I had NO idea this was even an option. My 90w laser should be able to do as well as this. Thank you for sharing the whole process. I will TOTALLY be trying this.
Many thanks for making this video. It popped up in my feed at random and I watched it out of curiosity. It has just taken me three days to find it again as I want to give this a try. I’ll be saving the video this time…
I wonder if a 10W diode laser will be good enough for repeating this (slow is fine) at home over a desktop cnc router. But without doubt this is the best method I have come across to get home made professional grade PCBs. Getting the alignment is gonna be the key, and I think that's where most of the efforts are gonna be. Many thanks for sharing this with the internet!
I've been thinking about this, and if you have a router attachment, you can start by drilling mounting holes. Then you can use those holes to align to the laser engraving pattern. Best of all it should be repeatable.
this video is very instructional and clear, and also funny and natural, Great work, i learn a lot from here, as i have doubt whether to get laser machine or cnc machine
Very nice work! I used the Ferric chloride etching method for years (no laser though - used pre-sensitized boards). I built a CNC router in 2018 for machining wood, plastics etc and discovered it was also very good at isolation routing a PCB so its my go-to method now. Cheers from N.Otago
The alignment pins will also allow you to make dual layer PCBs with perfect registration. Registration holes are an industry standard in PCB design and manufacturing.
I know not everybody has such laser engraver but you can do the same with a 200$ one. This is a perfect video example how you can make a PCB at home with a laser engraver. I liked the custom spray paint at the end green and clear coat.
This is the best thing i've seen this entire year!! Thank you so much for this.... I just bought my first laser machine.. 20W Diode laser, but i'll work myself to getting this type...
@@Robonza I use a cheap desktop 5W laser / cnc combination from aliexpress for this, and it works great with regular (black) spraypaint. The laser can't cut the board, but it can remove the paint, the cnc spindle can create the holes and cutout.
ahhhh... so the trick is to flip them over, copper side down... I knew there had to be a way to do this and there was some trick I just hadn't thought of. Thanks!
Excellent video and great looking PCB. I’ve a 40W CO2 laser and often thought about making pcb’s with it but now I know it works I’ll give it a go. I also use Arduino Nano’s in many of my projects so thanks for the inspiration to give it a try.
NICELY DONE. I am a professional PCB designer with 40 years experience. I would have used Photo Resist and LPI Solder Mask. White paint very creative. I also just started setting up a Laser Engraving system.
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing and by the sound of your accent brilliant Aussie engineering. 👍 I’m a retired electronic engineer having designed, developed and manufactured TV broadcast equipment for 15 years as my last hooray before retiring. So I appreciate your ingenuity and skills. I have used KiCad a number of times in retirement to design PCB for a number of projects and for grandkids some of whom are taking an interest in electronics. I don’t have a laser unit nor the space to locate one so I have used the Chinese PCB manufacturers to fabricate my boards. Frankly I do not know how they can do what they do for the price! Nice to see something being made in Australia (Assuming I have the accent right and your living here in Oz?) Well done again it was fascinating watching your enviable skills....
I'm so grateful for this, I hate relying on external services for stuff and now I can whip these up at home! Do you have a buy-me-a-coffee or something?
There are vids of ppl using lasers to precipate/electroplate copper from solutions. I wonder if this could allow to make vias - basically shine laser into the holes so copper would plate there. There are many ways to make decent PCB 's at home, but making vias is still very challenging.
Im an electrician but I'm going to make printed circuits boards ?? Great video ? Are you ?? Really !! I think you may be in the wrong field myself and may need to become an electrician with an awful lot or electronics backgrounding , service related to component level to start doing this or would have electronics as a hobby of some type I wouldn't follow this presentation thinking that this will work for someone like you because it wont ! Still ought to be interesting !!
