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Online Breaktru

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Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« on: June 06, 2012, 04:54:17 PM »
I make my PCB's using Eagle Cad software and print it to an HP LaserJet 2600n.
My first several attempts I used an Iron to transfer the image to thin magazine paper which did not stick to well.
Thinking that the iron was the problem I bought a GBC H-220 laminator and using the same magazine paper still could not get the image to stick. I successfully used a heavier magazine paper from my "Conservation" magazine.

In the photo, you will see that after competing the etchant wash, I removed part of the fiber finish on a portion of the board. Oh well, doesn't look pretty but who's going to see it.

Drilling tiny holes can be nerve racking when trying to steady the drill and hoping that you don't destroy a copper trace.
I found that drilling a hole into a piece of plexiglass is a good guide for drilling your holes into the PCB. After a few holes the plexiglass hole widens so new holes should be drilled to continue.

Eagle PCB Freeware: http://www.cadsoftusa.com/download-eagle/freeware/?language=en
ExpressPCB Freeware: http://www.expresspcb.com/




Slowing up your GBC H-220 Laminator for better heat transfer:
PDF: PDF on reversing Gears

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBM7p78B27k

Using toner transfer w/ an Iron:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urv6jArKp6M

Using a Laminator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whIsDraCf3I&feature=fvwrel

Light Sensitive Method:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWnfnt2rNO0
« Last Edit: June 25, 2012, 06:37:55 PM by Breaktru Admin »

Offline Barryg41

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2012, 05:29:18 PM »
I have seen most of these vids you posted and this is what I do to make my own pcb's.

I have a HP 1312 MFP Laser printer. I use oem cartrigages only. This will make a big difference on how your toner melts again. Other brands melt at different temps. I also use hp presentation paper. This has worked for me on the printing part.

Cleaning, I found that isopropyl alcohol is the best way to clean your pcb after you pass 600 grit paper over the pcb. I had issues with toner sticking to the pcb after using acetone. But you must make sure that it is clean of oil and finger prints.

The transfer part, I have a GBC Inspire laminator that only puts out 175f. So I make passes till the pcb is at 175f and then 5 more passes. Rotating 90 degrees every pass. Then I put the pcb in water for no less than 5 minutes, longer is better. The paper just lifts off with the toner staying on the pcb. pulling slowly!

Etching, muriatic acid (I have a salt pool) and hydrogen peroxide (I also have kids who swim in my pool) is the chemical mixture I use. 2 to 1, H2O2 to HCI room temp and your done in less than three minutes. Using a sponge brush helps speed up the process. This process is fast, so that you don't have etching under the toner on the copper traces.

I am still working on the process but so far this is working for me right now. I just etched last weekend. I found that printing your artwork just before using it is best. I had problems with an artwork that was printed 5 days before I needed it to transfer, it didn't go very good.

HTH's


Online Breaktru

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2012, 06:30:46 PM »
Very good info Barry, thanks for participating in this topic.
I do use OEM printer toner and wondered about printing the image too far in advance. I did print the image right before transferring because I did think it was better to do so. Now I know for sure, thanks.

I used #000 steel wool and then acetone. I was thinking the acetone was leaving a film after several failures so the final successful attempt, I rinsed the board after the acetone and dried with a cotton cloth. Got to try the alcohol next time.

Funny, I went to the Pool Store last week for Muriatic acid to clean my pool filter and the salesman told me to use PH minus. Do you think that would work for an Etchant with the hydrogen peroxide?  If I run out of Etchant I'll have to give it a try.

What did you use to remove the toner over the copper traces? I used acetone but it removed some of the fiber board coloring. Didn't damage the traces, they remained okay.

Offline Barryg41

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2012, 12:38:47 PM »
Hi Breaktru,

To be more accurate when preparing the pcb. I sand it with 600 grit paper, then wash it with soap and water. Then make a final wipe with alcohol before running it through the laminator. I make sure there is no grit left after the alcohol cleaning. Look at the paper towel that you use and make sure there is no black film on the paper. I usually just fold the paper towel down to a 2" by 2" square, then clean the pcb exposing a new side of the paper till nothing comes off the pcb. Hope this makes sense of what I am talking about.

