To learn electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab
do you use like an active CAD to see the workings of the electronics. You might find one of those hole punches better to remove the pins you know the type on a wheel making holes in belts they are bevelled on the inside would squash the pin and push it out if they fit tho the hole might be to big
I can vouch for Mr Carlson's patreon electronics course. There's so much more on there than UA-cam, and it doesn't cost much either. A worthy investment.
I was totally blown away that anyone in this day and age would bother to take the time to make their own PCB. You can get a PCB with solder mask & silk screen in that size for $2.50. Why even bother doing it yourself.
Hey Mr Carlson! I am a certified MESA/Boogie and Fender amp technician and I ALWAYS learn something from your videos. You do such a nice job teaching, your videos are always clear, non-threatening for 'younger techs' and most importantly you do absolute quality/attractive work and always with a positive attitude. I can't tell you how much of a breath of fresh air your videos are in a world of negativity. Cheers from Michigan
Mr Carlsson is one of very few and even less on youtube who actually knows how to appropiate bend wires on wired resistors, capacitors and inductors. This knowledge has obviously been forgotten or neglected when surface mounted components arrived. My hat off to you for educating how things really should be soldered on PCB.
Am really enjoying your videos! Formerly an I.C. Designer at EXAR. Ended my career in Silicon Valley at age 32 - I retired from Analog Devices, where I was overseeing International. :)
@@MrCarlsonsLab = the XR2206 was one of many for which I created the micro-lithographic masks. The original design engineer is a Japanese-born gent by the name of, Yoshiji Kurahashi (now retired and living in southern CA.) He was my boss from 1974 to 1981.
It's at times like these I'm very thankful for the low cost PCB's you can get these days. I don't miss etching PCB's at home at all, leave it to the pro's, send the gerbers off and get a professional PCB's in a matter of days.
An uA723, WOW! ...I was in school (70's) when the chip was already around for years. Like the NE555 & uA741, it is one of several legends that are still around! :):):)
If you print the laser toner onto either glossy magazine paper (cheap thin glossy ad magazines work great), or onto glossy inkjet paper, getting it to adhere to the metal is much less time sensitive, you can leave it for days no problem before laminating if you wish, and it comes off from the paper much more easily once you soak it in water. I've done this quite a few times etching plaques and they come out perfectly. Printing directly on copy paper is a bit of a hit and miss though, and the structure of the paper can impart in the toner and make it not stick as well to the metal. I have a video on this very process as well.
Tried this, and it works ok. The paper in this video was the result of "a lot" of research, and works much better than magazine paper. (at least the magazine paper I tried.) I prototype a lot. Thanks for sharing your experience.
@@MrCarlsonsLab different strokes for different folks I guess. I too prototype a lot 😄 Copy paper has never led to any great success for me. Ultimately whenever I used that I got bad adherence to the metal and had to do lots of touch-ups with a Sharpie to fill in where the toner didn't stick. Best all around result was glossy inkjet paper in the laser printer, but since that's a bit expensive glossy magazine paper is I'd say 90% as good. I guess the principle is that the less the toner adheres to the paper it's printed on the better it will stick to the metal 🙂 Have you tried the etching films which you expose with UV and then wash off the unexposed film? While a bit more finicky I know a lot of people making custom circuit boards who swear by it.
why would you try to tell paul how to do anything. he is the king you know never saw anyone that knows as much as this guy.took a look at your channel.............. lol
@@SwitchAndLever I believe he uses some kind of glossy photo paper, not copy paper. There is some paper specifically designed for the pcb transfer method, though I have not tried it personally. If it works well, it would be a reasonable cost depending on the volume and size of boards a person makes: www.amazon.com/Circuit-Board-Thermal-Transfer-Special/dp/B01CGRL2G0 I have a laser cutter at home, which I have used it to do circuit boards by spray painting the board with an even coating of black paint, then using the laser to burn away everything except the traces. This method works, but can be finicky depending on paint, residue, cleaning method, etc. I have also purchased some 'Photosensitive Dry Film' for PCB production from eBay that I intend to try, not sure if you've seen that stuff but it seems like an interesting method. Basically it lets you apply a photo-resist film to any board. I am still experimenting to see which method I like best, I expect I will settle on whichever provides the best work vs results vs cost ratio. :P
Watching you complete these PCB's reminds me of the company I used to work for. The bottleneck was ordering and receiving the boards in a timely fashion. It got so bad that they decided to buy a close by PCB manufacturer. The process was the same only on a much bigger scale. Positives were produced in the photographer's dept. and 'shot' on the raw boards, developed and plated in rather large tanks hung in the solutions and then processed. A design change could be turned around in a couple of days instead of a couple weeks. Big difference. A simple change could scrap a whole trashcan full of old boards. Typical government expenses and over runs, plenty of over runs. Good job Paul!
Very interesting. I have made single sided circuit boards before but not a double sided or even heard of liquid tin before. Very informative and educational. Thank you Mr. Carlson.
Ive been doing software since I was a kid. Somehow, im just now learning electronics...youtube kept suggesting MrCarlson...eventually I bit. Now, I watch them all the time. I dont have the depth of understanding to fully appreciate them yet. But hot damn, what quality content. It will only get better as my understanding and intuition grows.
