DIY PCBs and homer simpson?

[BeanAnimal]

I have done many PCBs over the years. Most of them came out pretty crummy.

In any case I have tried out a new method and am thrilled with the results.

I was in a hurry to get a prototype for my temperature logging module done. I ordered a few PICs (never programmed them before) and was pleased to find out that the vendor would toss the code on them for a few bucks each. He however did not want to ship me all 3 PICS until I tested one out in the circuit.

Not wanting to breadboard the design, as it is proven, I needed to get a real board done quickly. I surely did not want to wait for photo sensative boards or transfer paper...

After some research, I found some ideas and set out to build 100% DIY boards.

The process turns out to be fairly simple.

Design the PCB in your favorite CAD or SCHEMATIC CAPTURE program (eagle PCB is free).

Print the sucker out on STAPLES BRAND photo paper.

Use an iron to stick the prinout to a clean copper clad PCB board

Dunk the puppy in water and remove all of the paper. This leaves the black tonor stuck to the copper.

Time for a bath in 1 part Muratic Acid mixed with 2 parts 3% hydrogen peroxide (don't forgett the gloves and safety glasses). Some gently rubbing and all the unwanted copper is gone.

Rinse and clean with acetone.

All Done.

What does this have to do with Homer? Well in my haste I decided to do a whole pile of boards that I was going to send out to a PCB house. I figured I would save some time and money. I printed them all out, got busy with the iron and then played with the acid. The dog watched and I smiled with glee, thinking about all of the beer money being saved! Ummmm Beeeeer!

Pretty pretty circuit boards! After cleaning them up and getting ready to solder I realized that the printer was set to "mirror image" DOH! Every board was backwards! DOH!

4 Pieces of 6X12 Double sided 2oz board wasted... DOH!
2 quarts of Acid wasted DOH!
An acid hole in a new pair of pants DOH!

It would have been cheaper to send them out and get the protos done professionally at PCBEXPRESS or a similar house. DOH!

I have however found a great new method to do PCBs at home. The Muratic acid sound horrible, but it is not as bad as the good old Feric Chloride that is common fare among DIY board types. The photo paper from staples works great.

If anybody is interested in details, check here! http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/gooteepc.htm (among a few dozen other sites that I found with helpful info).

Bean

[wsc]

The boards arent wasted, just solder on the copper side instead of the blank side .... if theyre single sided boards that is

[BeanAnimal]

I considered doing that, however that kinda ruins my nice clean perfect boards. I was getting ready to put he "silk screen legend" on the other side when I realized the problem.

I am in the process of just re doing them all. I am very impressed with the mechanics of this method. All readily available supplies and it is very easy (a lot easier than most of the websites make it sound). I have a few double sided boards to work on next. I have not come up with a full proof and quick way to ensure perfect registration though.

[H20ENG]

Nice Bill!
A read a cool article one time about anodizing aluminum at home. Fun with chemistry!

[BeanAnimal]

That my next project (anodizing aluminum). I used to make my own ferric oxide with a transformer and a nail. I did a little bit of electroplating as an experiment one time and have long wanted to do my own aluminum casting (lost foam method).

To many project not enough time or money.

I just redid one of the boards, it came out well. It was dark outside, and I fear I took it out of hte etchant a bit to soon. I don't thin the left over haze is conductive, but I don't like the look. One more try tomorrow when I am not rushed. I hate with things are not perfect.

I just realized I don't have any DIP 18 sockets, and hate to solder down a PIC right to the board.... DOH!

Chris if this board works, it will be great. It is a PIC that connects up to 64 dallas 1-wire temp sensors. It has an RS232 interface and dumps raw 1-wire frames to the PC.

[H20ENG]

Man where do you find the time?! I seem to only have time for drawing stuff I WANT to build.:sad:

[BeanAnimal]

I have a hard drive full of schematics I have whipped up, CAD drawings and dozens of other things. I try to knock off a few a year. I have notebooks (graph paper of course) full of stuff.

I don't have the time really, I just need to get some of this stuff done. I am still yanking a plug for "feeding time" and dosing with a measuring cup every day. The home theater is done and a family member has donated a DWIN CRT projector and Bob Carver Sunfire HT setup. I can't afford $400 HT speakers, let alone $14,000 speakers (to match the high end equipment). So I will be building my own. However I am not allowed to start the HT speaker project (by decree of the queen) until the fish tank project is "done".

Good grief.

