# Guide: DIY Printed Circuit board Making



## rakesh_sharma23 (Jun 15, 2010)

*DIY Printed Circuit board Making.*
Printed circuit board or PCB has its vital role in today’s high-tech life.  From TV to toys from Computer to mobile, all electrons work with a PCB inside.  Commonly a PCB is made up of a fiber board with copper tracks to join different electronic components together so that they can acts as a single unit or circuit.  A PCB can have from a single layer of copper connection used in common electronics like toys, in pc mouse etc, or can have up to seven connection layers in single PCB used in Computer motherboard or mobile phone PCB. 
Today by this small tutorial I like to share with you the most common process of DIY PCB making at your home.  I came to know this process in my school time, but one can Google and find many process of PCB making.  Secondly I adopted this process because it’s very easy and low in resources.  There is no proper name for this process but generally it’s called “Laser print PCB etching”.
As the name says a laser printout is etched on a blank PCB.
Items needed:
1. PC and a Laser Printer (to design and printout the circuit layout).
2. Toner Transfer Paper (to transfer the toner layout on to the PCB).
3. Blank PCB.
4. Hex blade, zero no. sandpaper and files (to cut the desire piece of PCB, polish and file the rough surface).
5. Lamination Machine. 
6. Ferric Chloride and Iso-Propanol.
7. Plastic washing tray and brushes.
8. Drill bits to drill holes on to the PCB for component placement.
Few WARNIGS:-
1. Be very care full when using cutting or drilling tools. If you are not familiar with these tools better get help from a professional.
2. Be very-very careful when working with CHEMICALS. Try not to come in direct contact with the chemical, if so immediately wash the effected body part with lot of running water.
3. For eching process FeCl3 solution is needed. When adding H20 to FeCl3, fumes of HCL is releases which is harmful when inhaled. 


Now let’s get started. In this tutorial I am making a 4-channel Fan Controller. 
Initial circuit design and layout is done. 
*img812.imageshack.us/img812/653/43050887.jpg
*img715.imageshack.us/img715/2852/tt2z.jpg


Now printing the layout on to the toner transfer paper.
*img405.imageshack.us/img405/8358/59529154.jpg


Now cutting the blank PCB.
*img444.imageshack.us/img444/3866/img0753j.jpg
*img530.imageshack.us/img530/9760/img0754cn.jpg

Cont......


Now use sand paper to make the PCB clean and shiny.
*img687.imageshack.us/img687/7544/img0755o.jpg


Role the PCB and printout through the lamination machine, this will stick the paper onto the PCB. Now leave the PCB in soap water for an hour and then genteelly peel off the paper. Now PCB has only toner in the form of the circuit layout.
*img243.imageshack.us/img243/3027/img0756f.jpg
*img535.imageshack.us/img535/3434/img0757sd.jpg


Now it’s time to bring the chemicals in action.
*img815.imageshack.us/img815/4262/img0748.jpg


Add some distilled water in a plastic tray. (USE ONLY CHEMICAL DISTILLED WATER) battery water has some acid properly. 
*img193.imageshack.us/img193/3594/img0758ih.jpg


Now add FeCl3 powder. 
*img249.imageshack.us/img249/733/img0759x.jpg


Hot exothermic reaction, HCL fumes are librated.
*img408.imageshack.us/img408/5841/img0760o.jpg


Drop the PCB in.
*img815.imageshack.us/img815/2712/img0761.jpg


Leave it for an Hour.
*img819.imageshack.us/img819/381/img0762.jpg
*img101.imageshack.us/img101/3716/img0763gg.jpg


Look carefully Fecl3 is eating the copper.
*img180.imageshack.us/img180/3007/img0764x.jpg
*img710.imageshack.us/img710/1116/img0765d.jpg
*img339.imageshack.us/img339/3222/img0766t.jpg

After etching only toner is left.
*img13.imageshack.us/img13/5672/img0767kc.jpg


Clean the PCB with Iso-Propanol.
*img526.imageshack.us/img526/8947/img0768sb.jpg
*img229.imageshack.us/img229/7598/img0769t.jpg


