Why Are You Still Making PCBs? | Hackaday

Almost nothing affects the electrons generated by the printed circuit board (PCB). If someone still has to wire all the wires, then cheap consumer electronics will not be so cheap (though I will definitely see wiring robots now). Between removing people from the wiring process and providing many excellent electrical properties (at least on well-designed boards), it is not surprising that even the cheapest electronic product examples now use PCBs.

For many years, the hallmark of being a large electronic hacker is the ability to manufacture your own PCB. People have many ways

: Paste on decals, photosensitive blank PCB, even

(The last one reminds me of PCB layout books many years ago). You will also see a lot of people using

Either

Create the PCB. In almost a week, no one asked me how to make a PCB in a home or small business laboratory.

My reaction is always: "Why?" As early as the 1980s, I worked in a company that made PCBs, and our circuit board company went bankrupt. So we bought them. They have a series of electroplating machines, plotters and exotic chemical processing equipment. They are 60 miles away from our company, which is very convenient because we will directly bring the giant artwork roll to the board of directors. The cost is high, and according to modern regulations on dumping chemicals, it may be even higher. The price of the mold is particularly high. The first board costs a lot. By today's standards, even the 100th board is expensive.

I have made many boards myself in those days, especially prototype boards that may have problems. But they have never been the same as the business committee. it is

(Not impossible, but difficult). You will not plate through holes, so you must use wires or rivets to connect the sides. You may not have thought, but connecting the copper on both sides of a commercial PCB will increase the strength of the PCB circuit. Just as single-sided panels are easier to layer than double-sided panels, my self-made double-sided panels have the same trend because they are basically two back-to-back single panels. You can use some toxic chemicals to electroplate the board, but the effect is not ideal. And I have never found a reasonable way to make solder mask. Screen printing is not worth the trouble, even though I used rubbing on the letter, and later I did a toner transfer to get a similar effect.

The worst part of making your own motherboard is:

. These holes really need to be aligned correctly (especially for IC sockets), if you tighten them, you can start from step 1. Of course, surface mounting is possible, but most circuit boards still require at least some holes (even if only for vias). The second worst part is handling all chemicals. Clear etching effect is not bad, but easier to obtain

Dirty everything! I still have some traces on the terrace concrete to prove this. I never bile to try some homemade etchings because they also have nasty chemicals.

Things are different today. You can lay out the PCB completely on the computer (even

). With the click of a button, you can send these files to anywhere in the world. There are dozens (or more) boards that can produce your board cheaply. Many of them are in Asia, but now there are affordable options everywhere. The only thing you really need is time. You cannot have any ideas in the morning, but you can view the prototype PCB in the afternoon. However, if you are willing to wait-and the waiting time does not have to be that long-even if you only produce one or two boards, you can get beautifully crafted boards at a very low cost. You will get multi-layers, through-hole plating, silk screen printing and all the other features you expect on a professionally produced circuit board.

Yes, my CNC milling machine will remove the copper (and the end mill) and leave a circuit board without solder mask, silk screen and plated through holes. I still have a water tank for heating ferric chloride (it should be Stain-it-all brand). But I never did it again. Not worth it at all. You shouldn't either. Despite the suggestions provided in the video below, the best way to remove ferric chloride stains is to not use ferric chloride at all!

I will try my best to recommend a special board so that I will not be accused of advertising for a particular board. We had a Hackerchat not long ago, and several people mentioned their favorites. Ask around. Or leave your favorite (and why) in the comments.

Don't get me wrong. No need to tell anyone who reads Hackaday, even if someone can buy it elsewhere, why something should be built. I have always been like this. If your goal is to learn PCB or modify PCB craft, then be sure to take action. However, if your goal is to make a prototype of something, and the PCB is just a way to achieve the final goal, dump the ferric chloride, save the end mill, and find a wooden house. You will be very happy.

The wire-wrapped tool of the line drawer does sound very good

We have one in the university (1982). I wrote a schematic capture program to convert pin assignments to endpoints. Except for DIP packets, it will not process anything.

The input is Gerber on punched tape. :)

Why did house manufacturers stop using stretch film?

The reason I switch is because I can only reuse the socket many times before the connection is unstable or the entire circuit board is damaged. I can no longer buy sockets for 26 cents. And the method of getting the signal from the board is also very expensive.

I don't know why they stopped, but I know why I haven't started yet. These sockets are too expensive these days! If I can buy something cheap, then I will definitely use a winding machine!

Who stopped? I have been engaged in winding for more than 40 years. Before I provide PCBs to customers, I still make winding boards to check new circuits. Now, I make the PCB pattern to adapt the surface mount parts to the standard [0.1×0.3] lead wire receptacle pitch, and observe carefully eBay snapped up the wire reel for future use. Punch holes for unused pins, and then heat press them (using a soldering iron tip) into the perforated board to form your own socket.

k-ww, do you have a website link or a way to contact you for design services?

J:

Sorry, I didn't see your reply-on the forum, I [k-ww] afternoon, I will reply to you as soon as possible.

I have never disturbed a website.

Because the company stopped making things for us. Winding wire is hard to find. There is Chinese rubbish there, but nothing like the huge red spool in 1979 that I sniffed on Dayton Hamfest ten years ago. The quality of old things is much higher than what can be bought today.

I have many things!

When I fix a circuit board or make a simple wire harness, I use only a few inches of distance, but about 50 rolls.

I also have that sleeve, which can be slid onto the resistor lead etc.

I have considered selling items on eBay, but there seems to be a lot of new unused rolls, so I didn’t bother.

I want to make sure that there is no asbestos in the heat pipe of the resistor.

Once I finish tearing off the fluffy house siding, I will inspect it.

Wow. Here (Australia), we have some houses. The product name of the house is "Mr Fluffy", which is bulk asbestos and is used as insulation material for the ceiling. These houses were demolished due to hidden safety hazards (there are definitely hidden safety hazards, but there are better demolition methods). So I think your answer is "fluffy siding" is a similar asbestos product? Which country are you in?

We have forgotten that most electronic components are now in SMD form. I think the winding died just for this reason. PCBs are getting smaller and smaller, and there are fewer and fewer vias. As a result, PCBs have become cheaper and may also contribute to the rise of PCB houses.

The only through-hole material I use is to experiment on a breadboard. Even for this, I often use SMD chips on the carrier board.

