Re: Re: Hobbyists strike again

Dan Mauch wrote:

> From: "Dan Mauch" <dmauch@...>
>
> I do a lot of etching and have had to dispose of about 8 gallons of ferric
> cloride loaded with copper over the past two years. I prefer the ammonium
> sulfate. It is much, much cleaner but it does weaken and you have to add
> chemicals to increase it strenght. I don't like to let the liquids
> evaporate into my shop area because the fumes are corrosive. And I don't
> have a safe spot that my dog or grandkids could get into. I have to take it
> to dispose of it legally. It is a hassel.

I think drying it out and disposing it in the trash IS legal, but it must take a
long time to dry out, so that is a problem.

> I have watched Bill Wainright use a $3 carbide cutter to outline the traces
> on single sided pc board. The cutter was run by a $4 18000 RPM motor and
> used a double bearing spindle to hold the 1/8" cutter. He was running it at
> ~10 ipm and it it only took about a 1/2 hour to produce a perfect board with
> traces between the pads. Bill, is a very ingenious fellow and uses that
> instant glue to hold the board down to mill then drill the holes. That
> cutter i'm sure has lasted Bill many many hours.

Well, I'm glad to hear there are better (or at least cheaper) cutters available.
The 1/2 Hr of milling sounds like a problem. FOr just one board, that may
not be too bad, but I can print several boards at a time, and I can also
etch several small boards at a time. Since the actual etch time is anywhere
between 4 and 7 minutes depending on how long I waited for the etchant
to warm up (I can warm up the etchant tank while the boards are printing)
I can get a lot of similar or different boards etched in 1/2 Hr.

Jon