PCB Construction

The first step to constructing your own PCB is to buy a kit. Radio Shack sells PCB etching kits for about $15. The kit comes with an etch resist pen, which does not work very well. For optimal performance you will also want to get the rub-on etch resist transfers, also available from Radio Shack. These tend to work great. Now that you have the kit you should know how to design the printed circuit board. Before I etch the circuit board, I draw layouts for where the parts will go and so forth. Make sure you have all parts available to you when you start to design the PCB in order to get accurate pin placement. Make sure that everything will fit where you put it otherwise you may need to start a new board once you realize nothing fits. When you have the layout complete, you can then rub or draw the circuit onto the copper board. In order to rub or draw on the board you must first sand off the protective layer with fine-grit sandpaper or steelwool. Make sure that you use a mirror image of the layout if your layout is drawn for the component side of the circuit board. Once you have the layout transferred onto the board you are ready to start etching. Follow the instructions provided with the kit for the etching process. Once the board is etched, the rub-on transfers or etch resist pen is ready to be removed. Remove this with the chemical provided with the kit. You are now ready to solder on the PCB.

If this process sounds to complicated, you can build your circuits using Bread-Boards, which is easier and less time consuming.

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