Comments for Retromaster's Electronics Projects

Comment on Making PCBs by HopeThisHelps

HopeThisHelps — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:41:08 +0000

Not sure if you have tried the following yet, it works well for me and is very cheap:

I use contact paper instead of magazine or PnP to print my circuits onto for toner transfer method. The trick is to discard (maybe use it for something else – lol) the plastic that the contact paper was actually made for (It will mess your laser printer when it melts so please don’t use that in your laser printer) and use the paper it is stuck to. Using Pritt or some other glue (I first used masking tape to hold it in place) one glues the paper side to an A4 sheet where the PCB will be printed. Ensuring the plastic/glossy side is printed on. Then iron this to your copper board and let it cool, it just peels off similar to PnP as soon as it is cooled (I place it under running water to cool it quicker).

The contact paper I refer to is seen in the following link: http://www.squidoo.com/cover-a-book-with-contact-paper

(I had to find a better material than magazine paper and a cheaper, more accessible, way than PnP, South Africa doesn’t have much to offer in DIY PCB making. haha)

Hope this helps make somebody’s DIY easier.

Comment on Making PCBs by Steve Reberger

Steve Reberger — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:29:04 +0000

Thanks for some great ideas on vias and solder masking.

I use the toner transfer method but instead of using a laminator, I have made a small press out of 2 pieces of 10mm thick aluminuim bolted together. I place the board and pattern in the press along with a piece of cork. I then clamp the whole lot together and place in an oven at 180 degress celcius for 10 minutes. I find this give me quite consistant results.

Comment on Upgrading the MF70 CNC by retromaster

retromaster — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:12:08 +0000

Hi tadpole,
I am glad you appreciate the information found in my blog, thanks. I do not manufacture/sell the end caps I use, and neither do I know of anyone who does. But I might suggest you use the same route I did: Try and build something simpler by hand-drilling aluminum profiles. Once you get something that works more or less you can try manufacturing endplates the way did, since it’s much easier once you get a working CNC. I think you should be able to observe the progress of my machine by checking out older related posts in my blog.
-RM

Comment on Upgrading the MF70 CNC by tadpole

tadpole — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:52:24 +0000

Hi Retromaster,
I would like to thank you for posting your expreiences with the MF70 conversion. Not all too many people take the time and effort to share their knowledge, and I simply wanted to let you know it is appreciated by many. I was also curious to know if you, or anyone you know sells the end caps you eventually ended up using. I bought a MF70, and after not too long I really was looking to upgrade it to CNC. Unlike most others, I don’t have access to anyone with the tools to help manufacture something of this nature (I’m living overseas in Austria). I thought about trying to mill it out by hand in the MF70, and realised I would be crazy to try. By no means feel obliged to answer if find yourself too busy, but I thought I’d hate myself later for not asking if in fact you knew of the *right person*. I’ve seen some online kits, but I sort of wanted to piece it together myself. Thanks again.

Comment on A2601 by gadgetfactory

gadgetfactory — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:20:43 +0000

Hello Retromaster,

Love this project, I made some OpenSource FPGA hardware over at http://arcade.gadgetfactory.net. We are currently working on converting the NTSC output from the A2601 project to VGA so it will run on the Papilio Arcade. I just wanted to drop by and let you know about our attempts. We are talking about it in the forum right now. http://www.gadgetfactory.net/gadgetforum/index.php?topic=395.0

Thanks,
Jack.

Comment on Making PCBs by retromaster

retromaster — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:45:37 +0000

Probably not more economical, especially if you factor in the time spent doing all these steps and redoing the occasional mistakes. And even at prototype quantities, one usually gets several boards from professional board houses. From a material cost only viewpoint, homebrew is definitely more economic, though.

Apart from the fun aspect, all this stuff is very useful for testing new circuit ideas or new components, as those are usually one-of-a-kind, small projects. Sending those out to a board house would take too long and would be too expensive.

One thing that could potentially change the economics picture is if someone comes up with a practical way of homebrewing multi-layer boards. Multi-layer PCB prototypes are quite a bit more expensive and this makes it costly to try out more advanced parts in homebrew electronics projects.

Comment on Making PCBs by Albert Kurucz (@albert_kurucz)

Albert Kurucz (@albert_kurucz) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:29:40 +0000

Nice results, and probably more fun, but is the home brew more economic?

Comment on Making PCBs by retromaster

retromaster — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:55:21 +0000

Zika, that hasn’t been my experience, but I take extra care with smoothing out the copperclad and removing the burrs near the holes. I also strengthen the resist with a pen around the holes if I see that the PnP did not adhere well to the sides of a hole.

Comment on Making PCBs by zika

zika — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:45:36 +0000

Just one addition, I really think it is better the drill only the mount holes pre etching. So you use mount holes to alling top/bottom foils. When you drill all holes pre etching the etchant always kill your copper on the edges of the holes

Comment on Making PCBs by retromaster

retromaster — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:20:15 +0000

Bearmos,

I’d definitely be interested in having a look at those articles you mention. IMO, homebrew PTH is very important, not just for making pretty PCBs, but because it is the most crucial step to making quality multi-layer boards.

On account of the interaction of PTH and chemical etching, does the method you’re going for have a hole-wall activation step?

-RM