A great video , thank you for the insight. I found that I used the same type of paint and did exactly what you did but I am finding 2 things. I even tried 4 passes as low power but could not get to the copper colour, still shows a white very feint film , 2 the edges of the tracks looking using my phone on zoom looks like it is bubbled. I have tried the lower the power as much as possible with the same result. I have a 100 W C02. Your engraving looks so perfect. Thank you
Thanks. I spent a lot of time perfecting the machines performance years earlier. I think thats why I get good results. I cut and engraved paper and inspected with a microscope until it was best.
been seeing a lot more laser cut pcbs lately... must be something trending... This is an amazing job. I might not have to go to JLCPCB all the time any more :p
This is great. I love the idea that you have used just one hightech tool to do everything. I lets the person starting out invest wisely on a very flexible machine that can do a lot of things AND make PCBs as well that are very presentable. I love your idea of the translucent spray lacquer. I will have to find out if such a custom spray can service exists in Finland, if Not I suppose I could use my vintage JennyCan to hold some paint. A mill can do much but the solder mask and legends will need some other techniques if all you have is a mill.
Yes that's the 3/4 of the trouble as thats exactly what they think which is why you do see the economy in the state its in never mind all the other major issues they cause
Cool stuff! I don't see why it wouldn't work on my 5.5mw diode laser either... Just slower and more passes. So long as I can cut thru to the copper, the chemicals can make the rest of the hole... Awesome!
I found a chart by searching "laser cutting vs wavelength" and it looks like our weaker laser diodes (~450 nm wavelength) might have as good or better chance of cutting the copper itself than Robonza's CO2 laser (~10000 nm wavelength) since copper absorbs much more of our shorter wavelength light. I'm gonna have to test that.
@@Robonza Thanks. I will definitely study up and test all sorts of things. Those wavelength charts also imply I could cut through FR4 material (epoxy resin and glass fibers), which is yeah, pretty dubious.
Very good. But there are several nuances. The paint must be heat-resistant and not be destroyed by soldering. The paint must also be resistant to solvents. It would be interesting to look at the board after soldering and de-fluxing.
I use Altium, what output files do I use to operate the machine? Altium does output Gerber (GRBL) files. I prefer using Ammonium Per-sulphate as my etchant as it does not stain.
@@Robonza Unfortunately it’s downfall. Due to licensing of the various functions such as the proprietary programming softwares and FPGA and CPLD developers. Which I have never used.
Great Work! Thank you for sharing. Seems to me like lasers are a better option than CNC milling these days if you want a more professional looking board.
Great video,I have been trying this method on my 40W laser but for some reason, when I try to engrave the paint it still leaves a residue, I don't get a clean copper finish, I've tried several settings from a light engrave 50mm at 5mA to 10mm at 10mA. even tried slightly defocused. it looks like every other line is unengraved paint. do you have any suggestions?
It sounds like your laser cutter is not well tuned. I spent time when I got mine getting it nice and precise.. Focus should be as sharp as you can make it. You should run around 100 percent power and 40 percent speed on a 40w for 3 passes. Check you are getting pure black and white when you engrave not speckle etc. Paint a thinner coat if needed.
@@Robonza I am not talking about the normal use case, but when mistakes happen. Bluntly saying reflections are a myth is bad advice to spread on RUclips. Co2 laser mirrors made of copper reflect quite a bit as well...
@@SeanChYT Can you reference a raytraced model? I did optics for a decade at my last job and did model it and found the focal point of the reflection after the lens left the power at a negligible amount. Happy to see some thing to prove me wrong.
The laser cuts holes surprisingly well, at least for a single-sided board. Less so for a 2-sided board. I’d suggests to ditch the arduino and go for a soldered-on ATmega/tiny MCU. The old mega16/32s and tiny84 series are the old go-to, but I’ve swapped to the tiny1614 series and will be trying the mega4808 series in my own motor driver soon. Sure you’d need a programmer board (which you can also make yourself) but the result is going to be a lot smaller and cheaper. Plus you could arguably get rid of a need for holes altogether. Your setup definitely has a lot of precision yet!
How do you handle heat build-up with the PCB? I tried this and, while it burned of the solder mask, the copper/substrate got so hot that the pads separated from the substrate.
