VK5CU'S Home Page

An easy D I Y method of making professional

looking PCB's.
Updated April 10th 2006

History
Back in 1969 when I attended a meeting at the Morrabbin and
District Radio club the guest speaker was Harold Hepburn
VK3AFQ. He gave a very interesting and informative talk and
demonstration of designing and making a printed circuit board.
His example was a 2-meter pre amp circuit, which was hand drawn
onto a PCB with a marking pen and then etched with ferric
chloride.

This technique was the basis of many projects that I

constructed over the years and I personally owe a lot to Harold
for his inspiration.

Since that time I have tried different methods in the quest for
perfection. A couple of years ago I started using the ultra
violet light and photo etching methods with some excellent
results. Unfortunately there was often several attempts
required before a fault free board was produced. This method
was rather expensive for the one off projects.

More recently I have continued my search for a better way and

have now come up with a method, which gives almost perfect
results every time and no scrap.

References and acknowledgements.

There are many pages on the Internet devoted to various ways
for the hobbyist to make his own PCB's.

I have extracted some of this information and used it to

develop my own method, which is described in detail.

Advantages
This method is simple to use and can be carried out in limited
space such as in the kitchen. There are no messy chemicals and
no special environments required such as dark rooms and dust
free workshops.

It is far cheaper than the photographic method and can even be

used to produce quick mock-ups generally done using Veroboard.

Equipment required Method Summary

1. PCB Design Program. 1. Produce the artwork for the PCB using a
2. Laser printer. design program or the artwork supplied with
3. Electric Iron. the project.
4. Transparency Film. 2. Copy the artwork onto transparency film
5. Printed Circuit Board. using a laser printer.
6. Plastic Dish. 3. Transfer the artwork to the PCB using an
7. Ammonium Persulphate Etchant. electric iron.
8. Jex Steel Wool. 4. Etch the PCB with ammonium persulphate.
5. Rinse and clean board.

Detailed Method

This description may seem lengthy but the

process from printing to a finished board
is not more than 15 minutes.

2. To transfer the drawing from the Eagle PCB

program I have found that the best way is to
select a dark blue color for the tracks or bottom
 select a dark blue color for the tracks or bottom
1. I obtained a copy of Eagle PCB, which can be
in the "display options" and set the Pads and Vias
obtained from http://www.cadsoft.de/freeware.htmThis
to green.
is a free version and allows the hobbyist to produce
Also, use a colored background selected from the
boards up to 100mm x 80mm. This size of board is easy
"User interface" options. Select "Export/Image" to
to handle and will enable you to produce designs of a
the clipboard after setting the resolution to 300
quite complex nature. If the artwork is provided with
dpi.
a design from a magazine or from the Internet you can
then begin the process of producing the transparency.
Open Paint Shop Pro and "Paste as new image".
To get this to the correct size select
Laser printers are now quite cheap and not beyond the
"image/resize"
hobby equipment. You may have access to one through
set the resolution to 300 dpi. and change the
your local library or school.
width and height settings to 100%
Now, convert it to a 2 color black/white image
I use "Paint Shop Pro" available from www.jasc.com to using "image/decrease color depth to 2 colors".
make any changes before printing and to obtain a good
black and white transparency of the correct size.
It will now print the exact size required.

3. I have a Lexmark E219 Laser printer capable of

600dpi. The transparency film used can be Kodak Inkjet
Transparency film cat. No. 882 0151 or most other
inkjet transparencies. Load the film into the printer
to print on the SMOOTH side. Set the scale as 1 : 1 and
print off the artwork. Do not make a mirror image as
this is done automatically during the heat transfer
stage. I often print several onto one page and select
the best for transferring.

4. If you are not satisfied with the printing and

heat transfer of the artwork the markings can be
removed from the copper using some lacquer remover
obtainable from your local hardware shop and then
clean up the copper with steel wool.

5. To transfer the artwork to the PCB requires a

little care. I use an aero modeller’s iron with the
setting on hot. These irons can be obtained for
about $A50. A normal household iron works just as
well with a setting around that used for ironing
wool. Apply gentle pressure and be careful not to
move the transparency. It takes a minute or so for
everything to get warm and the laser printing to
firmly adhere to the board.

6. Leave the transparency in place on the board for

about 5 minutes to allow it to cool down. You will
find if the above has been done properly the
transfer will peel off easily and leave the artwork
on the PCB.
 7. I use 1 part of ammonium persulphate (about 1
oz) to which I add 5 parts of water from the
electric jug just under boiling point. The
plastic tray is placed in a bath of hot water in
the kitchen sink and the PCB gentle agitated for
about 3 to 5 minutes. The copper should dissolve
quite quickly and leave the black outline of the
circuit.

8. Rinse the PCB and dispense with the ammonia

persulphate by weakening the mixture in plenty
of cold water and allowing it to drain away. The
PCB is then cleaned firstly using some lacquer
remover and then polished with a Jex steel wool
pad until all printing is removed and you are
left with a perfect board ready to solder. To
prevent any oxidization of the copper surface
before soldering you can give it a light spray
with some clear enamel.

Further developments:
It is possible to produce a double sided printed circuit board using small pilot holes to accurately align the top and bottom.

John (VK5CU)

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owned by John VK5CU.

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