Another thing I do is keep a 5 gal. bucket of water at my feet while etching. Just incase the gloves develop a hole. Plus when your finished with the etching process you can just drop the pcb in the bucket to dilute the etchant mix on the pcb. This stuff even eats stainless steel. Yes even your kitchen sink! Be very safe with this stuff. LOL As with any etchant!

To remove the toner I use Acetone, but I put the pcb's in a bowl using a foam brush just like the one I use for etching. It gets pretty much all of the toner off, rather than smearing it up against the trace sidewalls. I want a good clean pcb so that soldering is easy and fun not a pita. If you didn't know, toner is fine ground plastic, more like a dust. Your just reflowing it to a pcb with the laminator.

After that I use a tinning solution http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/421.html to help in preserving the copper layer from oxidation. It only takes 2 to 3 minutes for this solution to work. Usually pour enough to cover the pcb and pour the leftover back in the bottle. I don't know if this is good or not, but it is what I do right now.

Last weekends etching, I mixed up a a batch of etchant using 4 ounces of HP and 2 ounces of MA for a 6X4 pcb. It was still going strong when I was done with the pcb, I could of used half of what I mixed. So the answer to your question about PH minus (granualar), I think it would be much easier\better to use HP\MA mix. You should really read up how others are using this mix of chemicals.

I use tight fitting gloves and saftey glasses the whole time except when washing the pcb with soap and water.

Never leave this HP\MA etchant laying around for the afternoon. Just the fumes will eat metal of any kind. I left the bowl sitting on my radial arm saw for 2 hours while tinning the pcb. The next day the carbide tipped blade had a layer of rust on the side closest to the bowl of HP\MA. Cover it or get rid of it ASAP! Have all doors open to keep the air moving about as you work with the pcb.

 ;cheers;

Offline Pantera

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2012, 08:50:13 PM »
Good info Barry. Well written.
Is it true... I read this somewhere that some Toner manufactures switched to using "GREEN" toner (environment friendly) and it doesn't perform like the older toner does.

Offline CraigHB

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2012, 02:47:32 AM »
I make PCBs myself when I need something simple or if I just ned to mount some SMD components on my solderless breadboard.  I don't usually make my own PCBs when building a final version of a project, I send out for them.   

For a toner transfer medium, I found that Elle magazine paper works really well.  I've tried a bunch of different mediums over the years and the results I get with that particular paper are significantly better.  The paper they use has a lot of starch and just lifts off by itself after soaking in luke warm water for a few minutes.  Other mediums I've tried like various magazine papers and photo papers always require an amount of rubbing or brushing which invariably damages the toner.  I usually find a nice bit of white space on one of the advert pages to print on.  My wife has a regular sub to that magazine so I stockpile them for making PCBs.

For printing, I use an old HP Laserjet with an OEM cartridge.  Seems to work well enough, but I can have issues with pitting.  I mentioned it once in a forum somewhere and got a response that it's propably due to the toner.  Haven't worked that out yet.  I usually just go over any rough spots with a Sharpie. 

I modified a laminator for the actual toner transfer.  Works much better than an iron.  I pulled the guts out and bypassed the controller so the heater just cycles on an off with the over temperature cut-out switch on the bottom of the unit.  Gets it right up to the perfect temperature.  I don't recall the number exactly, but I measured it with my DMM and it was spot on.

I use Feric Chloride for etching.  You can make your own etchant with pool acid, but I haven't felt compelled to do that.  The Feric Chloride seems to work well enough and it's easy to get.

Offline Barryg41

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2012, 01:18:11 PM »
I had mentioned in one of my posts above that printing artwork ahead of time is not a good idea. This is the result of using artwork printed out 5 days in advance and artwork that was printed out just one hour before I needed it to transfer.

In my case it made a difference. It could be that sitting on my desk for 5 days it collected dust that I couldn't see.... :Thinking:

Offline jester

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2012, 10:17:39 AM »
i am thinking of doing some pcb s my self but i need to pick a laserjet printer up what is agood one but not to pricy i have tried some etchin it was ok for my first go cheers jester

Online Breaktru

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2012, 11:05:02 AM »
I personally have an HP Color LaserJet. I think a paid about $700 USD a few years ago.

This is a post that I found on a forum but is from 2010:

Quote
There has always been rumors that the Brother laser printers don't work well for toner transfer due to the type of toner they use.

I bought my Samsung ML-2525W wireless printer a few weeks ago for $99 with free shipping. It's a great printer, my transfers turn out absolutely perfect. You can pic up the wired version (ML-2525) for around $70

Here is the ML-2165W for $69.95 USD:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1844277&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=jXot6eVeYJg-38W106jplofpaRrlBEfSOw

ML-2955:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828112255&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA

Refurbished for $97.97 free shipping:
http://www.techforless.com/cgi-bin/tech4less/ML-2525W?mv_pc=nextag&tts=20120623065628

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-ML-2525W-Wireless-Laser-Printer/dp/B002ZIPKQO

Offline jester

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2012, 11:21:42 AM »
thank you it is something i want to try i have succes with everything else i have just mixed my own liquid 24mg cut down from 75mg which was the highest we could get into england i have been looking a circuitary software i`m unsure if i`ll be able to pick that up though but if i can learn it from other people then it`s something that i wouldn`t mind doing, i have just managed to get the same laminator that you used £5.50 off e-bay i`m hoping that it works ok but i`ll be modifying it anyway so i`m not too worried,cheers jimmy

Online octoman

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2012, 07:46:57 PM »
thank you it is something i want to try i have succes with everything else i have just mixed my own liquid 24mg cut down from 75mg which was the highest we could get into england i have been looking a circuitary software i`m unsure if i`ll be able to pick that up though but if i can learn it from other people then it`s something that i wouldn`t mind doing, i have just managed to get the same laminator that you used £5.50 off e-bay i`m hoping that it works ok but i`ll be modifying it anyway so i`m not too worried,cheers jimmy

Good going mate. congrats on all your successful ventures and good luck with your PCB's

Offline jester

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #11 on: June 25, 2012, 02:24:35 PM »
been looking at some printers one is cpl325 which is colour and the other is ml 2168 both  are samsung i like the cpl325 would it work with pcb printing  :help:cheers jester

Offline Barryg41

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #12 on: June 25, 2012, 03:12:15 PM »
been looking at some printers one is cpl325 which is colour and the other is ml 2168 both  are samsung i like the cpl325 would it work with pcb printing  :help:cheers jester

Different manufactors of printers have different formulations of toner. Some melt at lower temperature, while others take a higher temperature to melt the toner to your pcb.

Pressure from the rollers also makes a difference when transferring to the pcb. My laminator gives me good results at the normal pressure of the rollers against the pcb at 80c, which is the normal temperature of the laminator. Some people try to increase the Pressure by adding stiffer springs across the rollers. This can be an easy route than say trying to adjust the temperature of the laminator.

Trail and error to see what works good for you. Such as I have to run my pcb through the laminator at least 20 times to get good transfer.

HTHs


Offline CraigHB

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #13 on: June 25, 2012, 03:35:06 PM »
80C seems low.  My laminator runs at 150C, definitely on the edge of what the mechanism can handle.  Laminators usually don't go over about 120C, but as I mentioned before, I pulled out the roller/heating unit and wired it up so it's using the thermostatic safety cut-out as the regulator.  I run the PCB through it three times.

Offline Barryg41

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #14 on: June 25, 2012, 03:54:46 PM »
Oh I agree Craig that 80c is a low temp. That is why it takes multiple passes to get the results I am looking for. But as I said increasing roller pressure allows you to work with lower temps. When I bought this laminator I was very worried that the temp was too low, but based on a blog I read they said that this laminator was good for transfer based on its ability to have good pressure and it's temp. It was cheaper and so far it is working for me. Also the blog indicated that GMB was the only cheap laminator that built the roller and heater all in one. Which the blog also said is the best for transfer of toner to pcb. Pressure and temperature at the same time.