I know this is a late reply, but I think he was using FR2 in the video, which is a LOT easier to cut than the FR4 you see more commonly. If you try using FR4, a lot of times the resin in it will char pretty badly, and the fiberglass can hold a lot of heat which can destroy the adhesive holding the copper down in adjacent areas. FR2 just burns away without a lot of residual heat. I've had difficulty trying to cleanly take just the copper off of an FR4 board with a fiber laser because of the heat retention issues.
@@Robonza I'm impressed with the look of the green solder mask, but does it truly function as a solder mask i.e. prevent solder bridging between pads in close proximity?
Well that's not bad for this kind of technique. I see at 8:16 that text is very fine, but I suppose the etching is the joker when it comes to fine tracks.
THANKS for your vid! I am starting a large hobby project which requires a fair amount of PCB's. I was going to send them out for FAB, but that makes onesy prototypes nearly impossible[cost]. Here's my catch. I gotta have double-sided, with plated through holes. Can you offer thoughts on that? Thanks
@@Robonza Plated through hole vias. Also, if it can't cut copper then how do you cut through the copper layer to ablate the phelolic? Wouldn't it be sandwiched between the copper foils?
That is also my question. I've designed PCBs for a living, but never used a graphics illustration package to produce manufacturing files. Gerber, mill and drill are the staple files so what are file formats and software involved to get it into the cutter?
That has to be the best quality homemade PCB I've ever seen, and very quick for holes and everything.
Thanks! Yes, its taken a few iterations to get here. It is so satisfying when you get to watch the pads reveal through the soldermask.
@@Robonza that was my fave bit for sure
It really is. I haven't seen anything close to this good.
I had NO idea this was even an option. My 90w laser should be able to do as well as this. Thank you for sharing the whole process. I will TOTALLY be trying this.
same here
The rain hitting your workshop makes me jealous. Both the fact you have a workshop and the nice relaxing white noise it makes.
Great comment. I did have to fix a lot of leaks in the early days haha
Thanks for demonsting that technique, Iike it a lot more than the other CNC options I've seen.
That has to be the best quality homemade PCB I've ever seen, and very quick for holes and everything (2)
This is amazing! Very good job. Thanks for sharing. You initiated a new age in the home made pcb!
Thanks mate, it took a few experiments over the years.
It's all about the process. You produced a great looking product. Nice job with the video and thank you for sharing. Cheers!
Thanks Larry, I wish I had more time to do other videos
That is so damn cool, im genuinly impressed with how you made this
Greatest Homemade PCB.
LOVE THIS.
Thanks! I used it for the first time today in my electric kayaks, It worked good.
Very creative use of the laser- hats off!
Thanks Leo, I subbed you back mate!
Many thanks for making this video. It popped up in my feed at random and I watched it out of curiosity. It has just taken me three days to find it again as I want to give this a try. I’ll be saving the video this time…
Thanks Paul, I appreciate the comment.
Brilliant idea with cutting from the back and the etched copper gives you the holes, kudos :)
yay! haha
I wonder if a 10W diode laser will be good enough for repeating this (slow is fine) at home over a desktop cnc router. But without doubt this is the best method I have come across to get home made professional grade PCBs. Getting the alignment is gonna be the key, and I think that's where most of the efforts are gonna be. Many thanks for sharing this with the internet!
I have a 5,5W laser and it removes the paint fine. Wont cut the copper though.
I've been thinking about this, and if you have a router attachment, you can start by drilling mounting holes. Then you can use those holes to align to the laser engraving pattern. Best of all it should be repeatable.
Very good quality, never see a homem made pcb with all that quality.
Thanks for share with us, o have a 80w co2 laser and will try this process.
this video is very instructional and clear, and also funny and natural, Great work, i learn a lot from here, as i have doubt whether to get laser machine or cnc machine
Very nice work! I used the Ferric chloride etching method for years (no laser though - used pre-sensitized boards). I built a CNC router in 2018 for machining wood, plastics etc and discovered it was also very good at isolation routing a PCB so its my go-to method now. Cheers from N.Otago
Nice work mate, sounds like you are winning!