Not only do I value the abundant education, as well I'm appreciative of the good audio and video quality. Especially the audio. It is so important to have good audio! Thanks Mr. C! By the way, my nickname is Mr. C so that's why I said that.
not sure there are others that are also quite good and well here you can hear the little clicky sounds when the small moist layer between the tongue and the mouth separates while speaking. if that is a quality sign or not is up to you i found it a bit irritating in the first half of the video so maybe a bit of a highcut does the trick
I use to make my own PCBs but stopped when I found an online service that allowed me to get 2 to 6 layer boards with solder mask and silk screen for less than I had in material and time (time is money after all) to process my own. I've ordered everywhere from 1 to 2000 boards through this service depending on the project and the quality has always been top notch.
I use Diptrace for artwork and schematics. Cheap (actually free for small boards) and it outputs all the data a fab house needs. I find Bay Area Circuits is a good source for small board quantities. I have no financial ties to either of these. I first built boards in the 60's by manual taping the artwork, getting a negative made, exposing the board coated with Kodak Photo Resist, and then etching with ferric chloride (that part hasn't changed!) Now, I'd rather let someone else deal with the chemicals plus the boards come back conformal coating which is hard to do at home.
Very well done Paul. Although my program is old and crude (Tube Pad) I have been making hand drawn circuit boards for many years. I still have one of those Radio Shack etchant kits from the 70's that has never been opened lol. Thanks for sharing.
I made my first board using a Radio Shack CB Etching kit when I was 13, cira 1973. You just skipped over the hardest part, accurately drilling all those tiny holes! I didn't have a drimmel kit back then so I had to do it with a big 5 pound electric drill. P.S. Don't spill ANY etching solution on your mom's formica countertops! :(
I use Kicad. (freeware, easy to use and an extensive library of components and footprints) You start from your circuit diagram and from there you create the PCB layout. You can have a rule check performed on both your schematic and your PCB. You even get a 3D view. You export the Kicad file and send it to the PCB manufacturer. A few days later you will receive a professionally made PCB in your mailbox. (with silk screen, corrosion protection, drilled holes, ...) Easy, simple and no polluting chemicals at home.
Just last night I was searching your channel for "PCB", saw the previous tutorial you'd made, thought to myself _"Ahh, I've seen that one"_ ... you are a legend, Paul.
Normally not picky about pronunciation, but the difference between silicon and silicone is very important. One is a semiconducting element, the other is the complex polymer PDMS, or polydimethylsiloxane typically. Silicon valley is in Northern California, and Silicone valley is in Southern California, with a branch in Las Vegas.
Excellent! This video gave a ‘blast-from-the-past’ as back in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s, I used the toner-transfer method, using a clothes iron, then vinegar and water for removing the paper, along with finger rubbing for the course, then a brush for the finer paper fuzz removal. The thinner the paper as tracing paper, the easier for removing. Ferric Chloride enchant and yes it stains everything and open fumes will corrode nearby medal tools when warm, if not sealed up. I never used the tinning solution but tinned manually with solder soaked desoldering braid and it was not an easy job as the chemical way. Wonderful video Mr Carlson, it surely brought back pleasant old memories. Also, a fish tank air bubblier helps with etching agitation if doing lots of boards. Additionally, Muriatic-Acid and Hydrogen-Peroxide is said to be a decedent enchant but I’ve only used it once when was out of Ferric Chloride and yes, it did work, only taking longer to etch but gave a good ending result.
We did this differently - way back in to 80's. We designed the layouts with tape and dots on plastic film back then. We used double-sided precoated resist board. First expose one side in the blacklight box, this created an image on the resist that was clear enough to align with. We'd drill through the location points then use them to align and expose the reverse side. Rinse the exposed resist off with caustic. We'd then wet one side with ferric chloride and float the board on the etch. Rinse, flip, repeat. Clean resist with caustic soda. Drill the board. Created DS processor boards like this - I did a few Z80 projects this way.
Wow! Nice work. I used to do this back in the 1970's. All I had was an etch-resist pen. Nice to see Ferric Chloride is still used. My hand drawn circuits were crude but effective for the simple projects I did.
Bought a printed circuit maker kit from Radio Shack 40 years ago. It had a large plastic tank which doubled as a case to hold the equipment and the Ferrous Chloride bottle. Funny how I actually forgotten ( when I was seventeen ) what I made but had to do with a model train diesel horn. The kit had very precise black self adhesive tabs for making pads for IC legs (used a LM555 timer IC )which after etching was off a little on two of eight places!
I did the etch-resist pen ("Dalo"-brand) thing in elementary school back in the 80:s and did some still in the 2007 or something like that when building guitar pedals. Works just great for through hole components where great precision or fine lines are not needed. I still have the big pickle jar of ferric chloride somewhere, I've not used it for over a decade though so might as well get rid of it.
Same here. In my high school electronics class (1971) we made our own boards using fingernail polish to cover the hand drawn circuits. We were building 12 volt variable DC power supplies. They actually worked when all was said and done. 8-) Pretty weak in terms of amps.
