesment, for that you should check the appropriate material safety data sheet -
  http://www.mgchemicals.com/msds/english/liquid/415-liquid.pdf
  
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Unclegummers on February 18th, 2010 at 10:41 pm said:

Hey Collin.

I don’t think this is a big deal, but When your taking your board out of the picture frame to put it into the developer, you need to keep the lights out.

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ksr on February 24th, 2010 at 8:44 am said:

Thanks for the great video, Any thoughts or links that discuss proper disposal of used chemicals?

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- Collin Cunningham on February 24th, 2010 at 2:06 pm said:
  
  Ferric chloride etchant can be disposed as a solid by mixing with Baking Soda -
  http://www.mgchemicals.com/techsupport/ferric_faq.html
  
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Charley Jones on March 11th, 2010 at 2:12 pm said:

Collin,

I’ve wanted to burn my own circuit boards for years, like 25+ or so. It’s always been too expensive with too much equipment to buy. The really simple Jameco setup was excllent, your video fantastic, and I’ve been able to create my own boards successfully using this system. And the boards come out FANTASTIC, I’m truly floored and amazed at the detail. Thank you so much for turing me onto this fast and easy system.

As a follow up, yes, please amend your video if possible for proper disposal methods. There’s been a lot of conflicting information on this. Secondly, please demonstrate if this system could be used to create dual sided boards. Single sided is great, but is dual layer possible with these crude methods?

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bramm on March 22nd, 2010 at 6:07 pm said:

Thanks a lot! I’m trying it myself now, but my results aren’t this good. How can you tell when you need new ferric chloride? Or do you use fresh etchant each time?

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- Collin Cunningham on March 22nd, 2010 at 7:06 pm said:
  
  Once I start to see some copper collect on the bottom of my etchant container, I know it’s on its last legs. I definitely get quite a few uses per batch – hard to say how many â€¦ 10-15 boards maybe?
  
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bramm on March 24th, 2010 at 5:32 pm said:

Thanks to your tutorial, I’ve just printed my first PCB!

My first attempts failed because because there was a thin layer of photo resist left, almost invisible in red light, that caused the etching to be messy.

I found out I had to use different timings, because I used PCB’s from Conrad (apparently they need more exposure) and natrium hydroxide as a developer.

These timings worked well:
- exposure: 25 minutes with a 11W energy saving bulb at about 6″ from the board
- developing: 400ml water at 24Â°C + 1/2 spoon natrium hydroxide (you think it’t OK to flush the used solution?)
Develop for about 15 minutes, agitate frequently.

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- flaxen on April 21st, 2010 at 5:45 am said:
  
  You shouldn’t flush it down.
  It contains some toxic stuff, so i wouldn’t.
  
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flaxen on April 20th, 2010 at 11:33 am said:

Is the 13 Watt CFL bulb like minimum?
Or will around 13 Watts or +/- a few Watts do?

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sparky3489 on April 16th, 2012 at 7:43 pm said:

So these type of boards are only available in 3″ X 4″? I also noticed Positive Pre-sensitized boards. What the difference between what was used in the video and these?

I’ve been using the Iron-on Transfer method for years with very good results. An example – http://sparky3489.webs.com/pcinterfaceproject.htm

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SJ on August 23rd, 2012 at 1:24 pm said:

What is the cheapest software to make the circuit board design?

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- Scott on August 23rd, 2012 at 6:27 pm said:
  
  CADsoft Eagle http://www.cadsoftusa.com/
  Can’t be any cheaper than free.
  
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