Fabricating PCB

Generating a final printed circuit board for anyone's circuit or project is a tedious work, either print it which takes time or order it online which takes much money,

This tutorial is about printing (the already designed circuit in eagle cad or any other alternative )

the circuit onto a single layer copper sheet(known as copper clad).

- Copper Clad

- Iron (Press)

- sand paper

- water in bucket

- FeCl3

- dish wash

- scrub

- drilling machine

- acrylic spray(optional)

- solder wick

- solder wire

- solder wax

- solder station

we have to clean the copper clad so as to remove the oxide layer deposited over it over time

To do so take any sand paper and rub it over the copper clad preferably in one direction until the surface looks shiny and bright

Be very careful about printing a layout file

A laser-jet printer and a photography paper should be used to print the circuit.

Photographic paper has a tendency to loose the ink spattered on it by the laser printer.

tips and tricks----

apply thicken or harden option while printing it makes circuit print even more dark and equally proportionate in darkness everywhere.

after we have circuit on paper

hot the iron(press) and put a hard surface on table put the copper clad on it and the printed layout inverted over the copper clad and apply constant heating with press over it applying little force over it exactly for 1 and a half minute to 2 minutes all over.

after pressing put it under some water and gently scrap of the paper over the copper clad and the result should be like shown in photograph

the press should be kept at a setting of cotton

because a little high heat can damage the copper clad hence pcb wont work

fecl3 i used was diluted by just approximation

high concentration wont do great harm but can dissolve copper tracks too so fecl3 should be diluted but not too much then it can take a day or two to finish.

make soldering rod pre heated at 180^c

when you will have the printed board put it in fecl3 diluted acid

and keep agitating the solution having the board for like 15 minutes

(don't forget to put on the rubber gloves)

check if all the copper have left the board's surface.

afterwards clean it with water;

and wash it like any usual dish(utensil) with a scrub but try to wipe only in one direction

and what you will get is the visible golden brownish tracks

and as soon as you wash it dry it with tissue and spray acrylic spray so as to protect copper from reacting from gases in atmosphere

i did used a dremel drilling machine to drill holes in board

but one can use a hand drill too

Soldering is a process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal (solder) into the joint.

soldering is the most important part of any circuit which can make any of it work better, look better and again work for longer time

There are little tips and tricks for that

-Use of proper iron tip

that comes in huge variety like well shaped or conical in various shapes and sizes

so for pcb designing a conical with small aperture would work great

-the solder should be pre heated before actual task(180^c is fine)

-solder wick can be placed over soldered area and heated to suck of that copper

-firstly make your workspace free

-after that put solder rod on your dominating hand side

-component placement

any component have to be put according to its size arrange all components in a tray or plate and put them in an order of increasing sizes

-insert component of smallest height in the holes of board then just tilt the wires from opposite side a little bit so component dont fall and then gently put the hot rod on area and after 2 seconds apply the solder wire over it touching rod and area simultaneously

-slowly remove the wire first and the rod later

-you can inspect that with any magnifying glass

-put all components in accordance to their sizes and there you have your pcb

-finally check with multi-meter the board if it is short at places needed or not

but put multimeter probes at joints only as on tracks the acrylic is still there but due to heat that has been removed from the joints..