When you pulled out the can of Nevr-dull, I had flashbacks to my military days. I was in a ceremonial troop with lots of brass and lots of polish and Nevr-dull was never out of reach.
very very nice home pcb diy video. i made pcbs in the 70s in a small lab, so this is interesting to see a different version to get the working results 🙂thanks
Amazed by the method you used make PCB. I never thought it would be possible to do at home. I noticed in your videos sometimes you do get side tracked from topic, thus making the videos longer. It's your style of presenting and as a subscriber, I found them as bonus knowledge. Thanks for sharing.
My main hobby is not electronics (though electronics does show up often), it's scale modeling. But scale modeling involves photo etched metal parts for extra-fine detail that can't be done in plastic. Making my own parts has been kind of a mystery to me, especially since all the modeling videos on the subject I've seen have been multi-step processes using lots of chemicals. I didn't really see this as a viable DIY thing for me until this video popped into my YT feed! This will work perfectly to make double-sided parts!! Thank you for making this video!
Thanks... this came out soo well. I was hoping you would release a seperate vid for the PCB last week, and I did not get disappointed. Your videos are very interesting, I’m studying EE since a few years so I know a lot of the mathematics and theory (and have been repairing electronics for a few years), but I’m just starting to design and build my own PCBs. Your knowledge and practical experience is amazing, often you take shortcuts where new EEs would calculate stuff for quite some time.
this reminds me my dad in 80s sitting on chair in front of bench and making diy transistor based radio receiver, because in my country under russian occupation these things were incredible expensive to buy them from shop. this is a way when people used to make diy c boards at home. after dad finished making board was time for soldering. unforgetable smell of hard flux, i dont know why but i loved that smell ;p btw beautiful c board;p
Amazing project. I remember using photo resist and uv light in high school for my electronics projects in developing pcb. You are very informative. Amazing electronics knowledge. A great treasure you are......
I have done this several times. I would add a step. Run board through laminator 2 times to get it hot before attempting the transfer. Then put your print on it and run it through 10x. This way the toner transfers on the first pass through and holds things in place. It kind of sticks the print to the board. Otherwise it doesn't do that on the first pass. And you can have misalignment problems. Or broken prints. I also printed labels to put on my laminator so I would remember the important steps in the future.
When I did DS boards years (40) ago, we'd use UV sensitive resist coated board, expose the design by blacklight tubes (actually the old dot/tape on clear film!) on one side. You could see the changed coating where exposed, drill alignment holes, align the second side, expose then develop both in NaOH, wash then etch.
Nice 👍 I plan on making a new idle circuit board for my miller legend welder. It still operates just fine but no longer idles down after a few seconds. I took a look at the board a while back and it had a burnt trace and a shorted cap. Repaired the board and it worked for a while longer. It's time to get rid of the twin thyristor setup and a redesign with newer style components now that it has failed again.
When I was a kid, we used to make boards the hard way by cutting rubylith, and using photosensitive boards. Some single-use templates were made by putting water-proof glue over magazine articles, and then soaking them. Back then the only printers we had were dot-matrix, so the transfer method was still years off. You might be able to use a plastic clip such as those strips used to bind the edges of book-reports. Perhaps, something could be 3D printed. It seems that a lot of people were using cupric chloride because it can be regenerated, but I haven't tried it, personally. Good videos, as always. Thank you.
Did you remember to paste a copy of the NEW schematic inside the top of the lid for a potential far future owner to have half a chance of repairing it again? Hmmmmm? Who else was picturing a particular Dan Akroyd sketch about a chef from oh so long ago? (I'm not trying to offend, it was a very amusing memory, and I truly adore Mr. C's pursuit of perfection.)
Great explanation of your process. I stopped doing stuff with chemical etching a few years ago. You can get professional PCBs made of this size for $20 for five copies, shipped in about 7 days. Managing and storing the chemicals and copper properly is worth at least that much.
I should also mention that I built an entire Minimoog Model D clone using the a mixture of the chemical etch method and isolation routing (home built CNC machine made from a dremel, three stepper motors, stuff you could pick up at Radio Shack, and stuff you could pick up from the hardware store). One of these days I'll redo that project with modern CAD tools. Although the chemical etch / isolation routing worked, it just took forever -- weeks that stretched into months. I bet I could do that entire project again in KiCad or EagleCad, and have boards ready in a matter of days this time.
I love content like this as I watch how other people do things so can pick up tips & tricks (like the nylon screw offsets -nifty!) and add them to my own work.
Great Job Paul! Always enjoy your videos and how you explain everything very clearly. Have you ever tried the acetone method of toner transfer? I saw a few videos on that technique and it seems it works well at least for small boards. It is the same concept except the toner is transferred using an acetone rubbing process (cold no heat). No heat press or laminator is needed.
Great for teaching beginners the basics but after fabricating hundreds of boards by hand, nowadays I have them made at the ridiculously low price you can get at a fab plant and at a fast turnaround too. That way I can concentrate on maximising the layout and design in CAD and then get a fantastic looking board with solder mask and screen printed to boot. Still have a fondness for the old days of hand produced boards but I wouldn't go back!
Thanks for going through the whole process of making a printed circuit board. I have not made one in years so my process is more of an antique process than the one you are using. As always great video Paul and explanation.
Nicely done! I moved from toner transfer to photosensitive boards to get tighter tolerances, but it is a little more complicated. And, just signed up for your Patreon channel.