I am going to see if I can find that thread it was good reading about toner transfer to pcb.

Offline Barryg41

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #15 on: June 25, 2012, 04:15:44 PM »
I found the article that I was talking about, laminator with pressure versus temperature.

http://www.pcbfx.com/main_site/pages/start_here/laminator_info.html

They explain fusing with pressure and temp explaining how lower temps and drive roller heated at the same time they got the best results.

Smoke and mirrors idk. But it works for me.

Oh sorry for saying the wrong name brand it's not gmb but GBC.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #16 on: June 25, 2012, 05:02:03 PM »
can you use a colour printer for pcb s cheers jester

Offline Barryg41

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #17 on: June 25, 2012, 05:20:48 PM »
I use a HP 1312 nfi mfp. Some say that you shouldn't use a color/colour printer but I do and don't have a problem with this model.

And the reason was because the blogger said that it did not put enough toner on the transfer paper. You might be able to increase the density but I don't and it does ok for me. I do not set it up to print in b&w either. Matter of fact I don't change any settings,  I just print on presentation paper in plain paper mode.

If I printed in presentation mode on presentation paper I would get ghost images on the paper.
HTHs

Online Breaktru

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #18 on: June 25, 2012, 07:33:17 PM »
After seeing the GBC H220 on a PCB "Fab in a Box web site I decided to buy the GBC H220 laminator Laminator site  It is also sold on the Digikey and Mouser Electronics. With the Gear modification in the O.P. the PCB will run through the laminator slower transfering more heat time so less passes can be made to transfer the ink to the board.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #19 on: June 29, 2012, 12:31:51 PM »
got my printer need a circuit to print please help  i have been reading about c and c+ my head hurts  just something to try my printer  :help:jester

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #20 on: June 29, 2012, 12:46:30 PM »
i got some smd caps and  resistors i looking forward to making something  :thumbsup:jester

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #21 on: June 29, 2012, 12:48:55 PM »
i got some smd caps and  resistors i looking forward to making something  :thumbsup: jester

You didn't mention which PCB software you were going to use.
If you use Eagle or ExpressPCB, they include sample/demo/example boards that you can use.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #22 on: June 29, 2012, 12:55:34 PM »
i am looking at both of  them i will not be print just yet just want to try printing something and etching it i have a lot more reading yet cheers jimmy

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #23 on: June 29, 2012, 03:43:07 PM »
 got some stuff to have a go at  ;cheers;jester

Offline utak3r

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #24 on: February 07, 2013, 09:27:03 AM »
By the way: which one you prefer: Eagle or ExpressPCB? I'm on Eagle for years, but you know it's a PITA sometimes... How it looks, when compared to ExpressPCB?

Offline columbusbk

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #25 on: February 07, 2013, 05:58:53 PM »
By the way: which one you prefer: Eagle or ExpressPCB? I'm on Eagle for years, but you know it's a PITA sometimes... How it looks, when compared to ExpressPCB?

Not that I know, but the guys where discussing it over here? Eagle - ExpressPCB
and here: http://breaktru.com/smf/index.php/topic,724.msg5930.html#msg5930
« Last Edit: February 07, 2013, 06:03:01 PM by columbusbk »

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #26 on: February 07, 2013, 07:47:37 PM »
Thanks for taking the time to link to those posts, saves some rhetoric.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #27 on: November 10, 2013, 05:49:49 PM »
I found a Xerox Phaser 6100 Color Laser printer on CraigsList for $40... what a fucking deal!
I got it specifically for doing PCB toner transfers.

I will clean the PCB with a scotch brite green scrubber and pure ethanol. Print the PCB design to regular paper. Before doing the transfer I place a piece of paper on the board and preheat it with my iron then place the design down on the already warm copper and apply pressure with the iron. The transfers come out very clean for me. Then use Ferric Chloride and a sponge to remove the copper.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #28 on: November 10, 2013, 07:15:42 PM »
I found a Xerox Phaser 6100 Color Laser printer on CraigsList for $40... what a fucking deal!
I got it specifically for doing PCB toner transfers.

