Homemade PCB

2016.

You can etch your own PCBs at home. Just don't do it in the bathtub*.
Professional level: fun, Project volume: small

← Back

I almost completely forgot about this project, I just came across the pictures I took and remembered. Point is, details are blury.

I was subscribed to a DIY magazine. I saw a strange article in it, FeCl3. A corrosive material for PCB manufacturing. I was curious, did some research and I found many videos like this one. (This video was not available back then but this one’s quality is tolerable and the process is similar.)

I don’t remember what this circuit was about. I made a blinking christmas gift out of one of the home etched PCBs, but that one was smaller so this must be something else.

The PCBs on the window.

*I used a plastic box, but to prevent acid from spilling on anything sensitive, I did this in the bathtub. It spilled and colored the white bathtub yellowish.

I borrowed mom’s manicure drill and bough 0.7mm drill bit for it. I drilled the holes by hand and cut them into pieces.

PCB drilled and cut.

As it was a tiresome process I gave up on it after a few batches. I could’t justify the expenditure of ordering PCBs from a manufacturer back then, but later discovered chineese manufacturers and have ordered PCBs from them when I needed one since then.