Used to make PCB's at work in the early 2000's using OHP transparency acetates rather than paper and used staples rather than tape to hold them together. We exposed the PCB's through the acetates so they were reusable. We also had bubble tanks that heated the ferric chloride and bubbled air through to agitate the etchant and the PCB's were etched vertically so no need for spacers. This worked well until the tracks we had to use got so thin that the acid would eat through them and we eventually got a PCB router from LPKF which was a great machine that got a lot of use.
at university we use photoresist coppercladboards and semitranslucent paper for the development of the board and a sprinkler etching machine for etching... works out quite well too
Hi Bill. The toner is printed on paper as it would be normally. The toner on the paper is then pressed against the solid copper side of the PCB. When heated together in the laminator, the toner will leave the paper and stick to the copper. Its just that simple. One side glossy flyer paper works great for this transfer.
Great video! Is there a particular reason you soak the paper in water after running it through the laminator? I've used this very same transfer technique, but after transferring the circuit layout to the copper I let the copper board sit for a few minutes to cool off and then simply peel the transfer off. No soaking or toothbrush required. Might save some time.
Carlson, you should do a video on how to get good video sound/volume/quality/etc. Even Leno's Garage can't get it right. UA-cam creators need a class on gain staging, compression,, etc and your input would add serious value. :)
Most UA-camr's are tone-deaf and most viewers watch on phones. smh If you watch videos on a phone, that's on you. But bad audio seems to be normal these days. It's so easy to overcome, too.
Great job and thank you! 🙌 I was considering re-watching your earlier circuit board video anyway, and this one complements your other circuit board video very well. Great explanations! I was afraid to ask about the glassware, and you even explained that.
I've done a lot if these in the eighties and nineties. Laserprinters were inaccessible, in the beginning I did not even have a computer. I used ink pens on translucent polyester film and a photographic process. For etching I used my own concoction of hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide and water. (Chemistry was another hobby of mine back then)
Instead of eyeballing center to center of the holes when measuring with a caliper, you can get a more accurate measurement measuring from the outside edge of one hole to the same outside edge of another hole. Just a little trick that makes it a bit easier.
To learn electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab
Not gonna lie, the third person thing is a bit weird.
Wow, can you open a time portal doorway? I'm not joking .
Shaun of NYC
do you use like an active CAD to see the workings of the electronics. You might find one of those hole punches better to remove the pins you know the type on a wheel making holes in belts they are bevelled on the inside would squash the pin and push it out if they fit tho the hole might be to big
I can vouch for Mr Carlson's patreon electronics course. There's so much more on there than UA-cam, and it doesn't cost much either. A worthy investment.
I was totally blown away that anyone in this day and age would bother to take the time to make their own PCB. You can get a PCB with solder mask & silk screen in that size for $2.50. Why even bother doing it yourself.
Incredible. He says he will teach you one thing, and then proceeds to teach 10 or 12 things. Thank you Mr. Carlson, you are a treasure!
Very generous man is our Paul.
Teaching us 1 thing that consists of many
He actually takes us through his thought process and that understanding how every component will "behave in real life" is key to long term success.
Yeah. He is like that.
Nothing wrong extra knowledge.👍👍
Hey Mr Carlson! I am a certified MESA/Boogie and Fender amp technician and I ALWAYS learn something from your videos. You do such a nice job teaching, your videos are always clear, non-threatening for 'younger techs' and most importantly you do absolute quality/attractive work and always with a positive attitude. I can't tell you how much of a breath of fresh air your videos are in a world of negativity. Cheers from Michigan
Thanks for your kind feedback Sean!
Imagine buying some lab kit one day, taking it home, opening it up and seeing a board with the CARLSON mark on it.
Treasure!
I cant believe that PCB was home made !!! OMG that was so pro !
Level of detail, quality and the calm tone of Mr. Carlson speech, makes my anxiety level go down!! You're one of the bests!!! 👍👍👍👍
Mr Carlsson is one of very few and even less on youtube who actually knows how to appropiate bend wires on wired resistors, capacitors and inductors. This knowledge has obviously been forgotten or neglected when surface mounted components arrived. My hat off to you for educating how things really should be soldered on PCB.
Am really enjoying your videos! Formerly an I.C. Designer at EXAR. Ended my career in Silicon Valley at age 32 - I retired from Analog Devices, where I was overseeing International. :)
EXAR was a great company, and is very missed! The XR2206 (and many other IC"s) were fantastic. Thanks for your comment Robert!
I used those Exar chips in my Dynamic Expander Noise Reduction circuit as voltage controlled frequency modulated oscillators back in 1984.
@@MrCarlsonsLab = the XR2206 was one of many for which I created the micro-lithographic masks. The original design engineer is a Japanese-born gent by the name of, Yoshiji Kurahashi (now retired and living in southern CA.) He was my boss from 1974 to 1981.
@@rckuhmannThat’s so cool
It's at times like these I'm very thankful for the low cost PCB's you can get these days. I don't miss etching PCB's at home at all, leave it to the pro's, send the gerbers off and get a professional PCB's in a matter of days.
Bogdon over at Hacksmith blew my mind the other day doing that. Also, nice build on his laser LED power supply.
An uA723, WOW! ...I was in school (70's) when the chip was already around for years. Like the NE555 & uA741, it is one of several legends that are still around! :):):)
Great: you are a 21st century miniaturist! Your videos, even the longest ones, are much more enjoyable than any TV channel!
