DIY home etched boards, old style, simple, fast and SMD style

[destroyer X]

To assemble solid state devices..home made board..simple one...fast and easy.

I know that very few friends appreciate that kind of boards, they are not pretty, not professional, not awsome and not standard...but i am proud that i was one of the first to build in the Surface Mount Device (SMD) style down the sixties (1960).

I have always perceived, understood and felt boards, the way they where done where not good.... the inverted lines... transistors in one side where pretty but lines where below the board, hard to see, hard to inspect, hard to fix, and hard to be made...needed to open holes with driller...well.... a kind of complication i hate since i was 9 years old.

Also i do perceive as ridiculous to have a list having R1, R2, Q1, C4, L6 and them values...so..you need a sheet of paper, a copy having these indicators and the connected values when we can have values printed directly over the board..or inside the silk screen indications where to put parts...in the place of R1, we can have R1 value, alike 100 ohms for instance, as an example...why to put R1?... i see.... to refer to that number to explain how circuit works and for debugging.... well... in this moment (only in this moment) the R1 chart should be used in my point of view..but board should come with values...and not Q1.... better to be MJE340... this way.

Method is ridiculously simple and easy, developed by a children (me down the sixties)...i do think it is ugly, but also i do think it is great and used 20 years latter as the most modern idea...the SMD...uncle charlie was one of the first ones to use it..now a days in your home computer boards.

These four videos explains how to make them, please watch these videos as they will give you an idea and will explain the method and the chemical (cheap) used to etch your boards...if just one decide to use..them i will happy to share these things.

If we are DIY, or amateur, or non professional, this is one of the methods to produce boards that matches our reality:

YouTube - Dx Blame, LED meter test and adjustment - 1

YouTube - Dx Blame, LED meter test and adjustment - 2

YouTube - Dx Blame, LED meter test and adjustment - 3

YouTube - Dx Blame, LED meter test and adjustment - 4

There's no more time limit to upload videos to Youtube.... i have to split my videos in 5 minutes parts because my harddrive is almost full.... i have 12 Gigabytes free..and each 5 minutes of decompressed AVI goes to more than 7.5 gigabytes...so, to edit them i need room on my HD..not having, i do in parts...these videos, total time is 19 minutes...i have splitted in four parts..subject is LED power meter gadget to indicate power to the Supercharged..the most simple circuit i could imagine to do that job..but inside explains how to transform schematic in copper lines..and without a software to do that.

In the reality, software complicates what is very simple...i can make boards in 5 minutes..form the schematic to the board ready to solder.... no one can do that using software and ordering boards to factories or etching them at home...so...my dirty method is faster..... very good to DIY folks.

regards,

Carlos

[VictoriaGuy]

Interesting!
Thanks.

[destroyer X]

Now i am happy...one interested.

regards,

Carlos

[LAJ]

I do that too. I use draftsmans tape from a local art supply and etchant from Radio Shack. (They now once again carry the ferric chloride etchant!)
By doing boards surface mount style you can glue them in your enclosure with silicone rubber and have more room inside.

[destroyer X]

We can glue them without worries with spacers, bolts, nuts and all that annoying stuff... we can see the circuit when building, so, it is easy to check, easy to solder and dessoder.... well, i love the stuff, sadly it is not that pretty alike the professional old style traditional way to produce pcboards.

Post pictures if you have from your work my dear friend...share with us these things..show the material you use...this gonna be good..there are hidden guys that does not know how to do this way ... some of them will be following our conversations and having fun..some will watch this thread in dead silence.

hehehehehe.

regards,

Carlos

[Jay]

In the past I used similar method, and the simple circuit amplifier oscillated.

I have followed your updates on the making of your amps and it seems to me that you often found instability in the implementation.

All these things make me wonder if the component structure from this method is prone to oscillation? May be the thick solder tin? Or... well, I honestly cannot see anything wrong.

[destroyer X]

there are capacitances from the copper lines to the chassis below the board... multipoint capacitors, very small in value.

Works as a ground plane too.

regards,

Carlos

[destroyer X]

Enjoy.... this is helpfull, cheap and fast wayto produce DIY, home made, simple boards to an emergency need:

YouTube - How to make circuit boards fast - Dx way

regards,

Carlos

[jon2xflash]

thats an easy and fast way for making pcb. i also use the manual method no software.. but i use a cutting blade to remove the copper from the clad instead of ferric chloride. i think it is still faster than using software.i'll post some picture once my internet connection is ok and fast.......

[Rodeodave]

Very nice idea. Might have to combine it with what that guy found: …still messing with forces I don’t understand – the formula.