This is exactly what I'm looking for.
I made some PCB by etching but never with laser engraver. The final outcome blow my mind.
Thats awesome
Great set of processes ! Wasn't aware paxolin would cut with the laser (I have a 40W Universal) - liked the alignment pins idea too.
The alignment pins will also allow you to make dual layer PCBs with perfect registration. Registration holes are an industry standard in PCB design and manufacturing.
Very impressive results! Thank you for sharing. Would love to try your method out!
I know not everybody has such laser engraver but you can do the same with a 200$ one.
This is a perfect video example how you can make a PCB at home with a laser engraver.
I liked the custom spray paint at the end green and clear coat.
This is not a cheap laser. I dont think a low power laser would work
@@Robonza i bought one recently with a 3w laser, will design a PCB and give it a try when I get the laser in hand
This is the best thing i've seen this entire year!!
Thank you so much for this.... I just bought my first laser machine.. 20W Diode laser, but i'll work myself to getting this type...
Thanks for such a great comment. I would be keen for you to try ink instead of paint as it will laser better with 20W. Let me know how it goes.
@@Robonza I use a cheap desktop 5W laser / cnc combination from aliexpress for this, and it works great with regular (black) spraypaint. The laser can't cut the board, but it can remove the paint, the cnc spindle can create the holes and cutout.
handy video, so excited to try it with my 80W Laser
Wow that end result looks legit!
Was watching this again. I can see a rotating vacuum chuck in the future of your spray booth.
Beautifully done. 👌🤌
Awesome!Thank you for sharing.Gotta make one with Cnc!
Looks like I didnt leave a comment. Def the best on RUclips. Great Work. Cheers
thanks, I subbed you too
ahhhh... so the trick is to flip them over, copper side down... I knew there had to be a way to do this and there was some trick I just hadn't thought of. Thanks!
Excellent video and great looking PCB. I’ve a 40W CO2 laser and often thought about making pcb’s with it but now I know it works I’ll give it a go. I also use Arduino Nano’s in many of my projects so thanks for the inspiration to give it a try.
Hi. How was your experience making pcbs?
OMG that is an amazing workflow!!! I have laser too but did it completely wrong i see now
You are superb !! Awesome work 👌 thanks for sharing
Lazer de 5w da pra fazer plaquinha retira tinta
NICELY DONE. I am a professional PCB designer with 40 years experience. I would have used Photo Resist and LPI Solder Mask. White paint very creative. I also just started setting up a Laser Engraving system.
Nice, I started making pcbs around the same time as you. Todays tech makes everything so easy compared to the old days.
Look's AWESOME
Thanks for sharing your skills, I'm about to embark on my first try, so THANKS again for your great advise...
This looks like one of the easiest methods for diy PCBs! Don’t have a lazer cutter though
Thanks thanks
Very good
Thanks
One thousand times thanks
the final result is quite stunning
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing and by the sound of your accent brilliant Aussie engineering. 👍
I’m a retired electronic engineer having designed, developed and manufactured TV broadcast equipment for 15 years as my last hooray before retiring. So I appreciate your ingenuity and skills.
I have used KiCad a number of times in retirement to design PCB for a number of projects and for grandkids some of whom are taking an interest in electronics. I don’t have a laser unit nor the space to locate one so I have used the Chinese PCB manufacturers to fabricate my boards. Frankly I do not know how they can do what they do for the price!
Nice to see something being made in Australia (Assuming I have the accent right and your living here in Oz?)
Well done again it was fascinating watching your enviable skills....
I am in New Zealand and yes I was a broadcast engineer in my younger days too.
Nice demonstration, thanks!
I'm so grateful for this, I hate relying on external services for stuff and now I can whip these up at home!
Do you have a buy-me-a-coffee or something?
You are welcome mate, I got plenty off coffee haha. Sounds like you are having fun
به نام خدا
با سلام
ویدیو جذاب و جالبی بود
ممنون
Smartest Guy .... You Rock .... God Bless You ....