Glad you like them, thanks for your kind comment!
If you print the laser toner onto either glossy magazine paper (cheap thin glossy ad magazines work great), or onto glossy inkjet paper, getting it to adhere to the metal is much less time sensitive, you can leave it for days no problem before laminating if you wish, and it comes off from the paper much more easily once you soak it in water. I've done this quite a few times etching plaques and they come out perfectly. Printing directly on copy paper is a bit of a hit and miss though, and the structure of the paper can impart in the toner and make it not stick as well to the metal. I have a video on this very process as well.
Tried this, and it works ok. The paper in this video was the result of "a lot" of research, and works much better than magazine paper. (at least the magazine paper I tried.) I prototype a lot. Thanks for sharing your experience.
@@MrCarlsonsLab different strokes for different folks I guess. I too prototype a lot 😄 Copy paper has never led to any great success for me. Ultimately whenever I used that I got bad adherence to the metal and had to do lots of touch-ups with a Sharpie to fill in where the toner didn't stick. Best all around result was glossy inkjet paper in the laser printer, but since that's a bit expensive glossy magazine paper is I'd say 90% as good. I guess the principle is that the less the toner adheres to the paper it's printed on the better it will stick to the metal 🙂 Have you tried the etching films which you expose with UV and then wash off the unexposed film? While a bit more finicky I know a lot of people making custom circuit boards who swear by it.
boys i love seeing 2 of my favorite youtubers talking i bet you 2 could come up with a hell of a collaboration
why would you try to tell paul how to do anything. he is the king you know never saw anyone that knows as much as this guy.took a look at your channel.............. lol
@@SwitchAndLever I believe he uses some kind of glossy photo paper, not copy paper. There is some paper specifically designed for the pcb transfer method, though I have not tried it personally. If it works well, it would be a reasonable cost depending on the volume and size of boards a person makes: www.amazon.com/Circuit-Board-Thermal-Transfer-Special/dp/B01CGRL2G0
I have a laser cutter at home, which I have used it to do circuit boards by spray painting the board with an even coating of black paint, then using the laser to burn away everything except the traces. This method works, but can be finicky depending on paint, residue, cleaning method, etc.
I have also purchased some 'Photosensitive Dry Film' for PCB production from eBay that I intend to try, not sure if you've seen that stuff but it seems like an interesting method. Basically it lets you apply a photo-resist film to any board.
I am still experimenting to see which method I like best, I expect I will settle on whichever provides the best work vs results vs cost ratio. :P
Watching you complete these PCB's reminds me of the company I used to work for. The bottleneck was ordering and receiving the boards in a timely fashion. It got so bad that they decided to buy a close by PCB manufacturer. The process was the same only on a much bigger scale. Positives were produced in the photographer's dept. and 'shot' on the raw boards, developed and plated in rather large tanks hung in the solutions and then processed. A design change could be turned around in a couple of days instead of a couple weeks. Big difference. A simple change could scrap a whole trashcan full of old boards. Typical government expenses and over runs, plenty of over runs. Good job Paul!
Very interesting. I have made single sided circuit boards before but not a double sided or even heard of liquid tin before. Very informative and educational. Thank you Mr. Carlson.
I like this guy so much detail ,and knowledge ,who has time to show you how.
Ive been doing software since I was a kid. Somehow, im just now learning electronics...youtube kept suggesting MrCarlson...eventually I bit. Now, I watch them all the time. I dont have the depth of understanding to fully appreciate them yet. But hot damn, what quality content. It will only get better as my understanding and intuition grows.
Glad you're enjoying David!
Not only do I value the abundant education, as well I'm appreciative of the good audio and video quality. Especially the audio. It is so important to have good audio! Thanks Mr. C! By the way, my nickname is Mr. C so that's why I said that.
Best audio on UA-cam!
not sure there are others that are also quite good and well here you can hear the little clicky sounds when the small moist layer between the tongue and the mouth separates while speaking. if that is a quality sign or not is up to you i found it a bit irritating in the first half of the video so maybe a bit of a highcut does the trick
Just saw the final "product" . jesus, he's a artist
Those boards are beautiful, I'm truly amazed at how good your work is, it's always top notch. Even the filming quality is amazing.
Thank you very much!
Mr Carlson is the best.
I use to make my own PCBs but stopped when I found an online service that allowed me to get 2 to 6 layer boards with solder mask and silk screen for less than I had in material and time (time is money after all) to process my own. I've ordered everywhere from 1 to 2000 boards through this service depending on the project and the quality has always been top notch.
And who would this be, if you're at liberty to say?
@@stevethepocket Download KiCAD, design your board and you can send the Gerber files to virtually any place that makes PCBs
I use Diptrace for artwork and schematics. Cheap (actually free for small boards) and it outputs all the data a fab house needs. I find Bay Area Circuits is a good source for small board quantities. I have no financial ties to either of these.
I first built boards in the 60's by manual taping the artwork, getting a negative made, exposing the board coated with Kodak Photo Resist, and then etching with ferric chloride (that part hasn't changed!) Now, I'd rather let someone else deal with the chemicals plus the boards come back conformal coating which is hard to do at home.
This is one of the few channels that I thumbs up the video before even watching...
