Make your own PCB with a sharpie!
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2022
- Make your own PCB with a sharpie!
You do not need a fancy milling machine, laser etcher or to send of your CAD designs to the far east. Yes you! YOU! Can make your own PCBs with the aid of a sharpie! (and a few more bits - like ferric chloride and a drill!). But that's it, no fancy CAD, just a steady hand.
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Thanks you lovely people, and keep on tinkering!
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0:00 Introduction - Věda a technologie
Now here is a man not afraid to make a mistake. Actually kind of refreshing to watch. Not in the sense of getting joy from other people's mistakes, but just the honesty and the "no f's given" attitude. This was my first video to watch from this channel, but I will be back. It'll give me somebody to watch beside that big-handed bloke out on the Isle of Man.
Thanks so much for the comment Brian. Honestly, I think anyone afraid to make a mistake is someone who isn't going to learn 😂
Thanks for not reshooting to make it perfect. We all benefited more from seeing the mistakes. I'm sure the mirror image problem has bitten a few people. You made this look so simple that I now HAVE to do it on my next project. Thanks!
That's awesome! You definitely need to do it!
16:10, I learnt it a difficult way. Once when I was carrying ferric chloride in my back pack, it spell all over and stained me books, my dress and everything in my bag.
Oh no!
Used to do this ages ago but it's been quite a few years since I broke out the home etch box. Not particularly useful for most of what I do nowadays though with how small and tightly packed components have gotten, but still have good memories of drawing and etching my own boards at home.
Fancy seeing ya here!
Yeah, I guess it's more of a novelty as you progress, but hopefully it's useful for people coming into it. I think it can all seem a bit mysterious at first.
I quite like the idea of still using this technique to make buses or DIY flexible circuits. I do have some copper tape somewhere.
@@backofficeshow now that's an interesting idea, copper tape and kapton to make your own flex pcbs!
I used this technique to make a cube like the one from the "Hellraiser" film, but yeah, wouldn't fancy my chances with a board for smd components!
I think with plotter assistance you have a chance for sure, with I've of those super fine pens but you definitely need a super clean PCB.
It's been a while. Back in the day I went through a couple of Radio Shack PCB kits. They had a felt tip pen, but I preferred to use the dry transfers that came in the kit - pre-drawn IC footprints and nice smooth radius curved traces.
That's more than a sharpie! I've been bamboozled.
i done that, with simple circuits, I did a DOD250 Preamp guitar pedal.
This was so cool, had no idea you could hand make a PCB like that!
Absolutely! and there are a fair few more electronic board technologies to be around even before PCBs 👍
Long long ago I used electrical insulation tape (soft plastic and adhesive) and cut thin strips with surgical blade and ruler. Ferric chloride is a nasty chemical. The junction of tapes would be eroded away. It was fun, frustration and lot of learning.
Use a calliper and a ruler and you will get very neat finishes. Get different size tipped markers too. Use a Dremel to drill holes (a cheaper dremel will do, or make one with a motor). Apply UV solder mask to finish. I've had to do this to create breakouts and converters for some expensive PCB's that used exotic connectors impossible to find anywhere. Sometimes you have to do these things to save the customer from spending thousands on a new PCB.
Yeah, back in the 70s almost every PCB I remember seeing were hand drawn. Granted I didn't see a whole lot of them. Occasionally even today I find one every now and then, a bike light I bought last year came with a hand drawn PCB.
Maybe they should start offering artisinal electronics, hand crafted phones with hands drawn PCBs 🤣
awesome video! I'm about to start making my first pcbs and this was really helpful
Good luck!!
Literally what we just did in our electronics class.
Back in college we used to kinda do it this way, but we had a Wyse workstation running some CAD software, a plotter to print directly to the PCB sheets, and a proper tank for the chemical bath...