I will clean the PCB with a scotch brite green scrubber and pure ethanol. Print the PCB design to regular paper. Before doing the transfer I place a piece of paper on the board and preheat it with my iron then place the design down on the already warm copper and apply pressure with the iron. The transfers come out very clean for me. Then use Ferric Chloride and a sponge to remove the copper.

Nice score on the printer. Cool. Saves you from having to buy a laminator.

Offline shandy27

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #29 on: June 26, 2014, 04:51:21 AM »
Hi I'm making a pcb for an evercool mod, would I be able to etch 0.5mm copper sheet.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #30 on: June 26, 2014, 07:16:41 AM »
Copper clad FR4 (PCB board) is typically clad with a copper sheet in thickness about 35 microns (.035 mm) or 1.4 mil (thousands of an inch).  This is known as 1 ounce copper which is most common.  2 ounce copper is 70 microns or 2.8 mil and is also fairly common, though less so than 1 oz copper clad.  2 ounce is probably the heaviest clad you can etch with etching solution.  PCB fabricators can go heavier, but I've never even heard of 500 micron clad.  In any case, you can't etch circuit traces into something that thick, you have to mill it with a CNC machine.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #31 on: June 26, 2014, 07:40:42 AM »
Thanks, was going to use just plain copper sheet, used an online calculator for track widths it said I needed a 5mm wide track for one oz board for the ouput thats why I thought about using the sheet. Didn't think it would be practial but wanted to make sure.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #32 on: June 26, 2014, 06:17:52 PM »
If it comes down to carving traces out of a sheet that thick, just use a wire.  No reason to make it that complicated.  A 24 gauge copper wire is equal to a 5mm trace on 1 oz copper in terms of cross sectional area which is what determines resistance and thereby the ability of a conductor to handle current.

What you can do for heavy bus lines on a PCB is lay down a trace (without solder mask) then solder a bare solid wire on top of it.  However, this should not be necessary for the currents you would see with something like an OKR-T/10.   You can etch 2 oz copper yourself and use a copper fill to carry those currents.  It's how it's handled normally.

I've used this calculator before;  http://circuitcalculator.com/wordpress/2006/01/24/trace-resistance-calculator

Normally a calculator does not recommend a trace width since there's a number of variables depending on design requirements.  The one above provides resistance and heating data to make your own determination.  Personally, I try to use a convention of 1mm per amp for 1 oz copper, half that for 2 oz copper.   You can go lower if you can accept higher losses and more heating.  You can go higher if you want to reduce losses and heating.

When you find the resistance value for your trace, use I squared R to determine the resulting loss at a given current.  The calculator will give you heating data.  Then you can decide for yourself if you need to go wider or you can accept something narrower.

Offline XombyCraft

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #33 on: June 28, 2014, 07:29:03 PM »
If you're using an electric skillet to reflow solder your pcb's anyway, why not use that to melt your toner too?

Offline hill115side

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #34 on: October 14, 2014, 12:53:02 PM »
I have created a PCB board for the OKR, tested and building mods from them now. http://s1294.photobucket.com/albums/b603/hill115side/?action=view¤t=1413305258_zps984167c9.jpg 

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #35 on: October 15, 2014, 02:04:32 PM »
If it comes down to carving traces out of a sheet that thick, just use a wire.  No reason to make it that complicated.  A 24 gauge copper wire is equal to a 5mm trace on 1 oz copper in terms of cross sectional area which is what determines resistance and thereby the ability of a conductor to handle current.

What you can do for heavy bus lines on a PCB is lay down a trace (without solder mask) then solder a bare solid wire on top of it.  However, this should not be necessary for the currents you would see with something like an OKR-T/10.   You can etch 2 oz copper yourself and use a copper fill to carry those currents.  It's how it's handled normally.