This removes the toner and shiny copper tracks are left.
*img32.imageshack.us/img32/6221/img0770mj.jpg
*img576.imageshack.us/img576/7602/img0772u.jpg


it’s time to drill some holes. I am using 1mm drill bit and a DC motor for this job.
*img31.imageshack.us/img31/120/img0773l.jpg
*img256.imageshack.us/img256/528/img0750e.jpg
*img265.imageshack.us/img265/9062/img0774em.jpg
*img229.imageshack.us/img229/6711/img0775z.jpg


Done. Your PCB is now ready to be fitted with the components.
*img696.imageshack.us/img696/2402/img0776qb.jpg
*img44.imageshack.us/img44/6256/img0777j.jpg


All assembled and undergo testing. Seems everything is fine and the circuit is working perfectly.
*img190.imageshack.us/img190/8862/img0778bt.jpg


Some pics of final product.
*img28.imageshack.us/img28/5082/img0779a.jpg

*img341.imageshack.us/img341/2766/img0781iu.jpg 
*img4.imageshack.us/img4/1743/img0782tq.jpg


This finishes my tutorial. Hope you like it.
I have tried my best to put this tutorial in good shape, but still please ignore any mistakes.


Thanking
Rakesh Sharma


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## gagan007 (Jun 15, 2010)

this is an awesome effort my friend.something which i haven't seen in most of the places.thank you very much for sharing the procedure to make PCB at home...I hope Digit publishes this in the magazine too...


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## Devrath_ND (Jun 15, 2010)

Great tutorial !!! Very well illustrated. Will be very helpful.


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## gopi_vbboy (Jun 15, 2010)

instead i prefer making out or temporary pcb...

this is good but chances for mistake are high for large pcb

i made pcb using pads (design) for proj then gave outside cos it has very minutes smaces between holes


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## swatkat (Jun 16, 2010)

Nice tutorial  I used to prepare PCBs like this. But, I used to manually write the layout on PCB using permanent marker, since I didn't had laser printer/toner transfer paper


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## nashpd (Aug 28, 2010)

Thank you Rakesh for sharing this with our community. PM me in case you make electronics projects.

I invite enthusiastic readers who are interested in hobby electronics to PM me with details, so that we can explore exciting projects for future issues of Digit.


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## infra_red_dude (Aug 28, 2010)

This is one of the very-rare-awesome ghetto tutorials I've ever seen on this forum


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## topgear (Sep 21, 2010)

great tute rakesh - thanks a lot for your hard efforts.


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## ankitmcgill (Jan 7, 2013)

Hi,

nice writeup ! 

some,e questions though:


where did you get the dc motor driller?
What program did u use to create the pcb image ?

thanks!
ankit


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## anirbandd (Feb 2, 2013)

EAGLE Cad is the most common s/w for PCB layout.. has a huge database of component footprint. 

btw, i'd like to add another point.

FeCl3 is not commonly available in Kolkata, so I decide to go with another mix of chemical. I use *H2O2 + HCl soln*. H2O2 is available in every medicine shop 

*now there are a few points to be taken note of. *

1. it etches VERY fast. Rakesh's PCB would be done in a 1-2 minutes. you HAVE to be absolutely careful during the etch so that there is no under cutting. stir the mixture constantly. during etch.

2. Ratio of *H2O2 to HCl is 1:2* in the beginning stage. as time passes, the mixture will turn green and etching power decreases. when it does not etch anymore[deep green color], add H2O2 again until its colorless again.

3. it makes very fine routes on the PCB. i have made .6mm tracks with .5mm seperation with this soln.

4. the resultant mixture will contain large volumes of Copper. so think twice before dumping it. *BUT, this soln is COMPLETELY REUSABLE*. you can keep the soln in a safe palce for future use. just add H2O2 the next time you use it. Not REUSABLE in case of FeCl3 soln. 

5. first time you do it, you will make some mistake[most people make, you could be an exception ]. keep a 2nd print and PCB handy. 

have used FeCl3 too, but i prefer this due to its fast action. 

hope this helps!


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## Faun (Feb 3, 2013)

^^write a tutorial


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## anirbandd (Feb 3, 2013)

dont tempt me..


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## Chetan1991 (Jul 17, 2013)

Excellent tutorial! I've always wanted to play with electronic design but never got to learn it. Can you please point me to some resources to quickly learn practical electronics design?


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## nikhilsharma007nikx (Apr 14, 2014)

Nice thread ... sorry for bumping old threads but i want to know a way to make that small drill with a dc motor.


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