Does anyone etch anymore?

[JustinFun]

Warning: contains nostalgia.

Was just rummaging around in the under-stairs cupboard and saw my old uv-box. I've got a laminator as well somewhere, which i bought for toner-transfer etching.

All that messing around with sharpies, nasty chemicals, tiny drill bits that snap if you so much as look at them the wrong way, and hours and hours of fun. I even got in to doing etched smd layouts (I think my "gnat's chuff" smd big muff is on here somewhere).

I gave up etching years ago once fab houses became cheap and offered short runs. As a result I now have scores of unused pcbs due to minimum orders of 10 or so. If I don't want to use a fabbed board, i just build point to point on perf.

So... is there anyone out there who still etches boards? Do you use toner transfer or UV? What has made you stick with it?

[Mark Hammer]

I try to etch all my own boards, even the double-sided ones.  Although I recently threw my hands up in the air and purchased a commercial board for the MFOS delayed modulation module.  Couldn't get mine to work, and the commercial board fired up as soon as I finished it.

Mostly, I'm just too lazy to draft my own layouts, or learn yet another piece of software.

[Colman]

I have recently comeback to the hobby so to speak and I etched a board the other day but I don't think I will again for a while ,I'm not young anymore, and standing there drilling a whole lotta holes and etching and printing is not for me anymore.

It's a shame since I dug out all my stuff and I have a lots of parts, some unobtainium,but I think I will buy PCBs when possible,I bought one from GGG and like Mark said ,fired up relatively fast except for a mistake a made wiring the jacks(I'm rusty).
It's a no for me.I think.I also found some boards I etched around 1999 from gyraf forum, huge boards for professional equipment  like eqs and compressors and they came out amazing,but I have lost some of my mojo.
Aharon

[Ripthorn]

It's a no for me. I never liked doing it years ago and am happy to not do it now. Since all my projects anymore are my own designs that I offer freely to the DIY community, making the boards is a way to prove out the Gerber files that I create. It also allows me to sell an occasional board for couple bucks or offer a commissioned circuit.

[marcelomd]

No etching for me.

A professionally done PCB, delivered to my home, costs something like 10 USD. This is so much cheaper than my time that I'm never again etching anything.

[Mark Hammer]

It's a no for me. I never liked doing it years ago and am happy to not do it now. Since all my projects anymore are my own designs that I offer freely to the DIY community, making the boards is a way to prove out the Gerber files that I create. It also allows me to sell an occasional board for couple bucks or offer a commissioned circuit.

Well, it also needs saying that your projects are rarely one or two-transistor fuzzes.

[Phend]

I think circuit boards are interesting looking, can be artistic looking, and even "What's that do looking". Building clear acrylic enclosures allows me to see the work I have done. Can be cool looking. The insides of the effect sometimes are made to look as artistic as the outside. But, without a metal box, interference can be a problem. Although I have not witnessed that with my acrylic builds, I suppose if I was in the city or on stage I probably would. So here is the answer to being able to see and enjoy your hard work. Transparent Aluminum.
Aluminum oxynitride. It is Non conductive. Darn

[Ripthorn]

It's a no for me. I never liked doing it years ago and am happy to not do it now. Since all my projects anymore are my own designs that I offer freely to the DIY community, making the boards is a way to prove out the Gerber files that I create. It also allows me to sell an occasional board for couple bucks or offer a commissioned circuit.

Well, it also needs saying that your projects are rarely one or two-transistor fuzzes.

This is very true. I seen to have an affinity for seeing how much I can cram in a 125B...

[Chillums]

Like Ripthorn said, I too only etch if I want to prove a Gerber file before I send it off to one of the many fab houses.   That being said, it is very rewarding building it all at home (and it works).  Who else has a box full of non-working/non-finished boards.  I'm sure everyone. 
It's hard to motivate myself to etch anything anymore when you can get 5 or 10 boards made for for about a $1 a board.  But yeah occasionally I will if I need something "right now". 

[percyhornickel]

I do eatch my boards, even I had to study some chemestry to. Here in Venezuela is not easy to get products for eaching (or they are too expensive).

First I have to look for rust metal parts and then mix with a cleanner product, wait a few days until the metal disappear and then use this solution with peroxide and sulfuric acid.

Once the board is in the plate I put the peroxide 10% to rust the cooper and then put the solution with a small part of acid. It needs to be on movement all the time so the solution could "eat" the cooper once it is rusted.

