PCB Design & Development guide required - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: praveen_khm
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 09:12:41 am
content: Hi,Is there a book, or tutorial which teaches how to create a professional looking PCB? I have watched many tutorials and read blogs about this where they either using ferric chloride (or Hydrogen Peroxide) method to create not so professionally looking PCB's, or the videos are about big companies using heavy machines to produce PCB's. I stay somewhere between these two extremes. I need to design and develop double sided PCB's for testing and commercial purposes, while cannot afford those bulky machines.Appreciate if someone can suggest a book which details the complete procedure of making a professionally looking PCB, or even a Video which would give a "Clear" idea of how everything is done, Step-by-Step.Thanks,Praveen

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 09:49:51 am
content: Quote from: praveen_khm on December 18, 2013, 09:12:41 amYou will never get a professional looking PCB made at home without a lot of time and expense, far far far more than it would cost to just get it made by a PCB factory. Small run PCB's are very cheap these days.You have several items to consider!1. Resist method. Dry-film negative acting photoresist will give you the most repeatable results and is the closest method to how industry does it.2. Artwork method. Domestic printers will give you OK results, but not perfect by any means. If you are striving perfection, you need to get the artwork professional printed onto transparencies.3. Alignment & Registration method for 2 layer boards. This is a lot harder than it sounds, if you are striving perfection you will have to put a lot of thought into how you do this, a LOT of thought. You must use some sort of physical means to do this, just eye-balling it is nowhere near good enough.4. Etching method. All more or less the same, I like Cupric Chloride these days, google it. I use 35% hydrogen peroxide to "give it a kick back into life", just a capful.5. Soldermask method. Since you want a professional look, you must have a soldermask. This is also harder and more expensive than it sounds. Some methods include UV cured soldermask bought from ebay (messy to use, hard to get a good result), Dynamask Film (a little expensive, only comes in green), Vitrea 160 Glass Paint (some people report good success, but you have to think of a way to mask the pads).6. Drilling method. If you want a professional look, you are going to need a drill press, no two ways, hand-drilling you will always mis-drill a hole or two, or drill on a slight angle, and that will make for a very home-made appearance. Because the holes are small you need a very high speed micro drill press not just a big workshop one! Of course preferably you would have a CNC drilling machine!7. Via method. To do double sided boards as you want, you need vias, how are you going to do those with a "professional look" - really your only two options to meet that criteria are plating, which involves a lot of time, equipment, and complicated setups, or rivets, which are only just one step above home-made appearance.In short, if you want "a professional looking PCB", pay a professional pcb maker, there are a lot of them, and they don't charge much.Making a PCB yourself is still a valuable skill, you can design, etch, and assemble a one-off home-made prototype in a couple of days, not weeks while you wait for your prototype boards to come back from the factory only to find that there was an error you missed. But don't kid yourself into thinking you can get a "professional looking board" for cheaper than you can pay the factory to make them, it will cost you many times more!

author: alanb
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 10:18:31 am
content: Its worth reading this article from Mikehttp://www.electricstuff.co.uk/pcbs.htmlfor a practical guide on how to make good quality PCB's however I agree with sleemanj if its the professional look you need then you probably need to outsource to a factory.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 10:49:55 am
content: I greatly wish i could find the name of the woman on this forum who remade some of the modules out of the space program, she went through her methods, using transfers and a modified hot cloths press to quickly pattern double sided boards before etching themequally another member of the forum some time ago showed off using silk screening for both the pattern and actual silkscreen, which did look to be another medium volume method,in both cases, via's and hole drilling make it a little more complex to come out looking professional, you can do copper deposition of vias at home but it uses acids and high currents, equally you can buy something resembling copper rivets that you push through the hole and fold over and solder on both ends, or tin plate over.sadly i haven't turned up either names in the few minutes i looked, but hopefully it can point you in the right direction,

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2013, 11:07:53 am
content: Quote from: Rerouter on December 18, 2013, 10:49:55 amFran Blanche

author: praveen_khm
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2013, 05:36:51 am
content: Thanks a lot everyone. I know it is difficult, but I have reached this situation where getting a prototype is really expensive and I do not have a ready go. Making silly mistakes while designing and which later costs a lot is making it worse (though I know I should spend more time on designing). I haven't watched the YouTube video yet; will watch and comment soon.Thanks again for all the help.

author: Jon Chandler
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2013, 06:29:21 am
content: Ten copies of a professionally made 2 layer board with soldermask and silkscreen at up to 100mm x 100mm are available from several Chinese vendors for about $25 total. Elecrow has just reduced the price to about $15 for 10 copies.This is almost cheaper than you can even etch boards at home.

author: johnboxall
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 19, 2013, 09:33:21 am
content: You might want to read the book here:http://alternatezone.com/electronics/pcbdesign.htm

author: Sigmoid
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2013, 03:22:17 pm
content: Well, define professional looking.Are we talking 2010 professional, or 1970 professional?Back when I was in high school, I did some projects in the HAM club fully by hand. We used sharpies to draw the circuit, and iron iii chloride to etch the boards... Then came a hand drill for the holes and vias...It was fun, and there was no alternative back then, but I do not see how it would be cheaper or better for prototyping than just ordering a prototype batch of 10 boards from a manufacturer. It's a chore, requires caustic chemicals, and there are lots of things that can go wrong.I'd say, just do the necessary design proving on a breadboard or a veroboard, and then have a PCB made in a factory. It will be cheaper and a lot less tedious.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2013, 07:25:30 pm
content: I'm thinking more along the lines the op wants rapid prototyping rather than the 1 week or more the standard postage options take,