[H20ENG]

LOL!
My wife hates the size of my trusty old Cerwin Vega speakers, and wants a Bose system. I think the $1k Bose setup is a joke. I would like to build a nice sub cabinet for the 10" ers and some new small cabinets for the mids and highs.
I like to see the DIY projects at Parts Express
I used to build high end car audio stuff, but have been out of the loop for 10 years now.
I was upset when we HAD to put our new HDTV in the corner of the room- it really messed up my theater staging

[BeanAnimal]

LOL..

I have a pile of Cerwin Vega speakers. I used to have AT12s and AT15s. Still have a bunch of the D series. None of them are sonic marvels, but they do play loud and and have a lot of BASS. We call them headbanger speakers in the DIY circles.

BOSE is 100% garbage. It is a marketing marvel and that is it. Dr. Amir BOSE was a brilliant man, but that has nothing to do with the products BOSE pawns off on consumers. Years ago BOSE underhandedly snapped up every audio patent they could find that was public domain. They didn't invent anything, they just stole every idea they could patent (most from the DIY hobby and work by some well renowned researchers in audio). They DO NOT use these patents not to make products. They DO use them to advertise and give the impression that they invented everything there is to do with speakers.

Sadly, the American consumer has been duped into ttinking BOSE is high end! It's sonic garbage. Most "low end" brands have better imaging, frequency response, and overal tonal quality. BOSE just markets it better

The little BOSE cubes are a joke. They just use big words to sell them. "acustimass" bah! The bigger joke is the BOSE listening booth found at some stores. There is ~$100,000 worth of digital sound shaping equipment hidden in the equipment area to make the speakers sound "perfect". With the same equipment, you could make just about any set of speakers sound near perfect in a fixed environment like a "sound booth". What about the display where they hang the cubes around head? Hang ~$1 Radio Shack speakers on cardboard baffles around your head and they will sound decent compared to.... Ohh now you get it, when you stand at the little BOSE booth with the speakers dangling around your head, you have nothing else to compare them to! Like I said it's all about marketing, not about sound quality.

The best part about BOSE is their die-hard following of people that are willing to fist fight over their quality. These people come in two flavors (BOSE MARKETING really works!). You have the "poor" people who can not afford high end, but percieve BOSE as high end and can therefore be like their rich neighbors. BOSE is the next thing since sliced bread. To them it is a huge step up from "JVC" or "PIONEER" (not really.. but hey).

The second group is the "rich" or "well to do" people that know nothing about audio, but have been sold on BOSE being a "lifestyle" or "status" symbol. They don't know good sound from bad (becuse nobody has ever given them the opportunity to hear good and bad side by side).

I know I know... I am an evil BOSE basher.

As for your desire to build something.

Have a look at the DAYTON II and DAYTON III kits. They sound pretty decent (rival just about anything you could buy in the $4000 a pair). If you want to step up a notch from that, look at the ADIRE AUDIO kits. For ~$500 you can build a pair of speakers that will rival most anything sold.

You can go to www.diyspeakers.net and find the mailing list link. Signup for it. It is email based, not web based. Not much traffic in this modern era... but some very brilliant people from all over the world contribute. Many of them are involved in high end auido design or acoustics.

I suggest the "loudspeaker design cookbook" by Vance Dickenson. It is pretty much the bible of speaker design.

As for subs... go to ADIRE audio and look at hte SHIVAs. They are great for the price. They (adire and others) make more powefull drivers now, but those were (and still are) one of the best subs made. THe Tumult has more XMAX and power capabilty, but the SHIVA will serve you well in a small HT setup.


Bean

[douggiestyle]

Originally posted by H20ENG
LOL!
My wife hates the size of my trusty old Cerwin Vega speakers, and wants a Bose system. I think the $1k Bose setup is a joke. I

bounce off something else.

though their outdoor speakers are the bomb!

[BeanAnimal]

We have had many fights about the home theater. She could care less that the DWIN projecter cost $30,000 when it was new, she does not want a projector. She would rather have the 43" widescreen (that she complained was to big at the time of purchase).... this all melds into the aquarium hobby as well. "75 gallons is big enough, any bigger os overkill, bigger is not better. Everything you look at has to be bigger."

Enjoy

BTW the temp logger is online and spewing data into my visual basic test application. Now to get the probes wired The dallas 1-wire stuff is really neat!

[BeanAnimal]

I am having a problem... the data is 2's complement, encoded in HEX. Postive numbers are fine, but I am having an issue figuring out how to get the negative temps deciphered in VB (without a huge lookup table or something).

Bean