...yes, is not easy but...  ...what can I do?..        ...I live in Venezuela.

Time ago Erik Vincent (from DIYGUITARPEDALS) sent to me a very nice boards (4), I keep one untouched just because it looks very very nice and I don´t think I can get one of those in here.

Percy

[johngreene]

I haven't since I got a CNC machine. I just mill the PCBs now. I used to etch a LOT of boards back in the day! I still have my UV exposure frame though "just in case". 

[Jarno]

Not anymore, but did a ton of boards.
Must say that I did not mind the etching (toner transfer) it was the drilling of holes that I bloody hated, and I did buy the nice pillar drill from Proxxon for it.

[Dormammu]

I do eatch my boards, even I had to study some chemestry to. Here in Venezuela is not easy to get products for eaching (or they are too expensive).

First I have to look for rust metal parts and then mix with a cleanner product, wait a few days until the metal disappear and then use this solution with peroxide and sulfuric acid.

Once the board is in the plate I put the peroxide 10% to rust the cooper and then put the solution with a small part of acid. It needs to be on movement all the time so the solution could "eat" the cooper once it is rusted.

...yes, is not easy but...  ...what can I do?..        ...I live in Venezuela.

Ferrous sulfate is just as good for etching as chloride.
Electrochemical etching with salt is one of the most accessible methods.  (cost near zero)
Is it really so difficult to find popular etching reagents in your country?  HNO3, FeCl3, CuSO4+NaCl

[Kevin Mitchell]

I've done some home-etched PCBs that had me questioning my sanity, for sure. Sometimes I feel that I hadn't quite recovered. Though, there was something quite therapeutic about it. After getting familiar with a few big PCB manufacturers I'd say I'd probably never etch a board again. My current situation of finance and patience outreach the tribulations of etching and toner transfers by miles.

For years I did magazine paper or glossy photo paper toner transfers and etched in 50/50 muriatic acid & hydrogen peroxide.
I also did a thread about home made tinning solution that's deep in the forum somewhere. Wouldn't mind revisiting that one eventually. Mostly to replate edge-card connectors.

Oh yeah, I have some of my old transfer files in my signature. For the overly ambitious.

It was fun until it wasn't 

[Dormammu]

I've done some home-etched PCBs that had me questioning my sanity, for sure. Though, there was something quite therapeutic about it.
For years I did magazine paper or glossy photo paper toner transfers and etched in 50/50 muriatic acid & hydrogen peroxide.
It was fun until it wasn't 

For a 1-10 pc box-sized PSB with not-so-thin tracks, it can still be quite fun.
Diluted HNO3 and FeCL3 are quite meditative and well controlled.
But eventually for of amounts of PSBs — the homebrew method is a pain in the ass.   

[percyhornickel]

I do eatch my boards, even I had to study some chemestry to. Here in Venezuela is not easy to get products for eaching (or they are too expensive).

First I have to look for rust metal parts and then mix with a cleanner product, wait a few days until the metal disappear and then use this solution with peroxide and sulfuric acid.

Once the board is in the plate I put the peroxide 10% to rust the cooper and then put the solution with a small part of acid. It needs to be on movement all the time so the solution could "eat" the cooper once it is rusted.

...yes, is not easy but...  ...what can I do?..        ...I live in Venezuela.

Ferrous sulfate is just as good for etching as chloride.
Electrochemical etching with salt is one of the most accessible methods.  (cost near zero)
Is it really so difficult to find popular etching reagents in your country?  HNO3, FeCl3, CuSO4+NaCl

Yep, is a hard thing to find chemicals in here, maybe is possible to find one or two but very very expensive so..   ...I had to deal with it and read some nights to find a solution for me. Even ferric clorite is hard to find too, I heven`t seem a small bottle since like ten years . 

[marcelomd]

I don't etch PCBs anymore, but I'm using my leftover etching materials for something else:



That and irreversibly staining some sinks.

[Dormammu]

Yep, is a hard thing to find chemicals in here, maybe is possible to find one or two but very very expensive so..   ...I had to deal with it and read some nights to find a solution for me. Even ferric clorite is hard to find too, I heven`t seem a small bottle since like ten years . 

What about electrochemical etching?

[percyhornickel]

I have tried a few times with no luck!!

[Dormammu]

I have tried a few times with no luck!!

What went wrong ?