Awesome video, nice PCB
Beautiful job!
What's the minimum laser wattage do you need to cut the plate? and does it have to be a CO2 laser?
There are vids of ppl using lasers to precipate/electroplate copper from solutions. I wonder if this could allow to make vias - basically shine laser into the holes so copper would plate there.
There are many ways to make decent PCB 's at home, but making vias is still very challenging.
wow nicely done
so for your green layer. do you have any videos on how you layout the pcb in software? i’m having trouble making my ground planes between my traces.
Superbe vidéo, ça donne envie, joli travail, félicitations ! 👍👍👍
Excellent !
Thanks for sharing
Inspiring. Thank you.
Wow a very impressive result, I just subscribed and waiting for the configuration of the software TO achieve such a neat PCB.
wow didn't know you can cant the holes with laser only !
Absolutely beautiful I have to try this
Great video! In a couple of years I will be an electrician and I will be hopefully making boards like yours for fun!
Im an electrician but I'm going to make printed circuits boards ?? Great video ?
Are you ?? Really !!
I think you may be in the wrong field myself and may need to become an electrician with an awful lot or electronics backgrounding , service related to component level to start doing this or would have electronics as a hobby of some type
I wouldn't follow this presentation thinking that this will work for someone like you because it wont !
Still ought to be interesting !!
A great video , thank you for the insight. I found that I used the same type of paint and did exactly what you did but I am finding 2 things. I even tried 4 passes as low power but could not get to the copper colour, still shows a white very feint film , 2 the edges of the tracks looking using my phone on zoom looks like it is bubbled. I have tried the lower the power as much as possible with the same result. I have a 100 W C02. Your engraving looks so perfect. Thank you
Thanks. I spent a lot of time perfecting the machines performance years earlier. I think thats why I get good results. I cut and engraved paper and inspected with a microscope until it was best.
been seeing a lot more laser cut pcbs lately... must be something trending... This is an amazing job. I might not have to go to JLCPCB all the time any more :p
Pretty impressive, very good job!
Versatile is Universal Laser System.
Very nice. Thankyou for sharing.
This is great. I love the idea that you have used just one hightech tool to do everything. I lets the person starting out invest wisely on a very flexible machine that can do a lot of things AND make PCBs as well that are very presentable. I love your idea of the translucent spray lacquer. I will have to find out if such a custom spray can service exists in Finland, if Not I suppose I could use my vintage JennyCan to hold some paint.
A mill can do much but the solder mask and legends will need some other techniques if all you have is a mill.
Yes that's the 3/4 of the trouble as thats exactly what they think which is why you do see the economy in the state its in never mind all the other major issues they cause
sir can we make double sided pcb with laser engraver
can you please make a video for that
Double sided can be made the same way. If I get time one day and need a double sided I will do it. Right now I dont need a double sided.
@@Robonza i stuck only on top and bottom silk layer
how can we add silk layer using laser engraver
i like your spray booth were can i buy one
I really love the video. It must have cost thousands for that machine though? Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, heaps for a new one. I got it cheap from a business closing down. You still have to put in a new laser tube every 5 years at 2.5k USD
@@Robonza Not something I'll be bothering with then. But, thanks for replying.
You mentioned that you used phenolic board - is that because it is darker in colour and absorbs more light? Could you use black FR4?
FR4 works but it takes a lot of power to cut and drill with the laser. I made some nice FR4 boards. FR2 is much less effort
Doesn't the paint give of fumes when you try to solder?
Its quite minimal with a good iron. But yeah a slow iron you would def want some air flow.
Hi, thanks for the video. Did u use acrylic paint ir you never paid attention to that? TIA!
The green paint is acrylic, the white is enamel
Very perfect
Cool stuff!
I don't see why it wouldn't work on my 5.5mw diode laser either... Just slower and more passes. So long as I can cut thru to the copper, the chemicals can make the rest of the hole... Awesome!
