01-07-2026, 04:31 PM
Arran
I was making my own PCBs back in the old country ever since I was 13.
The one-sided laminate (first it was a phenolic paper one; then came fiberglass) or, eventually, in 80s, 2-sided; Mom's nail polish, then Fe-Cl3 (Ferric Chloride) that I somehow was able to get.
Here in the US, around 1990 I used photo-sensitized laminate, printed the artwork on a transparency; exposed to sunlight, then etched the resist in baking soda solution, then again Fe-Cl3.
This is great, but for double-sided board I'd have to use those via eyelets, solderabled, that would be inserted and flared in a through-hole.
Messy, long. A kit also added to cost.
I still can do it in my sleep, even though igt's been 35 years since. But...why?
I was making my own PCBs back in the old country ever since I was 13.
The one-sided laminate (first it was a phenolic paper one; then came fiberglass) or, eventually, in 80s, 2-sided; Mom's nail polish, then Fe-Cl3 (Ferric Chloride) that I somehow was able to get.
Here in the US, around 1990 I used photo-sensitized laminate, printed the artwork on a transparency; exposed to sunlight, then etched the resist in baking soda solution, then again Fe-Cl3.
This is great, but for double-sided board I'd have to use those via eyelets, solderabled, that would be inserted and flared in a through-hole.
Messy, long. A kit also added to cost.
I still can do it in my sleep, even though igt's been 35 years since. But...why?
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
![[-]](https://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/bootbb/collapse.png "[-]")
