DorkBoards (Dorkbot Alba's Grand PCB Experiment)
Why?
Stemming from a discussion a few months back, DorkBoards is a project get Dorkbot Alba tooled up to produce small runs of PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). One of the more error prone and complex parts of the Flote project was assembling the driver boards on stripboard. If we want to produce multiple boards again it would make sense to knock out PCBs, if possible. There are a few different methods of making DIY PCBs so it seems like a good idea to try a few and see what gives us the best bang for buck.
Potential Methods
Methods we might want to try include:
Photo Exposure (OHP sheet -> UV light -> Etch)
Press n Peel (Print -> iron -> Etch)
Toner transfer (Print -> iron -> Etch)
Please add to this list!
Photo Exposure (for want of a better name)
Is exposing photosensitive copper clad boards to UV light through an acetate/OHP/paper film with the layout printed onto it. Apparently [citation needed] good results can be obtained with tracing paper as the opacity of the film can be compensated for in the UV exposure time. The process seems fairly simple but needs a few special items:
- Photosensitive boards
- Laserable OHP film/tracing paper (suggest we try both)
- UV light source (in some kind of box, with some kind of mechanism to hold the board and film)
- Developer (mentioned a few places, not sure what it is)
Would be quite cheap to run once we're set up with a light box as the photo boards are readily available and not more expensive than plain boards. We'd need to experiment with exposure and etching times, so a bit of playing involved.
Press-n-Peel
Simple in theory: print onto this magic "paper", iron the pattern onto a board, peel off (leaving the resist on the board) and then etch. Horrifically expensive (£15 for a letter sized sheet from Maplin) and, according to Nick (used in the hat), not that effective. Maybe not for us? Requires:
- Plain boards
- Press-n-peel sheets
- Iron
Toner Transfer
Like press-n-peel but using standard paper to transfer the toner to a board as the resist. This seems to be fairly popular with hobbyists and sounds like just the crazy sort of thing we'd do. Room to experiment with different types of paper (shiny photo paper seems best). Requires:
- Plain boards
- Paper (various types)
- Iron
Etching
All the above would need the same etching equipment in addition to the specialised stuff listed:
- Etchant (Ferric Chloride/Sodium Persulphate)
- Etching tank/tray
- Plastic tools to move boards around
- Lots of stuff to accidentally dissolve with etchant