I've used this calculator before;  http://circuitcalculator.com/wordpress/2006/01/24/trace-resistance-calculator

Normally a calculator does not recommend a trace width since there's a number of variables depending on design requirements.  The one above provides resistance and heating data to make your own determination.  Personally, I try to use a convention of 1mm per amp for 1 oz copper, half that for 2 oz copper.   You can go lower if you can accept higher losses and more heating.  You can go higher if you want to reduce losses and heating.

When you find the resistance value for your trace, use I squared R to determine the resulting loss at a given current.  The calculator will give you heating data.  Then you can decide for yourself if you need to go wider or you can accept something narrower.

That's pretty much what I did on my 3xAA 44+ mod... only I found out about calculating the trace width after I carved my boards.  luckily, with 1oz copper clad, I was more than covered, as I removed the bare minimum of copper to create traces, and had pretty wide traces.  I think it calculated out at something like 8A max at 10 degrees.  then i realized i was looking at the calculations for an internal trace instead of an external trace.  You learn a lot when you actually read the descriptions on stuff!

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #36 on: October 15, 2014, 02:20:04 PM »
DO you have any pictures?

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« Last Edit: October 15, 2014, 02:28:49 PM by XombyCraft »

Offline hill115side

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #38 on: October 15, 2014, 02:54:11 PM »
Of the board.

Offline shandy27

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #39 on: March 16, 2015, 09:56:58 AM »
is it ok to insulate my pcb with kapton tape.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #40 on: March 16, 2015, 05:29:51 PM »
Yes, that's what it's designed for, masking PCBs.  It's one of the few tapes that can withstand the temperature of soldering.  The brand is Kapton, but the material is generically called polyimide.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #41 on: March 16, 2015, 06:02:21 PM »
Thanks i'll use that then.when designing a pcb is a temp rise of 20 degress c acceptable.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #42 on: March 17, 2015, 11:41:14 AM »
Should be.  The operating limit for most components is 125C, but can be as low as 80C to meet specs.  The PCB traces themselves can handle much higher temps without damage. 

When laying out traces for a given current you don't want them to heat too much as resistance goes up with temperature.  There's no hard and fast rule there, mainly depends on what you're willing to accept in terms of heating and power loss. 

For high currents the more copper the better.  If need be you can solder mask a trace then solder bare solid copper wire on top of it.  That's usually how I deal with big currents on PCBs as it consumes the least space for the most copper.  You can alternately use a copper fill, but that's not always possible.

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #43 on: March 17, 2015, 12:30:55 PM »
i was going to make the output tracks of a pcb for a ptr08100 about 2mm wide then lay 20awg over the track that should be able to handle 10amps.

Offline ghh3rd

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #44 on: May 16, 2015, 04:42:15 PM »
I've watched the videos and am inspired that I should be able to accomplish the same thing.  For now, I'll keep watching and making notes... thanks for all of the great info!

Randy

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #45 on: May 16, 2015, 07:36:04 PM »
i was going to make the output tracks of a pcb for a ptr08100 about 2mm wide then lay 20awg over the track that should be able to handle 10amps.

That should cover a 10A load nicely.  The thing is it comes down to heat and acceptable losses.  You can go less if you don't mind generating the heat and suffering the power loss for it.  Of course at some point heat overwhelms the current path and destroys the conductor, but you're talking wire a lot finer than 20 ga.

Oh, I just noticed you made that post a couple months ago, don't know why I never saw it.  Well it's good to answer it if someone else has the same question.

« Last Edit: May 16, 2015, 07:39:05 PM by CraigHB »

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #46 on: May 16, 2015, 08:46:17 PM »
i forgot all about that post lol. i ended up getting a couple of okr breakout boards as they have the same pinout, i didn't have any surface mount components so i used through hole resistors and capacitors. i just trimmed the leads really short so the parts weren't moving about

Offline andrear87

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #47 on: September 26, 2015, 09:02:13 AM »
i will try it

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Re: Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - PCB
« Reply #48 on: March 13, 2017, 09:58:52 PM »
With pcb manufacturer like Seeed Studio, there's no need to make PCB on your own, they charged $9.9 for 10pcs 10x10cm boards which is very cheap and the boards' quality is quite good.

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