PROJECT: PCB Etching Tank

[Psi]

I've always put my dish of FeCl into an old microwave for a few minutes, gets it nice and hot.
FeCl has quite a high boiling point, at least 280C.

I dunno how safe it is to microwave the stuff but it's never given me any problems.

I imagine if it did boil the fumes wouldn't be good for the microwave

[Spawn]

Lol Psi, my wife would killed me if i used the microwave for this 

Like always I couldn’t wait so I went to a pet shop and got a bubble stone which fits in the tank.

And run a test, from 20 Celsius till 45 Celsius it took 17 minutes, I keep it running to test the durability of the tank after 22 minutes it was at 51 Celsius and couple minutes it reached till 53 Celsius and stayed there for a hour and tank is still ok The heater is 300W and max temperature is 35 Celcuis on it's scale, but you can turn it further on so no mods needed.

Don’t have some etching stuff so I need to order those to test the working.

Below a photo and a video of the tank running.

After 17 minutes at 45 Celsius:


Video at 51 Celcuis after 22 minutes:

[sonicj]

nice timer 

thats the smallest drill press evarr!

i was thinking one of those outdoor real estate literature holders would make a good tank....
-sj

[Spawn]

Yeah that was the only timer with big digits  and that poor drill press stood in its box for months because I had small bench, I got bigger bench now and it is already full I had everything stacked up in a wardrobe, 5 power supplies take a lot room, also my UV light case is big too. Waiting on some panel meters to finish the bench now.

Those literature holders are looking good but they need to be glued and till now every glued tank I seen on the net had leakage problems soon or later. Besides the second one on the picture takes almost 4 liters liquid and I think the first one is even bigger.

I was busy for hours to get the temperature right, finally I got it working nicely between 41 Celsius and 46 Celsius, when it hits 46 Celsius it takes a while before it drops to 41 Celsius.
I am planing to take a hour long video to see its exact behavior, water is cooling down right now.

[codeboy2k]

I used to make my own boards at home, years ago.. but in my opinion it's just not cost effective anymore.  The blanks are expensive in small quantities, so you have to buy large sheets and cut it yourself. Then you have to sensitize it with a photo-resist, and you might not get that coating even, it takes a long time to get expert at it.  I always did darkroom boards, never iron-on anything.
Then it's nearly impossible to make anything more than a 4 layer board, and you don't get plated through holes, unless you buy another chemical... and oh, the chemicals.  They
have become unreasonably expensive these days for home use quantities.  Plus, there's the issue of disposal. I can go on and on....

With the numerous PCB houses online these days, and fast turnaround for small runs, you get a better board with solder mask, silkscreen, PTH, it's often fully tested, and routing, you can even get gold plating.. it's just too cheap to make it at home anymore.

The only reason to do it, as was already said here, is for the fun and experience.

[Spawn]

The only reason to do it, as was already said here, is for the fun and experience.

Exactly  with the money spend here I can order PCB’s for a decade I think, because I don’t make that much PCB’s. It is just for the fun and hobby part of it, as we all know hobby needs some afford.

One or two PCB’s I make a year when I have some idea or see something on the web which gets me triggered is enough for me to make PCB’s at home. I don’t want to wait 3 till 7 days I just want to spend time on same day and make it for the fun part of it.

[nctnico]

I agree it has become very affordable to have PCBs made. OTOH etching a PCB yourself gets you a PCB real quick.

I've been etching PCBs since I was 13. Mostly using submersion etching. When I was a few years older I've build myself a big submersion etching machine. It worked but etching was slow. When I got kids I threw it away because I didn't like the idea of having so much chemicals around. But... having PCBs made every time is not practical especially when I need to make a quick prototype for a customer. So I decided to get myself an etching machine again. Since I've always used Ferric Chloride I choose to use that again. I stumbled across a simple spray etching machine which is nice for euro-card sized PCBs (and slightly bigger). The first time I used it I wanted to hit myself on the head with a big hammer. I should have got it 25 years ago! Etching is so amazingly fast you can see the copper disappearing.

This picture is very similar to the one I have although mine can only do single sided while the one in the picture can etch double sided boards:
http://www.electronics.gompy.net/etsbak/etsbak10.JPG

Its basically an aquarium with a plastic lid and a false bottom. In the middle of the lid there is a small DC motor with a tube attached. The tube has holes and the end of the tube extends into the etchant. When the motor turns around the etchant is sucked into the tube and exits through the holes. Its amazingly simple!

This page describes how to build one (its in Dutch but the pictures speak for themselves):
http://www.electronics.gompy.net/etsbak/index.html

[Spawn]

Nice one there nctnico, spray etching is really fast indeed could look in to that later but like I mentioned before I don’t etch that much to have one of those. But project wise its good thing to build I guess, I can use the first tank in this topic for this I guess, still no silicone joints and such.

[poorchava]

I'm using an ordinary food container.


I've tried to make my own out of acrylic glass, but eventually the the seams would always break. I've tried all kinds of stuff from ordinary silicone to epoxy glue and they all failed. This one contains about 3-3.5 liter of solution.

[Spawn]

Bad news for the project and good news for myself, I just won a Foam etching machine from a local auction site.

I did spend some time and money in to this project but some things where still bugging me, I want a compact solid etching tank/device, but with the project setup I had too much things hanging around like wires, hoses to the pump and I like neat clean looking stuff.

I hope no one gets disappointed with this, I know someone was looking forward to see if the aquarium stones will survive long enough after a lot usages but I can’t test this anymore, I am 100% sure this setup will work but I can’t prove if it lasts long (which was my intention).

Sorry about this, but I like I said I need a solid and neat etching device, if I knew I came across a tank beforehand it would save me a lot money, in fact the whole tank I have is cheaper than I spend till now on this project, and it is barely used.

For the interested, this will be my new etching device: