6 Methods of DIY PCB Fabrication

RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY
6 Methods of DIY PCB Fabrication

How to Fabricate a PCB With DIY Methods?
Method 1#:
1. Cut the copper-clad laminate to the size required by the pcb
fabrication
2. Put the stencilpaper on the steel plate, use a pen to draw the circuit
diagram on the stencil paper (diagram size should be 1:1), cut it
out according to the PCB size, and place it on the copper-clad
laminate. Take a small amount of paint and talcum powder into a
suitable printing material, dip the printing material with a brush,
and evenly apply it to stencil paper. Repeat it several times. Then
the circuit can be printed on the printed board. This printed
board can be used repeatedly and is suitable for small batch
production.
3. Use 1g of potassium chlorate and 40ml of 15% hydrochloric acid to
prepare a corrosive solution, and then apply it to the printed board
where it needs to be corroded for corrosion.
4. Wash corroded printed boards repeatedly with water. Wipe off the
paint with banana oil, and then wash it several times to clean
theprinted board without leaving corrosive liquids. Apply a layer of
rosin solution. Let it dry before drilling.
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Request PCB Fabrication Quote Now
PCB fabrication Method 2#:
There are many ways amateurs can create PCB, but they are either
time-consuming, complex in “craftsmanship,” or low quality. My method
of making PCB is one of the methods with a better overall effect. The
method is as follows:
1. Printed circuit board diagram. The pads in the figure are
represented by dots, and the connection can be a single line, but
the position and size must be accurate.
2. Cut the printed circuit board according to the circuit diagram’s
sizeand clean the surface of the copper foil.
3. Use carbon paper to copy the diagram to the printing board. If the
circuit is simple and the producer has extensive board-making
experience, this step can be omitted.
4. Depending on the components, paste standard pre-cut symbols
(pads) with different inner and outer diameters. Then stick tape
lines of different widths according to the current. Electronic
stores provide standard pre-cut symbols and tape. Common
specifications of pre-cut symbols include basic materials such as
D373 (0D-2.79, ID-0.79), D266 (0D-2.00, ID-0.80), D237 (OD-3.50,
ID-1.50). Try not to use (black) and plastic (red) materials. The

general specifications of tape are 0.3, 0.9, 1.8, 2.3, 3.7, etc. The unit
is millimeters.
5. Use a softer hammer, such as smooth rubber, plastic, etc.,to hit the
sticker to make it fully adhere to the copper foil. Focus on the
turning and overlapping of the line. It is best to use a heater in cold
weather to heat the surface to enhance the adhesion effect.
6. Put it in ferric chloride to start the corrosionprocess. Be noted that
the liquid temperature cannot be higher than 40° After corrosion, it
should be taken out and rinsed at the correct time, especially if
there are thin lines.
7. Make holes, polish the copper foil with fine sandpaper, apply rosin
alcohol solution, and let it dry. The quality of this printed board is
very close to that of a conventional printed board. The 0.3 mm tape
can be passed between the two legs of the IC, which can greatly
reduce the short jumpers on the front of the circuit board, thus
saving trouble and time.
PCB fabrication Method 3#:

1. Dissolve lacquer flakes (namely shellac, available from chemical
stores) in three parts of absolute alcohol, and stir appropriately.
After all the flakes dissolve, add a few drops of medical purple
potion (gentian violet) to make it show a particular After evenly
mixing, it can be used as protective paint for the pcb fabrication.
2. First,polish the copper-clad board with fine sandpaper. Then use
the duckbill pen in the drawing instrument (or the ink duckbill pen
used to draw graphics on the compass) for drawing. There are nuts
on the duckbill pen to adjust the thickness of the stroke. You can
also use a triangle ruler to draw thin straight lines. The drawn line
should be smooth, uniform, without jagged edges, giving people a
smooth and fluent feeling. You can also write Chinese characters,
English, pinyin, and symbols in the free space of the circuit board.