Winding is very useful for establishing a secure custom link between the evaluation boards: you can twist it into a twisted pair (hint: use a vise and drill bit, find or test to make the impedance correct. And don't forget the ground loop Connect)! lvds is good, but remember that it constantly feeds current to one or the other wire), and it is easy to establish multiple 320mbit connections between FPGAs in this way. (This is also useful for sharing the system clock).

Consider the usual methods of using those "push-in" connections: great for prototypes that don't need to be moved anywhere, but end up with a wire nest of rats, you only need to touch it to cause failure-especially on connectors Getting old-like an old breadboard...

On the other hand, winding machines are known for their reliability in making connections correctly. They are also very strong: as long as they are not straightened, the wires can usually be broken before the winder is released.

You should have a winding tool and use it to hook the PMOD to the esp01 module... 3D print some clips so that you can fix very small modules, and you already have a very flexible way to do it The setup is complex and powerful (and sturdy)! ) A system from a large number of inexpensive modules.

Resist the urge to integrate all intelligence into one chip-rather than separate systems by function-for example, your car has multiple completely independent hydraulic oil systems instead of one convenient place to fill "universal" hydraulic oil, so you You can save a lot of time and unnecessary pain, make everything run normally. Compress all the content into a microprocessor, you will spend exponentially increased time trying to make everything run reliably, because you only compress one of them Small functions. Unless you like this challenge, it is...but shouldn't you use your elite computer hardware hacking skills to control/do something that will make a difference?

good luck!

Yes, but where can I buy cheap winding sockets/pins/tools?

I still have a lot of 30 gauge silver wires, and sometimes I use them to repair broken wires/vias on the PCB. I would love to develop a tool for packaging standard pin headers.

Winding is a fast development because you can make changes without having to start using another version of the circuit or PCB.

It is easy to make a PCB with all the parts (even SMD), then terminate all the parts to the header and wire from there. It will be faster and easier.

Ordinary 0.1 inch spacer joints (joints with square cross-section pins that can be conveniently placed on almost all parts) are all you need to wire.

Facts have proved that these tools work well even in IDE sockets and other places. If you pay attention to this, you can even connect them to a 2mm connector and shorten the length of the wire.

Those "winding" joints with extra-rectangular pins exist to provide space for multiple connections for each pin. All you really need are about 0.25" or so, if necessary, you can use 0.2".

The only thing that is not necessary is that you absolutely need a square cross-section to wrap the wire-the edge bites into the wire and establishes a good corrosion-free electrical connection.

Therefore, anything with a 0.1 inch blank hole is fair, as long as the usual square male pins are soldered.

This is enough to connect point-to-point links, and there is usually enough space to wind two wires onto a single pin.

I just spent a few hours looking for my winding tool. It is a kind of metal jewelry screwdriver. No, I will have to order one.

Thank you for sharing your experience. Adding windings to the prototype will take me a lot of time and some parts.

Fry's sells classic screwdriver wrapping tools and various Kynar wires. Ordinary filth will also bring these. Kynar is still widely used because it is the standard for protruding wires. Sockets can come from the same socket, but they are expensive.

Remidier: It is indeed my idea. These days, most of my prototype wiring is head-to-head, not between components. And most of the breakout boards and evaluation boards are all displayed on the 0.1" square terminal. Moreover, Kynar is very suitable for fine solder connections in situations where wires need to be fixed to tiny through holes or test points.

Maybe it's because there are not many methods on the Internet that are easy to find? If you wrap it with Google’s wire, you will get a pendant...

I want to order a winding tool and try it. Thanks to [remydyer]'s suggestion, I will use the standard 0.1 inch header. I will get the pins at right angles and invert them every second to make them SMD. These tools are still in production, and they are available in places like digikey and mouser.

Google Keywords –

Winding tape unpacking tool

Winding tool prototype

I even saw a youtube message on YouTube about how to use Parker's refill endoscope, although this is not exactly the same-it can be wrapped, but the appropriate tool can also press the wires into the four corners of the wrapping post in.

Google search added the "prototype" filter trick, come on!

I have collected a lot of wire-wrapped things from flea markets and other places, the latest one I found is a "gun" that works at 42 volts (!?). All these old things look very professional, even with decades of DIL sockets...

I am so impressed, I want to start right,"

If it is in the voltage range above 40 volts, then it will be 48 volts, because this is a standard for telecommunications equipment, and windings have been widely used in the telecommunications field. The standard wire gauge in telecommunications is much larger, about 24AWG, while the wire gauge of the prototype winder is about AWG30-31

I will still carry out many packages when it makes sense. You must pay attention to whether it exceeds a certain frequency, because all small windings and extra wires will become problems. Mr. Hurd has done a good job in this technology:

Although it is mainly due to physical disability that I cannot hold the soldering iron steadily, I still perform automatic winding.

Look at the multi-wire circuit boards. I worked with them in the 80s and they are fascinating!

Dear hackaday, please get rid of your novice. I am an avant-garde teenager, writing in anxious writers with BS views, and then come back and publish articles about hacks. Recently, you have done almost nothing other than making self-righteous posts instead of actual hackers. Some examples and why, the author made a shocking comment on the pi/slr lens "is it feasible" and then listed other content for no reason, not just left it. The post "This is what a real bomb looks like" is decently written, but at the same time, the title and time also happen to be related to the child's disassembled alarm clock. Trying to be avant-garde again. Yes, even the child who dismantled the watch put it in a box. In this case, no matter what his skin color is, 99% of people in the world will start to worry about what it actually is, regardless of his Whatever the skin color, the program will make a clock. Please go back to the publishing position and stop being an avant-garde social warrior, because you will lose readers and project submitters, including this person.

I am biased because I sell products through HAD, but I like new articles on the blog. They still publish a lot of hacking articles, but now they have mixed in many news, opinions and educational articles, adding depth and diversity to the blog. I also doubt that they will lose viewers, in fact I bet such posts will attract all kinds of new followers.

You may like it, but I don't like it.

Kinda recently missed a great trick.

Well, you paid the price for this, so of course you have the right to ask for what you really want unconditionally. Their guts force you to read articles on the Internet that you don't like!

(For HaD, this is a very useful position for me because I have been discussing the relationship between outsourcing and milling).

