{"id":47,"date":"2015-09-24T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blafaselblub.wordpress.com\/2015\/09\/24\/ive-built-a-copper-plating-station"},"modified":"2018-01-09T13:57:15","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T12:57:15","slug":"ive-built-a-copper-plating-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.alexander-tuxen.de\/index.php\/2015\/09\/24\/ive-built-a-copper-plating-station\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve built a copper plating station"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I was designing more and more circuit boards, I got increasingly annoyed with waiting up to 8 weeks for a batch of boards. Also, ever so often I noticed errors in the layout after sending it away for manufacture. So I started acquiring the tools and skills to make my own boards.<\/p>\n

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Here’s a cross section of a 0.3mm hole.<\/p><\/div>\n

Initial tests with toner transfer were promising, but showed that the toner transfer process was very sensitive to dirt and dust, of which there’s plenty in my lab. So I quickly \u00a0moved on to photoimaging the layouts, which worked a lot better in my dirty environment (especially after I discovered an extremely simple wet lamination process).<\/p>\n

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This is a tiny test board with 1.0, 0.8, 0.7, 0.4 and 0.3mm holes, in rows of two. The board is 1.6mm thick, BTW.<\/p><\/div>\n

With the ability to image, develop and etch boards with feature sizes down to 4\/4mil (when using actual laser exposed film, 5\/5mil with laser printed transparencies), the only missing link was a way to plate through holes and vias.<\/p>\n

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Another test board, etched and tinned. The .8 and 1mm holes are all off center due to a CNC mishap, but all the other holes are successfully plated through.<\/p><\/div>\n

So I designed a cheap and easy to build copper plating station. The full project log is over at hackaday.io<\/a>. There is even a short video. Check it out:<\/p>\n