3. If the drawing line penetrates the surrounding environment, the
concentration is too small,and you can add some paint chips. If the
drawing line does not stretch smoothly and becomes too thick, you
need to drop a few drops of absolute alcohol. It doesn’t matter if
you make a mistake. Just wipe it off with a small cotton swab dipped
in absolute alcohol, and then redraw. After drawing the circuit board,
it may corrode in the ferric chloride solution. After the circuit board
is corroded, it is very convenient to remove the paint. Dip a cotton
ball in absolute alcohol to wipe the protective paint to dry, and then
apply rosin.
4. Because the alcohol evaporates quickly, the prepared protective
paint should be sealed and stored in a small bottle,such as an ink
bottle. Cover the bottle cap after use. If the concentration becomes
thicker in the next use, add the appropriate amount of anhydrous
alcohol to dilute the solution.
Fabrication PCB Method 4#:
1. Paste the self-adhesive labels on the copper foil of the copper-clad
laminate, then draw the circuit on the veneer. Use a cutter to cut
the veneer to form the required circuit prototype, remove the

non-circuit parts, and finally use ferric chloride to corrode theideal
circuit board.
2. The corrosion temperature can be performed at about 55°C, and
the corrosion rate is more rapid. Rinse the corroded circuit board
with clean water, remove the self-adhesive labels on the circuit
board, make holes, wipe clean, and then apply rosin alcohol
solution prior to
Method 5#:
1. Arrange the components’ density and positionaccording to the
shape of the components used in the schematic circuit diagram and
the size of the printed board area. The components‘ location should
be determined according to the principle of large first, then small,
first overall, and then local. The adjacent components in
the circuit are placed nearby and arranged neatly and evenly.
2. The connecting tracebetween components cannot be bent at right
angles at the corners or intersections of the two traces. They must
transition through a curve, and they cannot cross each other and
turn too far. When certain traces cannot achieve this, you can
consider placing printed trace on the back of the printed board and
then using stud bolts to connect to the front circuit. Another
solution is to use insulated trace when soldering components.

3. The distance between the input part and the output part is better to
avoid mutual interference.
Method 6#:
1. Print the circuit board diagram on the printer at a ratio of 1:1 on 80
grams of copy paper. Hand drawing is also possible, but the bottom
paper should be flat.
2. Find a fax machine, take out the fax paper from the machine, and
replace it with a hot-melt plastic film. Put the circuit diagram into
the fax machine’s outgoing fax trayand use the copy button to copy
the circuit diagram on the hot-melt plastic film. At this time, the
“printed manuscript” of the printed circuit board is ready.
3. Use double-sided adhesive tape to affix the drawn plastic film to the
copper-clad board evenly. The plastic film and board shouldbe
flat and not wrinkled. The tape paper can not cover the melted part.
Otherwise, it will affect the production quality of the circuit board.
4. Use a paintbrush to brush the paint on the plastic film evenly. Note:
Only brush in one direction. Otherwise,the plastic film will
wrinkle, and the lines on the copper plate will overlap. After the
circuit diagrams have been brushed, carefully remove the plastic
film. At this time, a printed circuit board is finished. After drying, it
can be corroded.

5. If you want to print manypieces, you can make a wooden frame that
is a little larger than the circuit board, lay the PCB stencil (our
company sells it) flat on the wooden frame, and fix it. Then use
double-sided tape to stick the fixed plastic film under the screen.
Put the copper-clad board on the table, close the screen frame (the
printed image and the copper-clad board should be aligned left and
right), use a paintbrush to paint in one direction, and remove the
screen frame. The printed circuit board is printed. If there is any
defect, it can be modified with paint and bamboo.
Pay attention to the above process. When painting, the hand force should
be light and heavy. If there is too much paint or the film is too thick, the
lines will be smudged. If the force is too light, the lines will break. And the
plastic film must face up.
What is the Industrial PCB fabrication Process?

1. Board cut
Board cutting is the process of cutting the original copper-clad laminate
into boards that can be made on the production line.
First, let’s understand a few concepts:
 UNIT: Refers to the unit graphics designed by PCB design engineers.
 SET: Refers to multiple units that engineers put together to improve
production efficiency and facilitate production. This is what we
often call the puzzle, which includes unit graphics, process
edges,etc.
 PANEL: Refers to a pcb fabrication composed of multiple sets. It is
added with tool board edges to improve efficiency and facilitate
production when PCB manufacturers producethe product.

1. Innerdry film
The inner layer dry film is the process of transferring the inner layer circuit
pattern to the pcb manufacturing board.
In PCB production, we will mention the concept of graphics
transfer because the production of conductive graphics is the basis of PCB
production. Therefore, the graphics transfer process is of great
significance to pcb fabrication process.
The inner dry film application includes many processes such as inner layer
filming, exposure, development, and etching. The inner film is to paste a
special photosensitive film on the copper plate’s surface, which we call a
dry film. This film will cure when exposed to light, forming a protective film
on the board. Exposure and development expose the board with the film,
the transparent part is cured, and the non-transparent part is still the dry
film. After developing, the uncured dry film is removed, and the board
with the cured protective film is etched. After removing the film, the inner
circuit pattern is transferred to the board. The whole process flow is
shown in the picture below.