There is no such thing as a free lunch, it just means that someone else is paying. In this case, advertisers who pay for the eyeballs. The Home Affairs Department ignores its readers and is at its own risk, because without readers, they have no income.

The new editor's voice must be overly critical, and shifting the focus from hackers to social issues also made me feel wrong. Leave those worthless, smug, overly disgusting snakes to the commentators!

Similarly, here, I have been arguing whether it is worth getting the tools to make PCBs at home, sticking to the value of test boards or manufacturing boards for a single project...

I think this article can help me solve this problem, learn PCB design and do it for me!

Caleb moved to Makezine. Check there...or wait 3 days, these articles will be found here.

Well, some aspects of the new writing style attract new audiences. I. I have heard of HaD, but I used to read one or two articles every few months. Now, I have subscribed to the RSS feed and check it several times a day.

The opinions of experienced people are valuable and can save time. When I am programming, I will be very angry (already from the board of directors) and am diagnosing the connection problem on the homemade beer board...

"But I never did it again. It wasn't worth it. Neither should you."

Such things are not opinions. This is the words of an elitist bastard who thinks they know what others want, need or value. There is nothing wrong with the opinions, but they are not well written.

exactly. Moreover, I am smarter than a writer, because I don't find it difficult to do a double panel. I even finished the multi-layer process (well, the two exposed boards are separated by two). Of course, this is more out of curiosity to see if it is feasible (that is, if you are in the midst of zombie apocalypse, you really need to do one). But on both sides? Why is it hard? Starting with a double-sided PCB, glue the transparencies together as a sleeve (leave margins), exposing both sides once or at a time, and then etch like a side board. Drill holes. Cut the legs of the TH component to create vias. It's easy. Multi-layered, now just stupid. Completely feasible, but it is easy to make mistakes in the design phase.

I'm looking to use coated brass gaskets (later copper gaskets) adhered to Kapton tape and remove the coating using a laser engraving machine I made. If it works as expected, then not only double-sided printing but also Multi-layer printing should be no problem. The same flexible circuit boards, and the gap between them is thin enough to easily connect the sides together, so it won't be electroplated, but it still works. By the way, I have used it to melt the solder and soldered with enough energy. The loose rosin flux core emits zero odor, even on the hot soldering device I own, they usually do Smells, so there should be no problem soldering hardly anything hidden on the board, but popping them from behind through a tiny through hole should make more through holes than is already needed :)

indeed.

He is a little cavalry on this route, but calling him a hole is a bit too sensitive. Usually, making your own PCB is an unreasonable choice, although it will make people hear pain. In some cases, this makes sense 1. If you like it 2. If you can’t wait 3. If the shipping is expensive or unavailable.

Indeed, he pointed out that if you absolutely can't wait, then board seats are meaningless.

Frankly speaking, I like this type of article and provide useful suggestions. I don’t need the author to downplay my point of view in order to “know the facts” in order to be able to learn from it. Without this kind of advice, I might spend months *tracking the etching parameters when I might take the time to really understand . Something that works!

*It doesn't take months to etch, I just don't have much free time.

Every time I consider making my own PCB, I add the power supply and the time required. I inevitably shipped it to OSHpark and saved money and frustration. The only thing I can do is whether I need to make a big board, but the projects I need a big board can almost always be done with perfboard and peer-to-peer.

Or, or, what you just said is an ignorant bastard, they don't even bother to do what they are wasting, because climbing on your high horse, complacently creating and creating anger, is in vain. Feeling that you have any self-worth is far more important than being right.

Note: I call you an ignorant bastard, very polite. Another option is that you read the last paragraph and decide to ignore it. This will make you a lying, manipulative, stupid bastard. That's much worse.

"Don't get me wrong. No need to tell anyone who reads Hackaday, why would you want to build something even if someone can buy it elsewhere. I have always been like this. If your goal is to learn PCB or modify the PCB process, then Be sure to take action. However, if your goal is to make a prototype of something, and the PCB is just a way to achieve the end goal, dump the ferric chloride, save the end mill, and find a wooden house. You will be very happy."

nailed it.

The last paragraph does not change the fact that he is a despicable assassin, he cannot/will not for whatever reason, nor does he think anyone else should do the same.

Most of the content of the article is just trying to prove the rationality of this view, and even falsely claim that "it is difficult to be a two-sided committee."

It seems that the concentration of sulfuric acid is not proportional, especially considering the age of the line.

Yes, that's the problem. Self-righteous bastards who are often wrong. I have completed the double panel, no problem. There is no FeCl used for etching. How many through holes? no problem. If you have to drill a large number of holes manually (surface mount is your friend), this is very inconvenient. It depends on your priority! Is the inconvenience worth it? How many components do you need to test before a week’s final design? Then you may want to make your own board, instead of spending a few weeks to change the design, waiting for a new board, and spend very little money on small orders and shipping!

Wow wow

I will not give up making PCB anytime soon. It is easy for me to express my disagreement on [Al Williams] without using derogatory terms to describe anyone.

Seriously, I like many articles written by [Al Williams], but I don't understand why people need to "leave" when they disagree on an article.

He is at least better than other novices I can't stand.

@grab

"

Wow wow

I will not give up making PCB anytime soon. It is easy for me to express my disagreement on [Al Williams] without using derogatory terms to describe anyone.

indeed. This is a far below his usual standard, mainly composed of poorly worded opinions, which makes him look bad. However, there is still no reason to call this man a "hole".

I disagree. I like these new positions. Sometimes I learn something, sometimes I don't. But please keep posting them.

I don’t know if they are increasing or decreasing readers, but I bet on the former. Anyone who just wants to read these tips can try them and skip the rest. It's just pixels on the screen, so it's not like filling your house with extra paper or other things...

Sorry. you are wrong. I find these articles very interesting. This is also invaluable to people who have not made their own circuit boards since the age of two.

I agree that editorial articles are a good idea, but maybe you can improve them, make them more professional, and conduct in-depth research, instead of this kind of "over my head" news. Taking this article as an example, he could have written about the advantages of making his own circuit boards and not using the immature-sounding exaggerated overhead language. Even the title is ridiculous.

It is still better than popular science. They have a history of more than 140 years and there have been many useful articles in the past, but for those who have added ADD, everything has become a glorified Twitter feed.

