How to manufacture your own PCB cheaply?

April 10th, 2006

PCB of my RF Receiver

I tried to make my first professional PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and test a manufacturer for you.

I used EAGLE Layout Editor 4.16 to design this PCB board, before this I used to make manually my own PCB (you don’t want to see them :p).

This PCB was made for the RF Receiver, a post before this one. The company I used to manufacture this PCB was BatchPCB. They were the cheapest that I found on the web, I think $2.5US per square inch. They have a great tutorial, as well, on how to create the gerber files, files which the manufacturer uses to create your board.

Gerber file, Manufacture your own PCB
Gerber file for one side.

Manufacture your own PCB
Side view of the PCB.

Manufacture your own PCB
Bottom view of th PCB.

Now only your ideas and your skills are the limiting factor to make your own embedded devices . Good luck! If I can help you somehow let me know and I would be pleased to do so.

Entry Filed under: Electronics, DIY, RF

31 Comments Add your own

1. Studio Banana » Blo&hellip | | April 11th, 2006 at 5:07 am

[…] HOW TO - Manufacture your own PCBs Refik writes - “This is a little description and a how to make your own professional PCB (printed circuit boards) cheaply. It will help the newbie to get started and a professional to make his own embedded devices. The costs of this PCB were 20$, what’s cheap for a pro PCB.” - Link. Related: Eagle Output Tutorial - Link. In MAKE: Printed Circuit Boards. Step-by-step instructions for making your own PCBs at home. MAKE 02 - Page 164. […]
2. Josh | | April 11th, 2006 at 5:20 pm

How does this article fit the title? The title: ‘How to manufacture your own PCB cheaply’. The article: send it to BatchPCB. You aren’t manufacturing anything — BatchPCB is doing it. What a crock.
3. xave | | April 11th, 2006 at 5:45 pm

yep it’s a commercial…
4. swarmmaster | | April 11th, 2006 at 6:08 pm

Agreed. What a crock. I DO manufacture my own PCBs, so here’s a tip: get high-gloss photo paper and use a laser printer to print your PCB design out. (Don’t forget to wirror the image!) Then press the printout up against your cleaned copper-clad pcb and take an hot clothes iron on a non-steam setting and press down REALLY HARD for at least 3 minutes. You want to heat the ink up nice and hot, don’t worry you can’t melt the copper, but you may want to put the whole thing on a phonebook so you don’t burn your table. Move the iron around a bit and make sure all the traces get good coverage. Afterward soak the paper and copper in hot soapy water until the paper is soft. Use a soft toothbrush to slowly work off the paper and gloss and voila! ready to acid etch. You can use a sharpie marker to touch up any places the ink got rubbed off, do 3 or 4 passes of the marker though, letting it dry between passes. Isopropyl alcohol will get off the ink on the traces after the ethc. Hell, I’ll probably write this proper tutorial up this week for Make.
5. swarmmaster | | April 11th, 2006 at 6:09 pm

“wirror”? I wish that was a funny mirror joke but apparently I can’t type today.
6. Culito | | April 11th, 2006 at 6:38 pm

So what colors do you print? Black traces on white paper?
7. swarmmaster | | April 11th, 2006 at 7:03 pm

Yes, just black ink, and white photo paper. Laser printers work best. Also, I have heard any high gloss photo paper works well but I can recommend from experience Staples brand Photo Basic Gloss (item #471861). The key is getting it hot enough to transfer the ink completely, I got it right on the first try, it’s easy just get it HOT with the iron and give the paper plenty of time to soak (~20 mins). You may need to spend a bit of time to get all the extra paper off gently before etching but in all you should be able to prep a 3″ x 3″ pcb for ethcing in about 45 mins or less. Also, warm etch acid works faster, constant agitating helps too.
8. JuckyT | | April 11th, 2006 at 8:27 pm

OK,
I could make this but what is it good for?
I’m green at this stuff. What would you use a PCB for and why make your own vs having one manufactured?

JT
9. mckgyver | | April 11th, 2006 at 8:47 pm

I have found that nearly any paper will work in a pinch. However, the staples stuff seems to work best. Always laser print, and use a sharpie to fix any imperfections
10. Dave | | April 12th, 2006 at 1:19 am

If you can find them, the Sharpie Paint (oil based) markers work much better than the regular version.
See:
http://www.dickblick.com/zz221/00/
as a source.

JT: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printed_circuit_board
You make your own because you don’t have to wait for them to be shipped, it is less expensive, and grants more Tíme.
11. Daily DIY » HOW TO &hellip | | April 12th, 2006 at 6:08 am

[…] The almighty MAKE: Blog has served up another delicious HOW TO. This time on how to manufacture your own PCBs. “Refik writes - “This is a little description and a how to make your own professional PCB (printed circuit boards) cheaply. It will help the newbie to get started and a professional to make his own embedded devices. The costs of this PCB were 20$, what’s cheap for a pro PCB.”” -Link […]
12. justDIY | | April 12th, 2006 at 2:48 pm

awesome commerical for the good folks at Spark Fun Electronics DBA BatchPcb

be an educated consumer - shop around - there’s less expensive sources that $2.50 a square
13. Infamous Jum | | April 15th, 2006 at 4:10 pm

I’ve used Spark Fun in the past and I have to say I was pretty happy. Depending on the size of board you plan to make it can get kind of pricey, but the point of the service is for prototyping or small runs. Most of the places I’ve checked offer a lower cost prototyping service but you won’t get solder masks or silk screening until you pay a couple hundred dollars.

That said, this is something like the fouth “guide” I’ve seen here that turns out to be an advertisement. For shame, Make!
14. Infamous Jum | | April 15th, 2006 at 4:15 pm

Whoops, replace the “here” in “I’ve seen here” with “on the Make Blog”. Not paying attention to where I am…
15. pcbguy | | April 15th, 2006 at 11:38 pm

always the problem with fabing your own boards is the step that involves the acid. is there any way to avoid this?

also, photo sensitive boards make nice DIY pcb’s rather than using a transfer method.

thx
16. brody | | April 17th, 2006 at 2:29 am

i’ve experimented with toner transfer onto photo paper/transparency etc but have yet to see this method produce 8-10 thou tracks on two sides of flex, something i HAVE seen done several times with press ‘n peel!
17. Ahmed Samir Ahmed Essa | | May 29th, 2006 at 5:55 pm

Frist,Iwould to thank every person shared in making this wonderful site.
please send for me the program which make design for(PCB)printed circuit board in my showing emil in faster time
thanks
18. maru | | October 2nd, 2006 at 11:39 am

well all these methods are ok and will get the job done but there is one matter which seems left behind: how do we apply the component nomenclature (usually written or drawn in white)?
19. Frimer | | October 16th, 2006 at 11:51 pm

The silkscreen (component nomenclature) on top of the board can be made with the same method as described above. After the board is etched, print the silkscreen mirrored and heat transfer it to the top of the PCB.
20. Duane | | November 2nd, 2006 at 7:52 pm

I am trying to make a proto pcb for out local Kub Kar Track timer system. I have tried a few FREE pcb software prgs to draw my schematic (ExpressPCB seems my choice to date!) are there any better/easier ones to recommend? Also, where can I get supplies to make my own PCB cheaply/easily since I only need 1 or 2 PCBs (My local Radio/The Source no longer carries any kits!!)
Thanks
Scouter D
Nova Scotia
21. Masoud Khalaji | | December 14th, 2006 at 9:12 am

I want to make a PCB with one layer(only buttom),but my circuit has many elements and I cant make it in one layer. what software can do this,by automatic jumpering?
Thanks
Masoud Khalaji
22. Jorge | | January 11th, 2007 at 3:25 am

Masoud: i’ve used Orcad and Altium
try to get em(not free but.. they are around internet), they are pretty cool and you can make any PCB in a few secons with the autoroute option.
they are not too easy as those like ExpressPCB… but you will get better results.
Those are professional tools, so your skill is the limit.
23. Nattamai | | January 29th, 2007 at 12:42 pm

I heard that instead of glossy photo paper even an ordinary copier paper works out well for transferring the image on to the pcb.
Is it true? also if glossy paper is used, will it not melt?
24. Programguy | | February 4th, 2007 at 2:51 pm

I use a matte finish photo paper - a cheaper brand that I found at Wal-Mart of all places. This stuff works great for my boards and I’ve been using this method for about a year now. I know the smaller traces can be difficult if not impossable (for the smallest of traces) but for most simple boards or prototypes, it works great.

Have fun.
25. doy | | March 25th, 2007 at 7:42 am

anyone heard bout presentisizes pcs,need help
26. doy | | March 25th, 2007 at 7:43 am

oops, i mean presentisized pcb
27. johnson oluwole | | April 6th, 2007 at 1:45 pm

I wanna design a printed circuit board for simple radio transmmitter but i’m having problem with rat nest and how to use some softwars for the the circuit trace.Can you help out? i’ll profoundly appreciate it.
28. ChipD | | May 10th, 2007 at 3:28 pm

Ive tested alot of different types/brands of paper, I found the best is “epson glossy photo paper” 52lb 9.4 Mil .This stuff works so good, that the paper sometimes comes off without water.Whats really nice is as soon as you drop it in water it floats to the top.No need to scrub it.The only problem i had was the paper wouldnt feed through my laser printers feed tray, but luckily my laser printer has a manual feed slot.
29. idzham | | May 22nd, 2007 at 7:01 am

hi.. wonder if u can help me to built a PCB for a pin-hole camera…to buy readymade is quite expensive for my pocket… i have a pin-hole camera, a movement sensor, a mp4 player for storage in SD Card. Is it possible to combine all these to work on battery? any movement detected by the sensor will trigger recording for specific time. Any help will do…Do u think u can come up with a diagram for it at least? Thanks
30. idzham | | May 22nd, 2007 at 7:09 am

ready made remote sensor camera with recording…i mean..:D
31. meena | | May 31st, 2007 at 11:07 am

what instrument can be used to handsoldering the PCB track?