Just use ink instead of paint
I found a chart by searching "laser cutting vs wavelength" and it looks like our weaker laser diodes (~450 nm wavelength) might have as good or better chance of cutting the copper itself than Robonza's CO2 laser (~10000 nm wavelength) since copper absorbs much more of our shorter wavelength light. I'm gonna have to test that.
@@Randrew I would put the chances at zero. Its not so much the wavelength. Its speed/instantaneous power. e,g, look up femtosecond laser
@@Robonza Thanks. I will definitely study up and test all sorts of things. Those wavelength charts also imply I could cut through FR4 material (epoxy resin and glass fibers), which is yeah, pretty dubious.
Can you give the name of the type of copper board you used so that the laser can cut it? I can hear it clearly from the video sorry.
Thanks.
Brown pcb which can be pressed paper, its common stuff on aliexpress
Very good video. How about a double sided pcb?
I am all set up to do it but I got a business to run haha
Very good. But there are several nuances. The paint must be heat-resistant and not be destroyed by soldering. The paint must also be resistant to solvents. It would be interesting to look at the board after soldering and de-fluxing.
Is the phenolic ESD 20 rated? I'm in need of 1/8" ESD rated sheet material that can be cut on a CO2 laser.
I have never heard of the pcb being esd rated. The design is what makes the esd rating
Amazing... nice job.. thanks
Would this work with the K40 as well or is the laser too weak?
I use Altium, what output files do I use to operate the machine? Altium does output Gerber (GRBL) files. I prefer using Ammonium Per-sulphate as my etchant as it does not stain.
Altium is a nice program but severely overpriced. I output pdf files in my example which worked well
@@Robonza Unfortunately it’s downfall. Due to licensing of the various functions such as the proprietary programming softwares and FPGA and CPLD developers. Which I have never used.
How did you export a usable DXF for laser engraving? The export plot DXF is useless, bad dxf quality
Kicad does multilayer.PDF export with micron accuracy. Its pretty impressive for a free program
Great idea! Could you answer one dumb question, is it possible to make a 2-sided pcb with this method?
Yes it is. I might do it one day when I get time
¿Que potencia tiene esa máquina de co2?
60w
I have a 150 watt co2 laser and i want to make chips for my epson printer. Sound like an interesting project?
I have subbed you so I can see your efforts. Sorry too busy here to help if thats what you wanted, I will comment if you make some vids
This seems pretty easily scalable for double sided PCB's?
It would work on double sided but I would not say the word easy
Great Job
Nice work I love it
Great Work! Thank you for sharing. Seems to me like lasers are a better option than CNC milling these days if you want a more professional looking board.
Cncs are incredible for some stuff but very noisy and messy.
Great video,I have been trying this method on my 40W laser but for some reason, when I try to engrave the paint it still leaves a residue, I don't get a clean copper finish, I've tried several settings from a light engrave 50mm at 5mA to 10mm at 10mA. even tried slightly defocused. it looks like every other line is unengraved paint. do you have any suggestions?
It sounds like your laser cutter is not well tuned. I spent time when I got mine getting it nice and precise.. Focus should be as sharp as you can make it. You should run around 100 percent power and 40 percent speed on a 40w for 3 passes. Check you are getting pure black and white when you engrave not speckle etc. Paint a thinner coat if needed.
Very impressive.
Aren't you worried about reflections from the copper?
Thats a myth
@@Robonza It's not a myth.
@@SeanChYT If you do an optics ray trace you will see the reflected beam has lost all its power by the time it returns through the lens
@@Robonza I am not talking about the normal use case, but when mistakes happen. Bluntly saying reflections are a myth is bad advice to spread on RUclips. Co2 laser mirrors made of copper reflect quite a bit as well...
@@SeanChYT Can you reference a raytraced model? I did optics for a decade at my last job and did model it and found the focal point of the reflection after the lens left the power at a negligible amount. Happy to see some thing to prove me wrong.
what power level did you use to cut holes? can a 40W work?
I used all 60w and my machine is well tuned. 40 will struggle. You can always drill the dots. Just use phenolic pcb and it will work.