I have added Leon. You are a bit rude joking. I don't know what this has to do with this article. You should be ashamed of yourself and your family. I hope God will forgive you. Oh, aren't you @lehjr1 on Twitter

very sure……. Please more interesting tricks instead of the 100th guy who made a clock or used arduino to do what ne555 can do...

Agree that nowadays, people use the arduino platform to build things, which can be done with a very simple 555 timer and some ingenuity. The microcontroller is incredible. I love them. I don't need a light to flash. If I want to control a motor or a servo, I may need one. Some of the best uses I have seen on these AVRs are 3D printer controller boards. That really maximizes speed and memory.

As early as the RC era, servers were controlled by analog circuits. 555 can actually be used to control the server-you only need to control the duty cycle.

Some people like to walk in both directions, which is cool. Working under constraints rather than spending money to solve problems is a great skill.

However, due to the love of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, please stop designing AVRs in 3D printers. A system that needs to perform mathematical operations on the input data while maintaining the input data throughput, and at the same time control the motor and the potentially dangerous thermal circuit in real time, is to play with the wrong time of the encoder. NXP produces dual-core ARM with a retail price of 1x about $11. It has all the resources that a modern 3D printer might need, but people have always supported the Arduino/RAMPS/Marlin stack and wondered why the printer would stall when doing high vector density contours.

Due to your poor use of punctuation and poor grammar in general, it took me a few readings to understand your argument. At first, although you claimed to be an avant-garde teenager, I wrote this comment in anxiety.

In addition, HaD has evolved since its establishment. They used to just post great hackers. They still publish awesome hacking articles, but also focus on building education and technological advancement communities. It is no longer just an "RSS feed" of the latest cool tricks. The Ministry of Defense has a mission. I alone agree with their mission and love the new direction they are taking. If you don't like it, please go out.

He didn't even make the 12-year-old clock. He took the contents from the alarm clock and put it in a suitcase. Watch this 20 second video

It would be great if someone could embed this file for me, because I am not sure what to do when hackaday. There is also this video explaining the details of all the errors in the "clock bomb"​​

I tried to make "suggestions" to hackaday, but I think they are unwilling to appear stupid by publishing this evidence because no one has bothered.

It's just... that's not a clock bomb, but a clock. There is no countdown to the real bomb, unless it is a movie. The "actual size" of the clock is not a suitcase, and the photo is misleading. More like a "pencil box". I'm sorry if you think that any "proof" is not something that a 12-year-old child is happy to work with.

I think that, as the website pointed out, there is only one post per day, and the rest are news and crowdfunding information;)

I am a big fan of Batchpcb, but, they are no longer. And I don’t want my planks to turn purple.

To be fair, the quality of those purple boards is "excellent" *

If I can wait, I still order from dirtypcb, but my experience with the purple board players (OSHPark) is very good.

I will add one more, we have a 3 day turnaround, which includes some advanced PCB circuits. There are no masks on them, but the copper tinning is good. They welded beautifully.

I have good experience in OSHPark. They always complete tasks on time, and besides I have never encountered defects, they are also very reasonable.

Whether all my projects are enclosed or potted, this helps me like purple.

+1 I will enjoy different colors here and there, but the quality of OSHPark board is really top-notch

As long as it is not black, the color of the circuit board is not a big deal. It is difficult to trace the circuit. If you want to prototype a circuit board, it is usually in a project box or a 3D printed enclosure that I can’t see. If I can get cardboard in any color I like, I would like to see some orange cardboard.

Copper is a color like "orange", so I think it is difficult to see traces on the orange board.

I found that among all the common solder mask colors, yellow provides the best circuit visibility. It tends to be the most transparent, and the contrast between the copper and the laminate substrate is high.

I have been looking for a board that can provide a clear solder mask, just to make the appearance neat. It is thought that the mask coating started to become transparent and pigments were added to make it discolored, so it should be possible. This is not a common drop-down option on western-facing websites I have seen.

Yes, for robbery reasons, I personally don't like orange, but yellow or bright blue would be fine. For the same reason, green is also good, but it is clichéd.

for reference only:

>In the past year of making Teensy 3.0 and 3.1, we have been working hard to improve quality and output. For any PCB, only a small part of it fails. We will fully test each Teensy, so any short circuit or open circuit can be detected. Save the broken things for diagnosis, and then we throw them away. (No, don’t ask if we will sell bad boards at excess prices, because we will never do it)

>Facts have proved that some faults can be traced back to the black solder mask. It should look the same, but the color is different, but in fact it is not the same at all. The resolution of black material is not as good as green. I was very surprised to learn this, but it is true.

One can consider green antiques :)

Does anyone have bad experience with dirtypcb? I want to know because my budget is limited.

Yes, I submitted a circuit board with electrical errors once. It sucks.

But they sent me about 25 similar items. They reproduced the error flawlessly, so they are very concise.

DIrtyPCB is great for me, I have no problem using them twice. The postage does take a while.

Now, I have completed the 7 bpards test with a dirty PCB, and they are all excellent! I made my own plate on my own CNC rolling mill 5 years ago, but in the past year and a half, I hardly touched it. These boards can be made easily with dirty PCBs, and I can use a more compact layout.

Faster turnaround time, tighter tolerances and better quality results. When their successors are better on all important indicators, why miss batchpcb? What is your opinion on purple wood planks?

I use Seeed Studio for the board. Any color and plating options I want. It will take a few weeks, but it's worth it. There are no problems yet.

How to learn how to design PCB? I am working on 1 or maybe 3 of the Raspberry Pi HAT. It actually only has 5 parts, 2 of which are resistors and capacitors. I have tried the online options and Eagle, but I just don't understand how to arrange the traces, especially where they overlap.

This is art! Good component placement makes routing easier, and then for tracks that must cross, you can use vias to jump between layers. I recommend KiCad because it is free and unlimited. Check out the tutorial including my screencast here:

I support KiCad's suggestion. I have used Eagle and KiCad, and I prefer KiCad, mainly because of the lack of restrictions.

Although there are some rules and methods for placement and routing, I find that this is mainly an experience. After a few times, you will understand how to place components and run tracks. Practicing in a small project with only 5 parts is a good exercise because you can easily remove traces and move around without having to reconnect the 34 components.

