Material for scrubbing Cu-clad boards
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From: pimpom on 16 Mar 2010 06:51 This is for those of you who are making their own PCBs for hobby, prototyping and low-volume production. I've seen things like fine sandpaper and steelwool recommended on hobbyist websites for cleaning copper-clad boards prior to transferring the pattern and etching. 40 years ago, I used wood ash. It worked quite well but wasn't always readily available. Then I tried tooth powder as it's more abrasive than toothpaste. It sort of worked, but required too much scrubbing. Then I got the idea of using household scrubbing powder. It works fast, having just the right amount of abrasive property with no danger of inflicting deep scratches. Vim and Biz are two popular Indian brands. I feel no need to look for a better material, but I'm curious about what others are using.
From: Gerard Bok on 16 Mar 2010 07:43 On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:21:22 +0530, "pimpom" <pimpom(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >This is for those of you who are making their own PCBs for hobby, >prototyping and low-volume production. > >I've seen things like fine sandpaper and steelwool recommended on >hobbyist websites for cleaning copper-clad boards prior to >transferring the pattern and etching. >I feel no need to look for a better material, but I'm curious >about what others are using. It has been quite a while, but in the old days I used Seno Polyblock. That is (or was) a kind of big (matchbox sized) crayon eraser, specially made to clean Cu plating. http://www.hamers.de/en/electronics/print6.php shows a picture. -- met vriendelijke groet, Gerard Bok
From: Archimedes' Lever on 16 Mar 2010 07:55 On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:43:07 GMT, bok118(a)zonnet.nl (Gerard Bok) wrote: >On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:21:22 +0530, "pimpom" ><pimpom(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: > >>This is for those of you who are making their own PCBs for hobby, >>prototyping and low-volume production. >> >>I've seen things like fine sandpaper and steelwool recommended on >>hobbyist websites for cleaning copper-clad boards prior to >>transferring the pattern and etching. > >>I feel no need to look for a better material, but I'm curious >>about what others are using. > >It has been quite a while, but in the old days I used Seno >Polyblock. That is (or was) a kind of big (matchbox sized) crayon >eraser, specially made to clean Cu plating. >http://www.hamers.de/en/electronics/print6.php >shows a picture. The acid is going to eat it off of ALL the unmasked areas and a little tarnish wont stop it. I think abrasive scrubbing was overkill this whole time.
From: Hammy on 16 Mar 2010 08:24 On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:21:22 +0530, "pimpom" <pimpom(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >This is for those of you who are making their own PCBs for hobby, >prototyping and low-volume production. > >I've seen things like fine sandpaper and steelwool recommended on >hobbyist websites for cleaning copper-clad boards prior to >transferring the pattern and etching. 40 years ago, I used wood >ash. It worked quite well but wasn't always readily available. >Then I tried tooth powder as it's more abrasive than toothpaste. >It sort of worked, but required too much scrubbing. Then I got >the idea of using household scrubbing powder. It works fast, >having just the right amount of abrasive property with no danger >of inflicting deep scratches. Vim and Biz are two popular Indian >brands. > >I feel no need to look for a better material, but I'm curious >about what others are using. > I use 400grit or finer sandpaper lightly and I don't get deep grooves. I suppose for RF you would want a very light abrasive so as to keep the cooper uniform. This assumes the board itself already has uniform copper distribution. I doubt that most general purpose boards have precision distribution .
From: Gerard Bok on 16 Mar 2010 08:26
On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:55:53 -0700, Archimedes' Lever <OneBigLever(a)InfiniteSeries.Org> wrote: >On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:43:07 GMT, bok118(a)zonnet.nl (Gerard Bok) wrote: > >>On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:21:22 +0530, "pimpom" >><pimpom(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >> >>>This is for those of you who are making their own PCBs for hobby, >>>prototyping and low-volume production. >>> >>>I've seen things like fine sandpaper and steelwool recommended on >>>hobbyist websites for cleaning copper-clad boards prior to >>>transferring the pattern and etching. >> >>>I feel no need to look for a better material, but I'm curious >>>about what others are using. >> >>It has been quite a while, but in the old days I used Seno >>Polyblock. That is (or was) a kind of big (matchbox sized) crayon >>eraser, specially made to clean Cu plating. >>http://www.hamers.de/en/electronics/print6.php >>shows a picture. > > > The acid is going to eat it off of ALL the unmasked areas and a little >tarnish wont stop it. I think abrasive scrubbing was overkill this whole >time. Acid ? I use Polyblock to remove the photolayer. That is after the etching process :-) -- met vriendelijke groet, Gerard Bok |