Custom boards at home without etching

PCB

PC board houses are getting more accessable and less expensive all the time. Some of us are even getting very, very good at making our own circuit boards at home. There are times, though, when a project or prototype requires an extremely cheap custom board right now, something etching a custom board won't allow. [KopfKopfKopfAffe] has a unique solution to this problem, able to create custom … [Read more...]

PCB production workshop means everyone gets an Arduino

nano

Over at the LVL1 hackerspace in Lousiville, [Brad] is putting together a workshop on etching PCBs at home. [Brad] wanted all the participants to take home something cool, so he settled on an Arduino clone as the workshop's project. The clone [Brad] used is the Nanino, a single-sided board we've seen before. Unfortunately, there aren't any CAD files for the Nanino and doing a toner transfer … [Read more...]

10 ways to etch PCBs at home

There are a ton of benefits for etching your own circuit boards at home, chief among them the ability to design a circuit in the morning and have a prototype in your hand by lunch. There's always the question of how to etch the board, but [NurdRage] over on Youtube has all the chemistry covered on ten different etchant solutions for DIY PCB manufacturing. The peroxide-based methods use simple … [Read more...]

Single sided Arduino is a great introduction to PCB etching

arduino

After you've taken the plunge and decided to learn how to etch your own circuit boards, you'll quickly find even the simplest boards are still out of your grasp. This is due mostly to the two-layer nature of most PCBs, and turn making a homemade Arduino board an exercise in frustration and improving your vocabulary of four-letter words. After looking around for an easy-to-manufacture … [Read more...]

Etching brass and copper with The Etchinator

robot

If you're in to making your own PCBs at home, you know the trials of etching copper clad boards. It's slow, even if you're gently rocking your etch tank or even using an aquarium pump to agitate your etching solution. [cunning_fellow] over on Instructables has the solution to your etching problems, and can even produce printmaking plates, jewelry, photochemically machine small parts, and make … [Read more...]

Etching your own PCBs at home

pcb

Etching your own PCBs from copper clad board is nothing new, but the ability to make your own circuit boards at home is so useful it should be part of every maker's repertoire of skills. The folks over at Hub City Labs in Moncton, NB, Canada put together a workshop covering the basics of home PCB manufacturing, allowing any maker to put a circuit board in their hands in under an hour. The … [Read more...]

PCB manufacturing tutorial

pcb

There comes a time in every maker's career where solderless breadboards won't do, perfboard becomes annoying, and deadbug is impossible. The solution is to manufacture a PCB, but there's a learning curve. After learning a few tricks from [Scott]'s awesome DIY PCB guide, it's easy to make your own printed circuit boards. There are a few basic steps to making a PCB. First is designing the board … [Read more...]