+1 KiCad

XuLA’s Dave V recently did some great things for KiCad:

Please pay attention to the link on this page, where he talked about placing his KiCad library on GitHub.

You may be interested in his hat.

"But if your goal is prototyping and the PCB is just a way to achieve the final goal, dump ferric chloride, save the end mill, and find a wooden house. You will be very happy."

I will be very happy next week. No, I want the board of directors now. If the board of directors is within my abilities, I have to wait for the board for several hours each time.

Exactly what I think. If it's easy, but I only want one anyway, then complete the toner transfer. If it is complicated/multiple runs/can be waited, plant it.

It is politically incorrect to dump ferric chloride! B ^)

Yes, there are also parts related to drilling and ferric chloride stains-keep pace with the times! SMD parts and CuCl2 or NaSO4 are good.

Or citric acid, table salt and hydrogen peroxide. It is cheap and can be purchased at any store + pharmacy.

Also-in my case-any Chinese board needs = 1 month waiting time. If the post office or customs is annoying – 2 months.

Local prices are higher, but it takes about a week, and it is inconvenient to travel to the city.

I will give a name! If you need a quick plank, Sunstone is "awesome". If you uploaded the file in the morning, you can get on the bulletin board in less than 24 hours. If you need silk or resistance, you must stay one day longer.

I also want to add that for simple boards, CNC milling cutters like Othermill may be great. If you can design with most SMD components and plan the sides carefully, then hole plating is not a problem. It is also very suitable for making top tools such as breakout boards and programming fixtures.

When do you live in which city? In which country? And which wallet?

exactly! No one stated their country, so you must assume that they are in the United States. In this case, this information is as useless to me as it is elsewhere.

So-good article and good intentions, but for people who are not in the US... useless information.

I have used it in several different places in the past, but my current favorite is DirtyPCBs. The price is right; you have choices that are not available elsewhere, such as panelization, colors, etc.; the interface is very good and simple, developed by hackers. Yes, the waiting process is annoying (in fact, I am now waiting for my latest batch of boards), but this is not the end of the world. If I really want to get DHL soon, I can always spend more money. (According to my experience, the manufacturing time is not that long; it's just that the transportation is very slow).

A good reason is that someone came up with an idea when they showed up at my house on Saturday morning and left the running prototype a few hours later. Likewise, they are also suitable for decoration tests, errors and unforeseen things. Then, I sent it to the board.

It's interesting for people who haven't done it before. The problem is that when you are a veteran doing something, you often get tired of it.

Let everything be outsourced, and then we can sit down and drink and watch netflix and wait for DHL to arrive.

I still use a PCB milling machine to handle fast and dirty things, such as fixtures, and I need to connect the connector to a few through-hole pins. Things such as PCB boards are suitable, but I can't completely agree that even for small layouts (fine pitch, large number of through holes, two layers), you only need to order the circuit board! One thing that is still worth doing is hand-soldering your own parts, when you only need a few prototypes, the cost of setting up pick and place is high.

Some of us just like hand-made things that can be easily mass-produced. I’m sure that once I can do this easily, I might get bored with the creative process, but now “Can I make a high-quality LQFP board?” It’s the same as designing circuits or coding for microcontrollers. An interesting challenge. I don’t fool myself into thinking that prices or turnaround times make a big difference. Once I don't like it, I will stop.

+1

I have reduced the thickness of the TQFP PCB to 0.8mm, but I don't think I will try to reduce its size because I doubt if I can solder without solder mask.

Household solder mask is no more complicated than etching. I have achieved great success on Dynamask 5000. You will need to use a laminator and need the same UV exposure as the photoresist. Other than that, it's easy.

You don’t even need that kind of laminator. I just started using one, but I always have the problem of dust sticking to the film. Since then, I have written a pdf file by Adam Seychell describing a wet lamination method, which I have been using since then, and there is no better result than a laminator. See this:

My 2 cents. I still make PCB at home, because unlike North America/Europe, finishing the PCB in the factory is still an expensive proposition. Good luck, if you hope to get them in a day or two, you will make money for everything.

I have not found any decent and friendly PCB service in India.

PCB manufacturers in my country charge $75 for any prototype. So I tested a Chinese manufacturer, the price is cheap, about 10 to 20 dollars, depending on the size. The disadvantage is the waiting time. For me, this is still too much, because my monthly income is about $300, more than half of which is spent on my bill (food is not cheap). Therefore, I have to etch the board at home.

Expert tip: Use sodium persulfate instead of ferric chloride. It is slower and stains clothes, but it won't damage anything else.

I am using ammonium persulfate and it works very well. But it needs to be heated to 70 degrees Celsius.

I used to use ferric chloride, but now it is difficult to get here because it has been declared a dangerous transport chemical.

I have never had a problem with stains. Ferric chloride contact is actually very dangerous, so I am very careful-never drip or spill. I treat ammonium persulfate in the same way.

I still think the internal PCB can be used for some projects. Quick patch panels or single-sided PCBs (possibly with links on the other side) may be used for power regulation/control.

But double-sided PTH with fine pitch SMD is used for the board.

I have used ferric chloride, it is messy and difficult to see the etching of the circuit board. Ammonium persulfate is difficult to obtain and use; but now I use 50:50 thiosine (from Lowes/HD) and hydrogen peroxide (from anywhere) at room temperature. Remember AAA, always add acid. You can see that your circuit board is etched, and there is no pollution, except for the green copper color produced by the etching.

I like the 2-hour prototype, but Sunstone does a very good job in production.

You can even put it at a higher level. You can not only outsource PCB manufacturing, but also outsource PCB assembly.

With the help of Seeeds open parts library and assembly services, it is easy to complete the assembly of a PCB without the need for mass purchase, chipping and quotation. When I asked 4 companies to quote for two weeks-I assembled the PCB and delivered it within 4 weeks.

If you want to use the components they provide in the library, it will be very simple.

Price is a different issue, but I will not make it faster or cheaper individually.

There is only one disadvantage, if a component is not on the list, then you still have to do it the traditional way. But in any case, BGA&Co is not on the road to their goal of cheap PCB.

I will ask other companies in the assembly to do the same. Open the parts list. Keep it anyway. Let people use the parts and provide a website to calculate the price based on the BOM. All parts that do not match are rejected and referred to as completed work.

