Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: Admin on May 04, 2007, 02:46:05 PM

Title: make your own PCB tutorial
Post by: Admin on May 04, 2007, 02:46:05 PM
An avid SoR reader writes in to suggest his really good tutorial on making your own PCB:

Quote
Hi There,

My name is Nir Shaknay and I just noticed your nice web site.
I didn't know about your site until today and I find it very good. Really.
Robotics and electronics is close to my heart and I am actually building a
new robot these days.

I decided to make a nice contribution to the community of robotics
enthusiasts and therefore I made a web page with great explanation of how to
make printed circuit boards at home.

I believe this page will be very useful for many robot builders across the
globe.

Please visit me at http://www.epages.co.il and enjoy my site.
I would appreciate if you could add it to your links at the electronics
section.
Be sure to see a link to your site as well.

Let me know what do you think about it.

Best Regards,

Nir Shaknay,
Israel.
Title: Re: make your own PCB tutorial
Post by: ed1380 on May 04, 2007, 03:35:17 PM
Bookmarked, but I'll stick with DIP for now.
Title: Re: make your own PCB tutorial
Post by: dunk on May 04, 2007, 04:29:37 PM
i use a very similar technique.
while Nir is using a press in the oven i use a clothes iron to transfer the toner.
just iron the back of the paper and the toner sticks to the copper.

the thing that takes longest with setting up this whole process is finding the right paper.
you want a paper that laser toner doesn't stick to very well.
the paper i'm using didn't look like it was going to work until i accidentally printed and transfered the image from the wrong side of the paper. (there is a high quality side and a reverse side to this paper.) it took me ages to be able to repeat the process successfully as i hadn't realised i'd used the wrong side.

soaking the paper in water before peeling it off helps the toner stick to the board rather than the paper.

there are a few articles on the internet on this technique. some go into which papers can be used successfully.

like ed1380 says, it's simpler to stick to through hole DIP packages for prototypes but if you really need to use surface mount components or you need to make a few boards this is definitely a good thing to experiment with.

dunk.
Title: Re: make your own PCB tutorial
Post by: dunk on February 01, 2009, 10:23:22 AM
so i know this is an old topic but...

i just discovered a new paper for the toner transfer method.
the backing paper from sticky labels.

it's actually quicker and better than all the other papers i have tried. cheaper too.

so, to create a PCB,
1. get some sticky labels.
cut a square a little bigger than your PCB and peel the label off so you are left with the just the non stick backing.

2. in Eagle (or whatever PCB software you use) print the PCB onto a sheet of regular paper.
stick the square of label backing over where the PCB printed with sticky tape.
re-feed the paper (with the label backing taped to it) into the printer and re-print.
trim the printed label backing to the same size as the copper board you will be using.

3. iron the printed label backing onto the copper board.
be careful to only use straight down pressure. if you move the iron about the toner will get smudged.
there are some steam vents in the bottom of my iron so it is necessary to lift the iron off and reapply pressure a few times to make sure the toner has been stuck everywhere.
if you are doing a double sided board just quickly stick one side with your iron before turning over and positioning the other side then apply pressure to both sides at the same time.

4. cool the PCB under the cold tap and peel the paper off.
(no soaking of the paper is required like with many inkjet photo papers.)
some slight touching up is usually required with a permanent marker.

5. etch as normal.


dunk.
Title: Re: make your own PCB tutorial
Post by: galannthegreat on February 02, 2009, 02:54:49 PM
Check out this guy's youtube vid.(click on the toner transfer method one)
www.youtube.com/user/APDigitalLight (http://www.youtube.com/user/APDigitalLight)
PS the music on there should be on every tutorial vid on this site.
Title: Re: make your own PCB tutorial
Post by: frodo on February 02, 2009, 02:57:57 PM
makemagazine has a really good toner transfer PCB making method video step-by-step on youtube
Title: Re: make your own PCB tutorial
Post by: Webbot on February 02, 2009, 06:02:24 PM
This site is good http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs/ (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs/)

But if you sign up you may get 10 emails per day.