I just know that I am going to get bombarded with abuse for asking this, but, hey nevermind, I always believe that there are some kind souls out there willing to help.
I have the artwork for a pcb, in the form of a .jpg file.
Is there anyone out there who would be willing to produce a board from it for me please. I don't expect it for free....
There are PCB etching its out there and are easy to use,you just need the eans to project the PCB tracking onto the copper clad board ie...
an old B&W photographic enlarger and 1 or 2 trays,one for the etching fluid and the other for rinsing water. What you do is... Photograph the intended PCB tracking using High definition B&W film then get the negs developed. Set up the enlarger to the correct size PCB by placing the PCB below the enlarger put the neg into the Enlarger carrier and focus and size it onto the PCB,coat the PCB with the light sensitive fluid? place the PCB back under the enlarger and switch on the enlarger for about 10 seconds? drop the PCB into the etching fluid and let the etching fluid disperse the unwanted copper after that you use the water to clean the excess fluid off the board. All you have to do then is drill the holes in the PCB tracking.
This is of the top of my head as I used to do it this way many moons ago.
You should be able to aquire an B&W enlarger off ebay for about £20
What size board?
SRBP, or Fibreglass board?
Single, double, or multilayer?
Pre Drilled?
Plated through hole if not single?
Solder resist mask?
Silk screen / component legend?
(I don't have the facilities to do sophisticated boards these days, but thought I might as well ask the relevant questions since they make quite a big difference!)
Just a sigtle sided board is all that is required. Size approx 160mm x 100mm
PeterK
Might help
If you've got the artwork you can buy the rest of the needed bits from Maplin, etc. The needed chemicals aren't expensive. You print the artwork to a transparency then do a contact print to a coated board using UV light
- an oven element will provide this.
You have an ultraviolet oven?
If you have a decent track layout file, then laser printing it onto acetate and then photo etching it is much simpler that copying by hand or using transfers.
This is probably harder than a ready-made etch kit, but I just happened to be looking at it earlier...
Not DIY but pcb-pool
(Just a satisfied customer...)
Shame the top of your head isn't better endowed with grey matter.
Print it 1:1 on acetate, no photography involved. The "light sensitive" chemicals, known as "resist", are actually UV sensitive so you need a UV exposure unit. You can get positive or negative resist so your acetate needs to be either positive or negative image, as appropriate. The board is then washed in a solution to remove the unwanted areas of resist. Then etch.
MBQ
Print it 1:1 on acetate, no photography involved. The "light sensitive" chemicals, known as "resist", are actually UV sensitive so you need a UV exposure unit. You can get positive or negative resist so your acetate needs to be either positive or negative image, as appropriate. The board is then washed in a solution to remove the unwanted areas of resist. Then etch.
MBQ
This wasn't on the market at the tie I done my PCB. Pillock
Using valves no doubt... photo etching has been pretty standard practice for at least 30 years.
He's talking about the pre primed PCB. :-P
I have a proper UV box for this job but have read an oven element can work too. Never tried it myself.
I Did not see any mention of pre-primed (by which I presume you mean copper clad boards with a photo sensitive etch resist layer already laid down).
Not that it matters, both preprepared boards, and bottles of photo etch resist inc for self preparation have been available for donkey's. (Both were in the 1980 Maplin catalogue for example IIRC).
I always toyed with the idea of making a dual purpose photo etch exposure box and EPROM eraser... then I worked out they needed different wavelength tubes, which was a shame!
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.