Very well done Paul. Although my program is old and crude (Tube Pad) I have been making hand drawn circuit boards for many years. I still have one of those Radio Shack etchant kits from the 70's that has never been opened lol. Thanks for sharing.
I made my first board using a Radio Shack CB Etching kit when I was 13, cira 1973. You just skipped over the hardest part, accurately drilling all those tiny holes! I didn't have a drimmel kit back then so I had to do it with a big 5 pound electric drill.
P.S. Don't spill ANY etching solution on your mom's formica countertops! :(
You're funny...and smart
Using the board as a heat sink for a smaller component is an excellent idea. Very cool!
Thanks Michael!
I use Kicad.
(freeware, easy to use and an extensive library of components and footprints)
You start from your circuit diagram and from there you create the PCB layout.
You can have a rule check performed on both your schematic and your PCB.
You even get a 3D view.
You export the Kicad file and send it to the PCB manufacturer.
A few days later you will receive a professionally made PCB in your mailbox.
(with silk screen, corrosion protection, drilled holes, ...)
Easy, simple and no polluting chemicals at home.
Just last night I was searching your channel for "PCB", saw the previous tutorial you'd made, thought to myself _"Ahh, I've seen that one"_ ... you are a legend, Paul.
Normally not picky about pronunciation, but the difference between silicon and silicone is very important. One is a semiconducting element, the other is the complex polymer PDMS, or polydimethylsiloxane typically. Silicon valley is in Northern California, and Silicone valley is in Southern California, with a branch in Las Vegas.
One goes on the board, the other goes in the boob. Don't mix them up, unless your a fembot.
Excellent! This video gave a ‘blast-from-the-past’ as back in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s, I used the toner-transfer method, using a clothes iron, then vinegar and water for removing the paper, along with finger rubbing for the course, then a brush for the finer paper fuzz removal. The thinner the paper as tracing paper, the easier for removing. Ferric Chloride enchant and yes it stains everything and open fumes will corrode nearby medal tools when warm, if not sealed up. I never used the tinning solution but tinned manually with solder soaked desoldering braid and it was not an easy job as the chemical way. Wonderful video Mr Carlson, it surely brought back pleasant old memories. Also, a fish tank air bubblier helps with etching agitation if doing lots of boards. Additionally, Muriatic-Acid and Hydrogen-Peroxide is said to be a decedent enchant but I’ve only used it once when was out of Ferric Chloride and yes, it did work, only taking longer to etch but gave a good ending result.
We did this differently - way back in to 80's.
We designed the layouts with tape and dots on plastic film back then. We used double-sided precoated resist board. First expose one side in the blacklight box, this created an image on the resist that was clear enough to align with. We'd drill through the location points then use them to align and expose the reverse side. Rinse the exposed resist off with caustic.
We'd then wet one side with ferric chloride and float the board on the etch. Rinse, flip, repeat. Clean resist with caustic soda. Drill the board.
Created DS processor boards like this - I did a few Z80 projects this way.
That board looked amazing. So clean.
Wow! Nice work. I used to do this back in the 1970's. All I had was an etch-resist pen. Nice to see Ferric Chloride is still used. My hand drawn circuits were crude but effective for the simple projects I did.
Bought a printed circuit maker kit from Radio Shack 40 years ago. It had a large plastic tank which doubled as a case to hold the equipment and the
Ferrous Chloride bottle. Funny how I actually forgotten ( when I was seventeen ) what I made but had to do with a model train diesel horn.
The kit had very precise black self adhesive tabs for making pads for IC legs (used a LM555 timer IC )which after etching was off a little on two of eight places!
I did the etch-resist pen ("Dalo"-brand) thing in elementary school back in the 80:s and did some still in the 2007 or something like that when building guitar pedals. Works just great for through hole components where great precision or fine lines are not needed. I still have the big pickle jar of ferric chloride somewhere, I've not used it for over a decade though so might as well get rid of it.
I bought the RS etching kit and would use the resist pen and reverse dead bug the components so I didn't need to drill holes
I use a sharpie marker pen as an etch resist ,works a treat!
Same here. In my high school electronics class (1971) we made our own boards using fingernail polish to cover the hand drawn circuits. We were building 12 volt variable DC power supplies. They actually worked when all was said and done. 8-) Pretty weak in terms of amps.
When you pulled out the can of Nevr-dull, I had flashbacks to my military days. I was in a ceremonial troop with lots of brass and lots of polish and Nevr-dull was never out of reach.
Great product and thank you for your service.
very very nice home pcb diy video. i made pcbs in the 70s in a small lab, so this is interesting to see a different version to get the working results 🙂thanks
This video = gold
Copper*
@@joesyuh depends on your pov. :)
Thank you for this video! I learnt so much about just etching itself! You're an amazing craftsman!
Really nice looking PSU boards. Its interesting seeing old gear redesigned with SMD parts and old style through hole caps.
I was looking forward to a video from you, and here it is.
BEAUTIFUL as usual! What a fantastic channel! 😃👏👏
Mr Carlson you are the best. Anytime I want to bring my skills to a new level, I watch one of your videos. Thanks a million
You are very welcome Cody!
Amazed by the method you used make PCB. I never thought it would be possible to do at home. I noticed in your videos sometimes you do get side tracked from topic, thus making the videos longer. It's your style of presenting and as a subscriber, I found them as bonus knowledge. Thanks for sharing.