The laser cuts holes surprisingly well, at least for a single-sided board. Less so for a 2-sided board.
I’d suggests to ditch the arduino and go for a soldered-on ATmega/tiny MCU. The old mega16/32s and tiny84 series are the old go-to, but I’ve swapped to the tiny1614 series and will be trying the mega4808 series in my own motor driver soon. Sure you’d need a programmer board (which you can also make yourself) but the result is going to be a lot smaller and cheaper. Plus you could arguably get rid of a need for holes altogether. Your setup definitely has a lot of precision yet!
Good comment. Through hole is so good because I can do a firmware upgrade for dumb dumbs simply by plugging in a new Nano.
How do you handle heat build-up with the PCB? I tried this and, while it burned of the solder mask, the copper/substrate got so hot that the pads separated from the substrate.
This just means your laser is not working well. e.g. out of focus. Mine does not get hot at all. You must be running slow to get that heat.
I know this is a late reply, but I think he was using FR2 in the video, which is a LOT easier to cut than the FR4 you see more commonly. If you try using FR4, a lot of times the resin in it will char pretty badly, and the fiberglass can hold a lot of heat which can destroy the adhesive holding the copper down in adjacent areas. FR2 just burns away without a lot of residual heat. I've had difficulty trying to cleanly take just the copper off of an FR4 board with a fiber laser because of the heat retention issues.
Are the phenolic boards you cut bakelite? Wondering as that seems to be what I can find, but had heard bakelite doesn't cut well with co2 laser.
If its a brown colour it should be good. Everything works for me but fibreglass is much harder (normally light green)
Great video. I love what you have come up with. Could you explain the lacquer mix you use for solder max and how you got it in a spray can? Thank you.
I just went to a paint shop and they did it for me. I think it was 20 percent green and 80 percent clear lacquer
@@Robonza do you think standard Rust-Oleum 352721 Automotive Premium Custom Lacquer Spray would work as well? Thank you.
Sure, it would work fine. I only made the translucent green to make it look cool. It does not "function" any better.
@@Robonza I'm impressed with the look of the green solder mask, but does it truly function as a solder mask i.e. prevent solder bridging between pads in close proximity?
@@daffygrey Its nowhere near as good as a real solder mask but can you solder really nice like me haha?
How much power you user when the laser makes the etching mask and the solder pads? On how many wats is the laser set up?
Its 60 watts and I use all of it
What is the format of gcodes. Is it svg or any other please letme know
No gcodes, Coreldraw and print
What's the lowest mils you can go?
just manages 1.27mm pitch soic so not very fine
Well that's not bad for this kind of technique. I see at 8:16 that text is very fine, but I suppose the etching is the joker when it comes to fine tracks.
@@minime9400 I have etched 5mil no problems. Its the laser beam size that is the limit. I can get a finer focus lens for $2k
What kind of resolution does this have? For instance could it to 0.4mm pitch SMD ICs?
1.27mm is possible but tight
How much is the laser power used when it was revealing the pads almost at the end of the video?
THANKS for your vid! I am starting a large hobby project which requires a fair amount of PCB's. I was going to send them out for FAB, but that makes onesy prototypes nearly impossible[cost]. Here's my catch. I gotta have double-sided, with plated through holes. Can you offer thoughts on that? Thanks
It can't cut the copper? So this doesn't work on 2 or more layer pcbs then. Good to know.
I could make a 2 layer pcb using this method. Connecting the two sides would require some innovation which I may look at when the need arises.
@@Robonza Plated through hole vias. Also, if it can't cut copper then how do you cut through the copper layer to ablate the phelolic? Wouldn't it be sandwiched between the copper foils?
@@kurtnelle Etch it then laser the holes.
Hello....Can you explain in detail how the layers work in Corel Draw?
That is also my question. I've designed PCBs for a living, but never used a graphics illustration package to produce manufacturing files. Gerber, mill and drill are the staple files so what are file formats and software involved to get it into the cutter?
wonderfull made it ........