You can even put it at a higher level. Why not just describe your ideas to the engineer, and let him design and implement the circuit? You can get it at a very favorable price and save a lot of time.

And why do you want to do this, why not spend some money for people with ideas instead of doing it yourself?

In a sense, it makes sense to outsource production, but it goes far beyond what we think of as "hackers" or even prototyping.

Higher level: Copy and paste someone's code onto a pre-made development board.

Well, if someone can recommend some reasonably priced high-quality board villas in the Americas, and then ship them to Brazil, I can try it. Otherwise, the reason for making our prototype board in-house is that it does not take 3-4 months for the board to arrive and will get lost in the mail that has never been delivered.

It’s a shame that Brazil’s publishing system is so slow and unreliable (especially if you buy from other countries). So far, I have completed all PCB work at home, but a friend of mine recommended this service for low-quantity PCBs:

On average, I order 1 board per week through iTead Studio. Except for Chinese holidays, they are sending orders from one click to DHL, which rang in about 8 days. The order I received this morning is for a 4-layer, .8mm thick, ENIG, black solder mask for commercial products. I am promoting their DRC. Therefore it is not a typical hobby specification.

There is a price comparison site for PCB manufacturing. it is

It includes the 25 most famous manufacturers in North America, Europe and Asia. You enter the specifications of the board, and it will immediately provide you with the price and delivery time.

Users can also read and write Amazon-style reviews of manufacturers.

I don't like HaD's increasingly provocative editorials. Everyone has an opinion; what is the significance of raising it to article status? The title is a frivolous invitation to the speech; in the end, this tone becomes frustrating and offensive to anyone who disagrees with the author's priorities.

Home PCB manufacturing is no longer as obvious as it used to be. At that time, home board houses were the cheapest option, and prototypes would still charge a higher per unit cost on top of the high installation fee. However, even in situations that have nothing to do with you, rapid prototyping with a small budget is still suitable for many situations. Over the years, my spare time has decreased, but my disposable income has increased. It is easy to delay the project for several weeks before a $20 PCB order arrives. If I rarely spent cash when I was a teenager, I would definitely make the board myself.

I am not sure if it is the responsibility to put pressure on novices to run 3 OSH parks for a single board, which may require reworking or re-spinning, which increases costs and adds frustrating waiting time.

Many of the process defects mentioned in this article are effective, but I have to say: Don’t like ferric chloride stains? Don't splash it! I used a small acrylic tray instead of a few tablespoons of etchant to make a typical circuit board. After the circuit board is completed, the etchant will return to the storage bottle. I seldom sprinkle a few drops of water, and then only pour it into the sink. After washing it after use, the water will be quickly diluted with water. One liter of etchant can last for several years. I developed this tin plating solution method, which is more toxic than FeCl3. But equally cautious, the prudent method also applies to any chemical.

You know, now that I look at it, most of my young people share the blame attitude expressed in this article. It's almost like studying the fine content of electronics in depth is no longer an interesting thing, but more annoyance, because "someone will do that". People just want what they want, and they think the "details" can be outsourced to the manufacturer of the product used by the hacker. I think part of the reason is that electronic products are evolving into things that are much more complicated than circuits that place individual parts on a board. Now, we have inexpensive and complex ICs, microcomputers that can work like giant parts boxes 20 years ago, and swarms of advanced reusable software. Therefore, we can only operate at a higher level and get people It seems that the thrill of faster results is driving some thinking. But if no one learns the miniature, component-level things, who will? There is no doubt that someone in the country sells these PCB services and they are happy to sell their technologically advanced products/services. My concern is that, overall, we are losing these capabilities. Of course, if we need to learn, the Internet will tell us what to do, but we don’t want to learn now – I want to integrate a system with RaspBerry Pi, which is an ESP8266 with a huge library. I downloaded it in 3 seconds . People can progress by learning higher-level concepts, which is great, but I hope that part of our class can keep things at lower levels alive, even though it seems "boring." Outsourcing will provide the idea of ​​"freedom to get rid of manufacturing details" actually replacing the fun of learning details. sigh. Perhaps it is a sign of the times.

As you said, this may create more job opportunities for people engaged in "boring" jobs. Just like drones, but on a larger scale. If people are more likely to participate, it means that someone is working hard. More and more people are spending money in this particular field. Of course, this makes it a bunch of bartoes and idiots, but this is the price you pay for having a huge market.

I think there is a difference between people who are just starting out now and Americans 20-40 years ago: median income no longer buys too much space unless you are lucky enough to find a job in the right field. Therefore, although many people could have a house with space for a small workbench in a garage or office, for most people, this will be many years of history. This means that people really have to choose tools and projects that can be solved.

This is just the problem I encountered when I entered reading this article. I want to do some circuit board manufacturing by myself, but all the space needed may mean that I need more other tools now. It's like a small drill press (in any case, this is a prerequisite for making wood boards easily).

I have some understanding of the tone of this article, but I also think it is important not to ignore the changes in the environment during the project.

I am still passionate about electronics and start from a background in software programming. A light controlled by the Internet (via ESP8266 and SSR) was just up and running last night. When someone tries to make the leap from breadboards and perforated boards to PCBs, what I want to say is that another difference brought about by the past 20-40 years is the wide variety of components available today. For me, finding new components is the most difficult part of the game. Frankly speaking, Digikey is a nightmare for electronic novices, not because of any problems on the Digikey website, but because of the wide variety of parts. The learning curve must rise from "I need a transistor to complete this project" to "My transistor is facing me in the mail". This is a steep process.

well said.

I etched the PCB because I don’t want to wait a few days/weeks to make my prototype... why wait for several weeks to make the PCB?

Please don't speak for me. You don't know my value, and there is a short reminder: I could have whipped it together in 2 hours after waiting for the circuit board for more than 3 weeks, which is not what I value.

I still make the board because I have something that other boards can't provide...despite your other claims.

"Please don't speak for me. You don't know my value"

It's almost like he is writing hypothetical general readers, not specifically for you.

Really kind of. If you want to make hypotheses about hypothetical readers, then it may be helpful to understand your hypothetical readers. You know the kind of people who get together and do whatever they need to do to get something done right away.

In the author's opinion, I represent more readers on this website. For some reason, any form of construction method is usually cancelled for any reason without knowing that the application will make people feel ashamed to hand over the hacker card.