For designers, our main consideration is the minimum line width, spacing
control, and wiring uniformity. If the distance is too small, it will cause film
clamping. If this occurs, the film cannot be removed entirely and will cause
a short circuit. If the line width is too small, the film’s adhesion is
insufficient, resulting in an open circuit. Therefore, the safety spacing
during circuit design (including line to line, line to pad, pad to pad, line to
the copper surface, etc.) must be considered during pcb manufacturing.
 Grinding board
The primary function of the grinding plate: The basic pretreatment is
mainly to solve the problems of surface cleanliness and roughness.
Remove oxidation and increase the copper surface’s roughness, which will
increase the film’s adhesion effect to the copper surface.

 Filming
Paste the processed substrate with dry film or wet film by hot pressing or
coating to facilitate subsequent exposure production.
 Exposure

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Align the negative film with the substrate on which the dry film is pressed,
and use ultraviolet light on the exposure machine to transfer the negative
film pattern to the photosensitive dry film.
 Development
Use the weak alkalinity of sodium carbonate to dissolve and rinse the
unexposed dry film/wet film, leaving the exposed part.
 Etching

After the unexposed dry film and wet film are removed, the copper
surface will be exposed. Use acid copper chloride to dissolve and corrode
the exposed copper surface to obtain the required circuit.
 Film stripping
Use sodium hydroxide solution to peel off the exposed dry film that
protects the copper surface to expose the circuit pattern.
3. Brown oxidation

Purpose: To form a microscopic roughness and organic metal layer on the
inner copper surface to enhance the adhesion between the layers.
Process principle: Through chemical treatment, a uniform and good
adhesion characteristic of the organic metal layer structure is produced.
The copper layer’s surface, which is before the inner layer, is roughened in
a controlled matter. This is to strengthen the inner copper layer and
the prepreg after pressing the plate strength.
4.Stack up
Stack up is the process of bonding each layer into a whole utilizing the PP
sheet’s adhesiveness. This bonding is achieved by mutual diffusion,
penetration between macromolecules on the interface, and interweaving.
The multi-layer pcb manufacturing and PP sheets are pressed together to

form a multi-layer board with the required number of layers and thickness.
In actual operation, the copper foil, bonding sheet (prepreg), inner layer,
stainless steel, isolation board, kraft paper, outer layer, and other
materials are laminated according to the process requirements.
For designers, the first consideration for stack up is symmetry. Because
the pcb fabrication will be affected by pressure and temperature during
the lamination process, stress will remain on the board after the
lamination is completed. Therefore, if the two sides of the laminated
board are not uniform, the stress on the two sides will be different,
causing the board to bend to one side, which greatly affects the PCB’s
performance.
In addition, even in the same layer, if the copper distribution is uneven,
the resin flow rate at each point will be different. As a result, the area with

less copper will be slightly thinner, and the area with more copper will be
slightly thicker.
In order to avoid these problems, various factors such as the uniformity of
the copper distribution, the symmetry of the stack, the design and layout
of the blind and buried holes, etc., must be considered in detail during the
design.
5.Drilling
Drilling is the process of creating through-holes between the layers to
connect the layers.
6.Plated through holes(PTH) and plating
 Plated through holes(PTH)
Plated through-holes are also called chemical copper. After drilling, the
PCB board undergoes redox reactions in the sinking copper cylinder to
form a copper layer to metalize the holes. Copper is deposited on the

surface of the original insulating substrate to achieve an interlayer
electrical connection.
 Plating
Plating creates the PCB board surface that has just been
copper-immersed. The copper in the hole is thickened to 5-8um to
prevent the thin copper in the hole from being oxidized or micro-etched
and leaking the substrate before pattern plating.
(1) Outer dry film
The process is the same as the inner dry film.