You have incredible patience. Thank you for taking so much time to explain what you are doing in detail!
Thank you Sir, you are an inspiration and a very good teacher.
Thanks for your kind comment Wim!
My main hobby is not electronics (though electronics does show up often), it's scale modeling. But scale modeling involves photo etched metal parts for extra-fine detail that can't be done in plastic. Making my own parts has been kind of a mystery to me, especially since all the modeling videos on the subject I've seen have been multi-step processes using lots of chemicals. I didn't really see this as a viable DIY thing for me until this video popped into my YT feed! This will work perfectly to make double-sided parts!! Thank you for making this video!
Mr Carlson you are the best teacher
Thanks!
"Nit pickingly perfect" is an understatement about Paul Carlson's work ethic!
I will bet he is a Virgo.
Thanks... this came out soo well. I was hoping you would release a seperate vid for the PCB last week, and I did not get disappointed.
Your videos are very interesting, I’m studying EE since a few years so I know a lot of the mathematics and theory (and have been repairing electronics for a few years), but I’m just starting to design and build my own PCBs. Your knowledge and practical experience is amazing, often you take shortcuts where new EEs would calculate stuff for quite some time.
Very nice job! Glad it was in HD, too, Paul!
this reminds me my dad in 80s sitting on chair in front of bench and making diy transistor based radio receiver, because in my country under russian occupation these things were incredible expensive to buy them from shop. this is a way when people used to make diy c boards at home. after dad finished making board was time for soldering. unforgetable smell of hard flux, i dont know why but i loved that smell ;p btw beautiful c board;p
Amazing project. I remember using photo resist and uv light in high school for my electronics projects in developing pcb. You are very informative. Amazing electronics knowledge. A great treasure you are......
Hello from your new fan from Ukraine!
Your videos are very awesome and professional. It's a pleasure to watch it.
Welcome RTV!
@@MrCarlsonsLab
Thanks :)
The artistry is strong in this one.
I have done this several times. I would add a step. Run board through laminator 2 times to get it hot before attempting the transfer. Then put your print on it and run it through 10x. This way the toner transfers on the first pass through and holds things in place. It kind of sticks the print to the board. Otherwise it doesn't do that on the first pass. And you can have misalignment problems. Or broken prints. I also printed labels to put on my laminator so I would remember the important steps in the future.
When I did DS boards years (40) ago, we'd use UV sensitive resist coated board, expose the design by blacklight tubes (actually the old dot/tape on clear film!) on one side. You could see the changed coating where exposed, drill alignment holes, align the second side, expose then develop both in NaOH, wash then etch.
Nice 👍 I plan on making a new idle circuit board for my miller legend welder. It still operates just fine but no longer idles down after a few seconds. I took a look at the board a while back and it had a burnt trace and a shorted cap. Repaired the board and it worked for a while longer. It's time to get rid of the twin thyristor setup and a redesign with newer style components now that it has failed again.
You are one of the best on YT in your branch! Amazing skill!
When I was a kid, we used to make boards the hard way by cutting rubylith, and using photosensitive boards. Some single-use templates were made by putting water-proof glue over magazine articles, and then soaking them. Back then the only printers we had were dot-matrix, so the transfer method was still years off.
You might be able to use a plastic clip such as those strips used to bind the edges of book-reports. Perhaps, something could be 3D printed.
It seems that a lot of people were using cupric chloride because it can be regenerated, but I haven't tried it, personally.
Good videos, as always. Thank you.
Thanks for your comment Brenda!
Did you remember to paste a copy of the NEW schematic inside the top of the lid for a potential far future owner to have half a chance of repairing it again? Hmmmmm?
Who else was picturing a particular Dan Akroyd sketch about a chef from oh so long ago? (I'm not trying to offend, it was a very amusing memory, and I truly adore Mr. C's pursuit of perfection.)
I actually do that with all of my builds now. I remember seeing all sorts of older gear when I was a kid with schematics on the inside.
I think Mr. Carlson channels the spirit of Tom Swift sometimes! Thanks for another informative and interesting video! 👍
Fun fact: TASER is an acronym for Thomas A Swift's Electric Rifle.
I admire your patience, Mr Carlson. Exelent job.
Now I know how printed circuits are done......More knowledge from Mr Carlson! Thank You:-)
You are welcome!
Beautifully constructed!
Great Carlson .greetings from India,I’m a physician
Welcome!
@@MrCarlsonsLab thanks.regards and wishes to young talented Carlson .
Oh man this is huge! I didn't think I would find a video on this! Really great!
Glad you liked it!
@@MrCarlsonsLab pretty hard subject to find something on. Next up designing a board to fix a problem Yamaha has in the RX V1 flagship.
You are a genius in electronics i wish i had the knowledge that you have always love watching your videos
Great explanation of your process. I stopped doing stuff with chemical etching a few years ago. You can get professional PCBs made of this size for $20 for five copies, shipped in about 7 days. Managing and storing the chemicals and copper properly is worth at least that much.
