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Electronics Forum / Electronics / September 2005Homebrew solder mask and/or silkscreening?
Is there any practical solution for DIY solder mask and silkscreening for homebrew PCBs? I know there are plenty of mail-order PCB manufacturers that supply these services, but I like making my own boards and being able to add the glossy green stuff and little white letters would be great. I read somewhere to print/copy off the PCB layout on a laser printer, then iron it on to the copper, then etch it, It is the layer of plastic from the laser printing, that stops the copper been etched away. sorry I can not tell you more. Is there any practical solution for DIY solder mask and silkscreening for homebrew PCBs? I know there are plenty of mail-order PCB manufacturers that supply these services, but I like making my own boards and being able to add the glossy green stuff and little white letters would be great. Actually that might work If the design was the layout of the copper lands, rather than the whole circuit, you could use that as a silkscreening mask. The only problem would be removing the mask after printing/spraying, since the paint or lacquer would either dissolve in the solvent designed to remove the mask, or prevent the mask from being removed. You could leave the plastic mask on the board but what would that look like?? And how durable? How about a transparency of the copper lands, printed in a laser printer and then cut out with a craft knife. You would probably want to use squares instead of circles. This could be a way of mimicking commercially available screens. Once the holes are cut out you just um. No that won't work either You want to avoid spraying the lands. That would work for applying solder paste. I know! A very fine brush and a bottle of...no too much work. I know! Re-expose the board after etching with just the pcb pad artwork and re-develop, clearing away the photoresist from the pads. Then lacquer after soldering. You'd need some pretty accurate alignment to do that. The best I can manage is, "Phew, all the artwork is on the board." >I read somewhere to print/copy off the PCB layout on a laser printer, then >iron it on to the copper, then etch it, [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >boards and being able to add the glossy green stuff and little white >letters would be great. For a silkscreen/solder mask I'd use one of those Canon inkjets that print directly onto CDs - you could probably enlarge the CD caddy for larger boards. > Actually that might work > If the design was the layout of the copper lands, rather than the [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] >> boards and being able to add the glossy green stuff and little white >> letters would be great. Interesting idea. But they cost $$$ don't they? For my latest project I made copious annotations on the copper side and then used clear plastic Dymo labels to label connectors on the component side. Looks okay too. >For a silkscreen/solder mask I'd use one of those Canon inkjets that print >directly onto CDs - you could probably enlarge the CD caddy for larger [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] >>> boards and being able to add the glossy green stuff and little white >>> letters would be great. |
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