The imaginary person cannot understand.

Hypothetically. B ^)

Well, I will try this again, but there is no link...obviously, the post here was thrown without warning? I have been using DFRobot [.com] for all my PCB manufacturing and have achieved great success. They are very cheap and do not charge for different colors like some other colors. Their support is unparalleled.

Usually they will enter the mod queue instead of being thrown away. They usually release soon.

Anyone with more than 10 boards, I will consider a board seat. I can only do about 5 at a time, so painting a CNC milling machine is great for me. If I can, I will try to avoid surface mount, because I'd better pass through holes. Using cnc to cut holes and mill the traces will give me a good result, and I have figured out how to make both panels without problems.

Still trying to process my waste in multiple layers... Success makes it difficult for me to understand.

r.. what?

In the UK, the absolute minimum cost of obtaining a single 50x50mm circuit board from dirtypcbs.com is approximately £18.

I can get a 100mmx150mm copper clad laminate for £1.50, including postage. The parts price for the entire project is usually less than 18 pounds. I can buy a whole Raspberry Pi A+ for 18 pounds

Maybe I am missing something, if anyone knows where I can order a small custom PCB for £1.50, I would love to know.

Of course, it is impossible to get cheap PCB prototypes from any board. Recently, there is a very strange method on Hack-a-Day: don't cut it, buy it! And recommend a solution, the price is 2-10 times the price of the DIY solution. Almost everything here is a toy that can be replaced with ready-made substitutes, you can buy and use. I don't understand what it means anymore. Is this a hacker and creator or a "consumer" website? I personally don’t have to remind myself that I don’t have to make anything by myself, but I can buy it.

"Don't chop, buy it!"

I think this is the elephant that has been around for the past few years because we have witnessed the "rise of manufacturers" culture. "Hacking" no longer means anything. It's all about buying prefabricated things, using ready-made services, and randomly tapping a bunch of libraries to replicate the way others make things.

I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised by Brian's articles like this or his response to reasonable criticism, that's what he did.

Oh, this article is now featured on slashdot, and now has an inflammatory comment on how HAD readers responded. I bet it brings a lot of clicks and must make money.

How much is your time worth? If you get the minimum wage, the total of 3 hours will be £18. Personally, I expect not only the minimum wage, but the evaluation of the value of any board of directors I produce is much lower than the evaluation of any board I get from the board.

Well, everyone's time is worth a different price, which is why the package "you should not" is ridiculous.

No matter how much time I spend, to me, electronic equipment is my hobby in my spare time. If I can choose between buying an expensive 100-page novel and a cheap 300-page novel, then I will be less likely to choose a novel with a shorter price because my time is precious.

How much is your waiting time worth? Or the waiting time for your customers? If I have a design on hand that can be easily made in-house, I can complete a circuit board in a few hours or less. The best thing I can do with a random board house (the best circuit board) is more than a week, and adds 65 dollars in cost.

I am just an amateur, so I am my own customer. As a newbie in the electronics industry, I messed up a lot. Usually, I need to try at least twice to solve the problem correctly. Coupled with three weeks of waiting time and $130 out-of-pocket expenses, it will cause you pain. For a simple design prototype, it is difficult for me to justify the PCB service.

On the other hand, once the prototyping is completed and there is no rush, waiting 2-9 weeks may not be a big deal. Of course, you only need to pay $14 USD... Actually, this is really amazing. In fact, I found that the value of $14 has convinced me to start with some PCB business cards.

If I use electronic products as a business or part of my business, and the work I do is beyond my ability, then I will use PCB services crazily.

For many cheap board houses (such as Elecrow, dirtypcbs), you can get "8-10" boards for just over $10, not one, simply because of the way they are manufactured. The wood will be tinned, solder masked, screen printed and drilled.

Obviously, if you don't need the other 7-9, it's a waste, but if you want to use it further, you can. Coupled with taking the time to do something more interesting, it may become valuable to get all these boards in. I only have a few hours a week to work on my project, and it is attractive to spend it on something more creative than drilling.

I haven't mentioned pcbshopper, which is very suitable for shopping.

Yes, in general, I would like to provide insightful advice on some really refreshing alternative technologies, such as smart and cheap (semi-permanent) breadboards or some comprehensive prototyping process, not just "order PCB"-most of us are a bit familiar with this idea, but we still have to thank.

I created my own board because it is a challenge and I am happy to get the job done-this is the point for me. The resolution cycle is shortened, and you can immediately solve the rev2 design problem without running 50 panels. You don't have to pay ridiculous fees for the one-time pick and place they use without the "correct" 5000 reels. You won't get the board house manufacturer's logo, which will ruin the aesthetics of screen printing. If you want to make a one-off prototype board, you will spend ten times the cost yourself. Nothing the production company does is beyond the capabilities of active enthusiasts or even active limited producers.

I have learned to never completely trust others to do your own job. They always mess up somewhere, somewhere.

What happened to art? It's all "give me my ready-made products"... This is sad.

"You don't have to pay a ridiculous fee for using a one-time pick and place without the "correct" 5000 reels."

What is the relationship with ordering PCB?

"You won't get the board house maker's logo to ruin the aesthetics of screen printing."

Correct-because there is no silk screen or solder mask.

If you want to make a one-time prototype board, you will spend ten times the cost yourself. "

Only your time is worthless.

I like to get involved in editorials, but they may be of higher quality.

This is pretty lame, because it doesn't really discuss why people shouldn't do home etching anymore. There are many reasons, but there are also some good reasons for home etching.

One of these reasons is physical size. Cheap circuit board houses will severely penalize large circuit boards, and at home, this is just a matter of ensuring that your craft can handle it (exposure, etchant tank, etc.). In some cases, you need a large and sparsely populated circuit board, which is a use case that can be perfectly realized by home etching.

Boarding time is another reason. No matter what they do, a Chinese board house cannot produce and ship simple PCBs faster than me. I can have an idea today, and tomorrow I can even have a working prototype under a hobby budget. PCBs with fast turnaround are expensive to manufacture.

Another reason is its severe challenges. It is very difficult to arrange high-density boards that can still be made at home. I need much higher skills than the 2-layer plating layout. Of course, this is a disadvantage for beginners and needs to be recognized. If you want to design high-density, professional production may be much less troublesome.

