Old School PCB Printing

LONG before I had the CNC machine I had to “etch” my PCBs with acid, to remove the unwanted portions of the copper clad board. This was a slow process to say the least.

Their are several ways to achieve your traces on the board.

• Draw on the copper with a special pen, then etch it
• Print on a special transfer film, then use a UV sensitive PCB to transfer on to, then etch it
• Print on normal paper (a few times) then iron it on, then etch it

So what I did to make a production type process was to have my design made into a rubber stamp. I then ink up the stamp and transfer the ink to the copper, then etch. It worked good, not the best way to do it, but i had a friend that made rubber stamps, so it was a very low cost solution.

Of course you still need to drill all the holes…. I LOVE MY CNC MACHINE!!