I should also mention that I built an entire Minimoog Model D clone using the a mixture of the chemical etch method and isolation routing (home built CNC machine made from a dremel, three stepper motors, stuff you could pick up at Radio Shack, and stuff you could pick up from the hardware store). One of these days I'll redo that project with modern CAD tools. Although the chemical etch / isolation routing worked, it just took forever -- weeks that stretched into months. I bet I could do that entire project again in KiCad or EagleCad, and have boards ready in a matter of days this time.
I love content like this as I watch how other people do things so can pick up tips & tricks (like the nylon screw offsets -nifty!) and add them to my own work.
Great Job Paul! Always enjoy your videos and how you explain everything very clearly. Have you ever tried the acetone method of toner transfer? I saw a few videos on that technique and it seems it works well at least for small boards. It is the same concept except the toner is transferred using an acetone rubbing process (cold no heat). No heat press or laminator is needed.
I've done this and it's quite fun... twas a learning experience for sure, but all in all, once completed, the device worked as advertised.
Beautiful work sir!
I love your workshop
The first frame of the video i was like wtf. Thats an impressive lab man
Very beautiful work ❤️👍
That was a great video, had no idea how much work went into making a simple board.
Great for teaching beginners the basics but after fabricating hundreds of boards by hand, nowadays I have them made at the ridiculously low price you can get at a fab plant and at a fast turnaround too. That way I can concentrate on maximising the layout and design in CAD and then get a fantastic looking board with solder mask and screen printed to boot. Still have a fondness for the old days of hand produced boards but I wouldn't go back!
That's a piece of art.
Thanks for going through the whole process of making a printed circuit board. I have not made one in years so my process is more of an antique process than the one you are using. As always great video Paul and explanation.
Nicely done! I moved from toner transfer to photosensitive boards to get tighter tolerances, but it is a little more complicated.
And, just signed up for your Patreon channel.
Thanks for the info. I knew about electroless plating. But I did not know about tin plating for PC boards
Used to make PCB's at work in the early 2000's using OHP transparency acetates rather than paper and used staples rather than tape to hold them together. We exposed the PCB's through the acetates so they were reusable.
We also had bubble tanks that heated the ferric chloride and bubbled air through to agitate the etchant and the PCB's were etched vertically so no need for spacers.
This worked well until the tracks we had to use got so thin that the acid would eat through them and we eventually got a PCB router from LPKF which was a great machine that got a lot of use.
at university we use photoresist coppercladboards and semitranslucent paper for the development of the board and a sprinkler etching machine for etching... works out quite well too
Thanks for the info! 👍
No problem!
how does the toner get threw the plastic laminate?. and what is used to copy to the circuit board, over the laminate as its put threw the printer.
Hi Bill. The toner is printed on paper as it would be normally. The toner on the paper is then pressed against the solid copper side of the PCB. When heated together in the laminator, the toner will leave the paper and stick to the copper. Its just that simple. One side glossy flyer paper works great for this transfer.
back in the 80s I used an iron to offset the toner on to the pcb. I now own a laminator so this will make my work much easier.
After the previous video I was hoping you'd go into more detail about the printing & transfer, so thank you very much again.
You are incredible ❤
Nice video with useful informations and very well explanation. Thank you so much, sir. I am sri lankan.
Absolutely Amazing ! I must have played 3:10 - 3:11 at least ten times !
Great video! Is there a particular reason you soak the paper in water after running it through the laminator? I've used this very same transfer technique, but after transferring the circuit layout to the copper I let the copper board sit for a few minutes to cool off and then simply peel the transfer off. No soaking or toothbrush required. Might save some time.
Hi Chris. It depends on the paper and the method. This paper seals around the traces for pencil thin lines. So soaking it in water is necessary.
You never cease to amaze
It would be nice to see the drilling, soldering etc.
I'm so glad I joined your Patreon! So far just at the lower level but soo many more tips - fixen to watch your videos on parts to stock up on.
Fantastic video! I have some vintage HP supplies I need to rebuild at some point, saved them from the dumpster.
Carlson, you should do a video on how to get good video sound/volume/quality/etc. Even Leno's Garage can't get it right. UA-cam creators need a class on gain staging, compression,, etc and your input would add serious value. :)
Yeah, you can quickly be absorbed and totally forget about the highly detailed audio levels and video editing we have here.
Most UA-camr's are tone-deaf and most viewers watch on phones. smh
If you watch videos on a phone, that's on you. But bad audio seems to be normal these days. It's so easy to overcome, too.
Watching in Feb 2021 and was just thinking, Mr Carlson sound is sooooo good and here's the comment.
Great walkthrough with lots of great info! What did you use to cut the board down to its final size?
Thanks for showing us the proccess. I am going to be making my first PCB soon for a Neon rlaxation ocilatoer Neon Flower light.
Another interesting process.
Thank you for sharing your work and dedication.
Great job and thank you! 🙌 I was considering re-watching your earlier circuit board video anyway, and this one complements your other circuit board video very well. Great explanations! I was afraid to ask about the glassware, and you even explained that.
I've done a lot if these in the eighties and nineties. Laserprinters were inaccessible, in the beginning I did not even have a computer. I used ink pens on translucent polyester film and a photographic process. For etching I used my own concoction of hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide and water. (Chemistry was another hobby of mine back then)
Instead of eyeballing center to center of the holes when measuring with a caliper, you can get a more accurate measurement measuring from the outside edge of one hole to the same outside edge of another hole. Just a little trick that makes it a bit easier.