Laser Etching Copper Pcb

First of all design your pcb schematic using a design software such as eaglecad fritzing etc and printout your pcb layout onto a glossy photo paper using a solid ink printer.

Laser etching copper pcb.

Pcb laser etching machine notice that most laser etcher utilize vector files to print. The goal of this instructable is to share my experience in making pcbs using a laser printer if you are really into electronics and robotics then you must must make your own pcb s. The laser etching process uses a high power laser to carve the trace lines on a pcb substrate. Introduction to pcb etching using toner transfer method in the following technique i use a solution of hydrochloric acid muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide and drop my copper board into it.

I ve tried this as well as just laser engraving the pcb but by far the easiest way i ve found is to spray paint the bare copper use the laser to burn just the paint off of where it needs to. To create his pcbs marco is first cleaning a piece of copper clad board coating it with spray paint then blasting it with a laser. A pcb laser etching machine can be used to remove any unneeded material on your pcb through the process of etching. My laser is one of the dirt cheap 40w ones from ebay and there s no way it can etch copper directly it just wicks the heat away instantaneously.

Etching a pcb in this way minimizes the number of steps and it also eliminates the use of inks acids or toxic chemicals. Welcome to oc lasermark your laser cutting and engraving service we are a woman owned business based in southern california between los angeles and san diego. The computer can carve the design on the pcb by doing away with the unwanted copper traces. 2 slice up sand the copper clad.

You can do this by merely spraying out the sections to be removed and using your pcb etching machine to remove the unwanted sections. We can cut non metals and engrave most materials with our co2 lasers up to 44 inches 1117mm x 32 inches 813mm in size to. My idea was to spray paint the copper clad board etch away the paint then dip the board in the copper dissolving acid ferric chloride. If you botch a laser etch say because the pcb design wasn t registered proper to your copper and ran off the edge you can clean the pcb and repaint it to use again later.

Following are the steps on how to etch a pcb 1 design printout your pcb schematics. If you just spray over the botched area you ll have an uneven thickness of paint and an area which may be more prone to partial etch.