Hells yeah! Just like in my CDT days at school 😂
I still have my Roland plotter in the loft. It's probably wrecked now, I really should fetch it. Never had a bubble etch tank, they are not really up to the task these days with tiny QFN surface mount 😂
@@backofficeshow You could probably build one with a plastic tub, a fish tank bubbler, and some 3d printing for board mounts... Sounds like another project for the channel! :p
I might get the t8 mill out again and do a circuit with that 😂
My dad done this but he passed away recently. I gave it a try but it kept copper on board maybe I did not leave long enough I have watch this vid few times. I not sure if me dad used nail polish to remove the ink. I watch this few times lol. mind you that rubber thing you used works good think me dad got somewhere in shed. I say rubber cause it erase like rubber lol
Awesome video! Glad to see I'm not the only one that makes mistakes on the plugs though. I wired up a 7800 controller a week or so ago and had it wired completely backwards at first since I was looking at the pinout wrong.
Its not the first time I have made the mistake on a plug, and 100% not going to be the last time. Some of the simplest ones as well have been known to get me. For example a DE9 or DE25 serial port. You only really need 3 pins, but get the whole gender wrong or confuse the pinout and you are done for 😀
On the bright side, getting the 7800 backwards didn't seem to hurt anything. Would have been a shame to kill it after finding it full of water and resurrecting it.
can you make an update video with liks to the object that you used
Thanks for educating us, please let us know the name of the marker and other things you use.
How does the cooper plate you draw the lines turn to Ferroboard
I really really like your video I thought it was a perfect demonstration of how it works and I like your personality so thank you so much
Thats very kind of you, I am glad it was useful!
As I don't have a laser printer or a UV light this might be the way for me to go.
I've got the printed circuit so I'm now thinking of making a stencil from it.
This is to be an ignition circuit for a model engine I've made.
It's definitely worth a try!
Same with me, making a stencil is a good idea never thought of it..
you could have just cut traces and demonstrated bodge wire fixing of mistakes for prototypes and first releases in the pcb revision process ;)
Always leaving them wanting more.... I am the master of a disappointing conclusion
Neat, feel like rigging the plotting process onto a 3d printer could make this a bit more effective. Call me a wuss but I think I might reach for some gloves for the chems and clamps + sacrificial blocks for the drilling before trying this, I don't trust myself that much
I still have a Roland XY plotter and The loft that I used to use that was the equivalent of the 3D printer part in its day. However, I wouldn't really think it's an amazingly effective way to make a PCB compared to the alternative methods available these days, But for a bit of fun, it's worth a go!
Pro tip: don't use 9V battery in these testers, the wiring and PCBs inside the joysticks might not like this high of a voltage and heat up causing damage to it. Get 3V LEDs and 2 AA batteries instead.
This is cool, didn't think just a sharpie would be enough to resist the etching. I imagine with a sharpie ultra fine you could have gotten all the tracks without jumpers. What did you use to cut the board itself?
I just used some aviation shears and a bit of sandpaper to chomp it
One way I heard for doing PCBs was to print onto glossy magazine paper with a laser printer then iron it onto the PCB. Seems to be documented online.
Unfortunately I just traded in my laser printer for an inkjet. I might regret this as I used the laser for silk screen stuff 🤦
@@backofficeshow I still have a cheap Brother laser I bought around 2007/2008. Still on the original toner cartridge. No idea if it still works.
I binned a few recently. Unfortunately just not using them seemed to kill them whereas the inkjet printers we have are chugging along. I guess more to go wrong in a laser
Sharpie do fine tip pens and pens with fine and thick ends.
@13:05 I was reminded that I had Taco Salad 6 hours ago, and have not went to the bathroom yet...
You are not wrong 😂 it does look very suspicious!
Well as long as all the LEDs do light up in the end, down? (sorry, right)
I had to Chuck this in the box of despair. I'm going to give it to you next time we meet up. It hurts my brain 😂
Hello, what is the brand of the marker you used?
Sharpie?
It doesn't matter, though. As long as the marker is water resistant or permanent (acetone or isopropyl alcohol gets it off), it shouldn't lift off while etching.
The most confusing test device in the world. 😂️
I have a migraine right now and I solely blame it on making and operating that thing this morning, by brain just couldn't take it.
This video is sponsored by B.O.S Wayyyyy old school PCB design, create, make & test 😁 I don't have the shed to store the chemicals any-more so no home made for me sadly.
Yeah! Move over big brand far east PCB companies (who all have tried to sponsor me in the past 😂)! Keeping it real over here! TBOS branded Sharpies for the win!
really clumsy