I’m splitting this off as a separate discussion. I’ve tried making a PCB using the laser, while I was not terribly successful, others have been able to make it work. I didn’t use the Thermark stuff William was talking about, and instead opted for black spray paint. The basic process is:
Cover PCB with paint/Thermark.
Blast away the paint/Thermark where you do not want copper.
(optional?) Clean the lasered PCB without removing the mask/paint/Thermark.
Dunk it in etchant until the unwanted copper is gone.
I am not up on all the PCB etching methods, but isn’t there a method where you don’t have to etch the board? Instead the PCB traces are configured in a manner to isolate the traces from the remaining copper? Have the voices finally won and I am making this up?
There are lots of ways of making a PC board. One way of doing it without etching is to use a board that already has isolated pads. Depending on how the pads are isolated, you either connect them together with wires, or cut the connecting traces with a sharp object.
Considering that one could make the desired pattern easily using a laser printer, it seems unnecessary to subject the process to a laser cutter/etcher.
Ben Heck did a video showing PCB using toner transfer (laser print with an iron), hand drawn resists, and a laser cutter.
For etching, some people use ferric chloride and some people use hydrochloric acid (using hydrogen peroxide to reactivate it).
Outside of etching, there’s also PCB milling, which is especially nice if you have lots of thru hole that you need to drill holes for. If you have a lot of thru hole DIPs for instance, milling is a nice way to go. The PCB mill (on loan from William Petefish) and the Shapeoko 2 could both do this.
I use pcb milling when I have a simple design without fine traces. It’s much faster to just export g-code from eagle using pcb-gcode than to deal with paint and etchant. I use a .015" endmill. For small chips the laser + laser toner method works best. Get a powdercoat spray gun. Put laser toner in it. Paint the copper. Etch the traces on the laser cutter (the exact same way a laser printer works). Blow off the excess. Etch with chemicals. The only downside to using two machines is aligning the board which comes off the laser to the axis on the mill for drilling and outside routing.