Homemade PCB may also encourage people to finally use reasonable modern components. Since through-hole packaging is difficult to use due to the large amount of drilling involved, it may eventually make hobbyists no longer worry about SMT. SOIC needs to be soldered when walking in the park. Its size is about half of DIP parts. 0805 resistors will not pose a challenge to anyone (on the other hand, capacitors will need some soldering skills due to cracking). Of course, you may not use DSBGA on homemade PCBs, but cheap manufacturers still do not support solder mask defined pads, so you will not use them on cheap boards.

Then, of course, there are peculiar plates. You can buy photosensitive flexible (0.3mm thick, FR4, not polyimide) PCB at a reasonable price. You can buy photosensitive metal core PCB at a reasonable price. These are some special applications. Due to the lack of volume, cheap PCB manufacturers cannot provide you with professionally manufactured boards. They are cheap because they bring together all the content, so if you need something different, you will have to spend a lot of money.

Of course, homemade PCB is difficult to produce, so I usually choose cheap Chinese PCB. However, this decision is made before starting the layout, so I know what design rules I need to follow, what can be done easily and what difficulties are.

Of course, there are some methods of making PCBs at home that people should consider completely obsolete and are not recommended. Isolation milling is one of them: you will need very expensive equipment, it will take a lot of time, it will not even follow the layout you specify, unless you go crazy and wipe all the islets, milling machines are expensive, and the resolution is strict Limit, so it is difficult or almost impossible to use small pitch components. The cost of toner transfer is almost cheap. If you have a laser printer, you only need chemicals, which is very attractive to hobbyists who are just starting out. You can also start again at any point in the process before etching, which may be very good. However, it is very difficult to obtain consistent details, so I find that toner transfer is less and less.

Once the exposure level is determined, consistent high-resolution results can be obtained. Although I prefer 12 million traces, the reduction of the critical part to 6 million is not an unsolvable problem. The output will obviously decrease, so I don't recommend too much. The drill string must be very large, because you usually drill holes after etching, and you must drill holes in the wood board before etching. Drilling after etching has a great risk, and may tear the copper from the substrate, so thin wires need to be added to withstand the strain.

tl; dr: Editorial: Yes, but please ensure reasonable quality. Etching at home: Yes, for speed, material and special applications. Professionally manufactured boards

Good point about oversized boards. I now have a project on the desk, the project has about 12 square inches of chips and connectors, and 4 square inches of capacitive touch sensor. It cost me 170 dollars from OSH Park, and dirtypcbs can't do it. My solution? Use OSH Park as the high-density part ($20) and add a homemade single panel to the touch panel. In addition, the touch panel part is the part most likely to need modification, because it is the main user interface. The best of both worlds.

"Why can you use services like Shapeways for 3D printing?" the nose said high-pitched

We have been researching for several years to study how to make a low-cost robot that can cover the most important tasks of PCB manufacturing in the home. This is difficult and time-consuming, but the actual prototype is: TwinTeeth can spray circuits with UV lasers, drill through holes and holes, distribute solder paste, 3D print covers and knobs, etc. We are still studying how to improve it, and we are designing more tool heads. In any case, I think we should not ask why we are still making PCBs. A better question may be: Why do we still have to make PCBs by hand? There is a further place: Why are we still producing copper PCBs? We are in the silicon age, not the copper age. We should already have a wafer silicon printer in the garage, we can manufacture our own chips or "work centers" near home, and we can send designs to silicon.

When there are so many ready-made toolboxes, why bother to manufacture electronic products?

Come on, why does such nonsense appear on sites like Hackaday. Therefore, it is more practical to order from the board. We got it. Go ahead, use the board or do it yourself. This is your own choice, not this guy!

Reasons why I might create a board of directors:

1)

. Check out decades of electronic project magazines. Did you know that the board accepts PCB mode in PDF format? No, neither do I.

2) Get ready today. All these people are waiting for the process of the board...building...testing...resolving design errors...repeat...I don't understand what you mean! You can only wait a few days at most for each iteration! Wait.. Keep this idea.. Why do people want to prototype on the PCB in the first place? Seriously invest in breadboards and through-hole components. Of course, some things can only be surface mounted. Make the breakout board. Seriously.. Prototype on custom PCB.. That's not a prototype! Okay.. if this is a microwave RF project. That's all I want to give you. Oh...and the radio frequency of sub-microwave frequency.. Learn about Manhattan's construction. You do not need to customize the PCB. Save it as a finished product.

3) Because it is DIY. If we want something pre-made, we can get it from Best Buy!

Regarding point 1-thanks for the link!

> If you can convert PDF to BMP, you can import it into Eagle. From there, you can export Gerber or anything else you want.

There is a pdf to gerber converter, but it expects that the vector input will not be raster input (ie scanned image).

How to use some non-chemical methods to manufacture PCB? More dremmels on rapraps!

One of the reasons why I make planks at home is time. I have been using OSHPark, but I have to wait 10 to 14 days to get my motherboard back (unless I have to pay for super fast service). Sometimes, I just have an idea and want a prototype. It was very satisfying to change from an idea to a working prototype within an hour...

After circuit boards are no longer used to assemble commercial products, electronics hobbyists will continue to manufacture circuit boards at home for a long time. The worn-out sharp tools I collected by myself prove that the era of homemade handmade cardboard is far from over, but I admit that there are excellent manufacturers who will be happy to do great things and make you out of the green while waiting. The wonderful colors and through-holes make you dazzled. The time has come for those who are not sharp enough, but board seats may not be of any use.

I'm just waiting for the genius of $$, or a garage full of children, to provide us with "killer products" to ease the pain of homemade PCb manufacturers and become rich.

USELESS article. I doubt if anyone does not know that you can build the PCB for you. For some people who are still persevering, what might make a difference is information about where you can get your work done cheaply, and information about how cheaply. Leaving this to the commenter is latent.

To others: If you are so picky about the aesthetics of the finished board, do you really think you can get a better appearance from the PCB factory than the beautiful purple solder resist provided by OSH Park? It's true: buy three copies from OSH Park at a price of $5 per square foot, and for large boards, or even dirtpcbs (dot com), for lower prices, it is really difficult to buy them in the store. If I need it faster than two weeks, it can be thoroughly debugged/debugged (and can be r