Design, Etch Your Own Printed Circuit Boards for Electronics Hobby Projects

Making your own printed circuit boards can be a simple yet rewarding way to customize your electronics hobby projects and create them completely from scratch. A printed circuit board consists of a thin sheet of non-conductive substrate to which a layer of copper film is bonded to one or both sides. Portions of the copper lamination are then etched away using a corrosive acid leaving thin copper traces that are used to connect various electronic components to form circuits. Making your own printed circuit boards, for use in building circuits, is quite easy with just a few basic supplies.

The first thing you need in order to make your own printed circuit board is an unetched printed circuit board that is laminated with copper. Radio Shack sells a variety of sizes of blank printed circuit boards, depending on how large of a board you need to make your project. If you are inexperienced at making your own circuit boards, you should begin with a larger board until you refine your skills.

In addition to the blank circuit board, you also need some PC board etchant, which is an acid that is used to dissolve away portions of the cooper lamination to form the circuit traces. Radio Shack also sells a bottle of PCB etchant (catalog no. 276-1535), but it is not always available and you may need to order the etchant from Radio Shack's online store. Although printed circuit board etchant can be used by the hobbyist, it is still a corrosive acid and should be handled with care.

You will also need a way to draw or print your printed circuit design onto the blank printed circuit board. Printed circuit bards are made by drawing, tracing, or printing a design onto the copper lamination. The material (ink, film, etc.) used to make the traces, acts as a barrier that prevents the acid in the etchant from dissolving the copper beneath the design. This is what forms the copper traces on the board itself. Electronics hobby shops sell a special printed circuit board marker that you can use to hand-draw a printed circuit board design onto the board. Hand-drawing a printed circuit board design is crude at best, so if you have a detailed printed circuit board to make you need another method of getting the design onto the board. Radio Shack also sells rub-on dry transfers that are resistive to PCB etchant. These dry transfers consist of lines, round pads for soldering component leads onto the board, labels, and so on. Although the dry transfers work well, you must ensure that the copper is clean before using the dry transfers, otherwise the transfers will not adhere properly to the printed circuit board. Finally, you can print your own printed circuit board designs with a personal computer and printer onto special paper that transfers the printed design to the printed circuit board.

Once the printed circuit board design has been printed onto the circuit board, it is time to etch the board. Use a plastic tub to submerse the printed circuit board in the etchant. The acid will eat away the copper wherever it is not protected by ink or the transferred design. It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to etch away all of the unwanted copper from the board. After the board if fully etched, remove the printed circuit board from the acid and rinse off the acid with cold water in the sink. Then you can use rubbing alcohol or a special solution to remove the printed traces from the completed board. Once you have completed these steps, let the board dry fully.

After the printed circuit board is dry, you can use a small drill press or hand drill in conjunction with a bench vise to drill holes in the center of the circular pads. The electronic component leads go through the holes, and you can then solder the leads into place using a soldering iron and solder. Since the printed circuit board and copper pads can be quite fragile, use care when drilling and soldering. Excessive heat can cause the copper to dislodge from the substrate, which effectively ruins the printed circuit board.

Once the board and your circuit is complete, you can use PC bard standoffs to mount the printed circuit board inside a project box to give your electronics project a finished and professional look. To begin making your own circuit boards, pick up an book of electronics projects for already-designed boards, or you if you are comfortable with circuit design you can also design your own printed circuit board from scratch. Either way, you will have the satisfaction of building your own electronics project using a printed circuit board that you etched yourself.