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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Pete’s oiled PCB’s...
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9308 |
Just had a read through Pete's PCB making article, specifically Page 2 where he used cooking oil to soak the paper with the image on it. That is a very clever idea, and beats the hell out of all those iron-on methods, which I have never gone for for a variety of reasons, but mainly as ironing the PCB can torture the copper laminate to death if you are not careful...(it will de-laminate if heated too much) Still, plenty of people use the iron-on methods, and whatever works for you is fine with me, but I have never seen that oil-on method of Pete's, so that raised my eyebrows when I read it. 
I have a board to make, so I am going to try that out to see how it goes. Currently, I print my patterns on OHP film(laser printer rated!), and expose the board from that. However, that film is expensive compared to ream paper, so I am very keen to have a go at this oily method, which I have never tried. Normally with the film prints, I use an exposure time in my UV box of about 50 seconds, but the paper will, natually, take a bit longer, so I might try for about 2 minutes for a starting point, and see what happens. I am really interested in Pete's CNC machine for drilling/routing. I would love any links or more information on how you build one of these, as like Pete, I hate the bloody drilling process - that's usually what keeps me from making PCB's more then anything - the flippin' drilling of the holes!  These days, I use as much SMD as I can in my designs - no holes needed for these parts.  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| MOBI Guru  Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
@grogster - oiled paper in lieu of graphics film. That is a trick I hit on in the early 80s back when we used to UV coat the boards (positive and negative methods). These days the Kinsten UV boards are virtually fool proof. (I gave Pete the idea) You should be careful not to over oil the paper and only apply the oil to the non pattern side or you risk smudging the pattern. I find that it is better to let the paper "dry" overnight if possible. That stops the UV film from getting oily and preventing proper development. It works with bubble jet ok but much better with non wicking laser. I have used the method for producing pads for PIC32 chips (0.5mm spacing) with 100% success. Look forward to your results. David M. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9308 |
Wow. Excellent information - thanks. 
Yeah, I have never heard of that oil method - totally new one on me, but it is always nice to learn something new.
I have a UV box, and use Kinsten PCB's all the time, so the only thing I need is the cooking oil. I do remember those UV sensitive boards from back in the 80's or so. My brother at the time, was into electronics, and did a few boards, but you needed a dark-room to expose them. If you unwrapped the board even in normal daylight, it would ruin it. They had a photographic dark-room at the university where he worked at the time, so was able to produce his boards there after work(with permission). Once Kinsten came on the scene, I have never really deviated from these boards for one-off's or prototyping. Production boards, naturally, are done at a factory for professionalism. ...and me not having to drill them! Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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atmega8 Guru Joined: 19/11/2013 Location: GermanyPosts: 722 |
Yes, an old "hat". http://youtu.be/vwdUpBNrwKI The german company "Kontakt Chemie" still sells the product "Transparent 21". Works better than kittchen Oil, but don't expect wonders. Dietmar |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
I read somewhere that ordinary kitchen 'baking paper' is very good. That's oiled but not at all greasy. If it is OK that's gotta be the easiest and cheapest. I'm in the process of building a UV box for myself at the moment to use the Kinsten boards. I'm hoping to be able to accurately resolve the 0.5mm spacing of the flexi-connectors needed for the 40 pin TFT Maximite connectors. I'll write it up properly for everyone if it works - if it doesn't I'll be crabby and probably cry! Greg |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
The translucency is about the same as the oiled printer paper. The only problem you might have is its flimsiness as it might tend to buckle when being fed through the printer. Also, when I tried to feed a fully coated oiled paper through the Epson printer, the light sensor wouldn't recognise a page. Which is why I printed first then oiled. Once the oiled version has been left to "dry" for a couple of hours, I have had no problems with oiliness. David M. |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Yes, I wondered about the flimsiness issue but I don't remember any reports of buckling - it's probably not a lot worse than laser transparencies. The paper 'recognition' problem was mentioned. Their fix was to run a light line of paper glue along the top edge and stick a narrow (~10mm) piece of ordinary copy paper across its width. HP and a number of other manufacturers use the same technique on some transparencies. Greg |
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