8.Outer layer pattern plating, SES
The copper layer of the hole and circuit is plated to
a specific thickness (20-25um) to meet the copper
thickness requirements of the final PCB board. The useless copper on the
board surface is etched away, exposing useful circuit patterns.
9. Solder mask
Solder mask, also called and green oil, is one of the most critical PCB
fabrication processes. Solder mask is achieved mainly through screen
printing or coating solder mask ink, coating a layer of solder mask on the
board surface, and developing through exposure. The processes also
expose the disk and hole to be soldered and cover other areas with solder
mask to prevent short circuit during soldering.
10. Silkscreen

The required text, trademark, or part symbol is printed on the board
surface by screen printing. Afterward, it is exposed on the board surface
by ultraviolet radiation.
11. Surface treatment
The solderability of bare copper itself is very good, but long-term
exposure to the air can cause oxidation and saturation. It tends to exist in
the form of oxides and is unlikely to remain as the original copper for an
extended period. Therefore, surface treatment of the copper surface is
required. The primary purpose of surface treatment is to ensure good
solderability or electrical properties.
Regular surface treatments: HASL, immersion
gold(ENIG), OSP, immersion tin, immersion silver, electric hard
gold, electric gold fingers, etc.
12. Forming

The pcb fabrication process is cut into the required dimensions with
a CNC molding machine.
13. Electrical test(E-test)
Simulate the status of the pcb fabrication and check the electrical
performance after power on to see if there is an open or short circuit.
14. Final inspection, sampling test, packaging
Check the appearance, size, hole diameter, thickness, and marking of the
pcb fabrication process to meet customer requirements. The qualified
products are packed into bundles, which are easy to store and transport.

Related Posts:
1. What are the Methods for Interconnect PCB?
2. Edge Connector PCB: What are the Best Gold Plating Methods?
3. 8 Most Popular PCB Testing Methods During Manufacturing and
Assembly
4. The Significance of Circuit Board Testers and Methods for PCB
Repair
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RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

6 Methods of DIY PCB Fabrication

1. Cut the copper-clad laminate to the size required by the pcb

diagram on the stencil paper (diagram size should be 1:1), cut it

out according to the PCB size, and place it on the copper-clad

laminate. Take a small amount of paint and talcum powder into a

suitable printing material, dip the printing material with a brush,

and evenly apply it to stencil paper. Repeat it several times. Then

the circuit can be printed on the printed board. This printed

board can be used repeatedly and is suitable for small batch

3. Use 1g of potassium chlorate and 40ml of 15% hydrochloric acid to

prepare a corrosive solution, and then apply it to the printed board

where it needs to be corroded for corrosion.

theprinted board without leaving corrosive liquids. Apply a layer of

rosin solution. Let it dry before drilling.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

Request PCB Fabrication Quote Now

PCB fabrication Method 2#:

time-consuming, complex in “craftsmanship,” or low quality. My method

1. Printed circuit board diagram. The pads in the figure are

represented by dots, and the connection can be a single line, but

the position and size must be accurate.

2. Cut the printed circuit board according to the circuit diagram’s

sizeand clean the surface of the copper foil.

circuit is simple and the producer has extensive board-making

experience, this step can be omitted.

4. Depending on the components, paste standard pre-cut symbols

lines of different widths according to the current. Electronic

stores provide standard pre-cut symbols and tape. Common

specifications of pre-cut symbols include basic materials such as

D373 (0D-2.79, ID-0.79), D266 (0D-2.00, ID-0.80), D237 (OD-3.50,

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

sticker to make it fully adhere to the copper foil. Focus on the

turning and overlapping of the line. It is best to use a heater in cold

weather to heat the surface to enhance the adhesion effect.

6. Put it in ferric chloride to start the corrosionprocess. Be noted that

the liquid temperature cannot be higher than 40° After corrosion, it

should be taken out and rinsed at the correct time, especially if

there are thin lines.

very close to that of a conventional printed board. The 0.3 mm tape

saving trouble and time.

PCB fabrication Method 3#:

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

1. Dissolve lacquer flakes (namely shellac, available from chemical

stores) in three parts of absolute alcohol, and stir appropriately.

potion (gentian violet) to make it show a particular After evenly

mixing, it can be used as protective paint for the pcb fabrication.

2. First,polish the copper-clad board with fine sandpaper. Then use

should be smooth, uniform, without jagged edges, giving people a

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

3. If the drawing line penetrates the surrounding environment, the

need to drop a few drops of absolute alcohol. It doesn’t matter if

is corroded, it is very convenient to remove the paint. Dip a cotton

4. Because the alcohol evaporates quickly, the prepared protective

paint should be sealed and stored in a small bottle,such as an ink

thicker in the next use, add the appropriate amount of anhydrous

alcohol to dilute the solution.

Request PCB Fabrication Quote Now

Fabrication PCB Method 4#:

1. Paste the self-adhesive labels on the copper foil of the copper-clad

the veneer to form the required circuit prototype, remove the

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

non-circuit parts, and finally use ferric chloride to corrode theideal