Electronics Production¶
Exporting from KiCad¶
To export files from KiCad I selected Plot option from File menu
Selected SVG as plot format
And also activated Negative plot
For Edge Cuts layer (outline) i disabled negative plot option
CNC¶
Then i went to ShopBot CNC machine, to cut my PCB outline. But before cuting, I painted it with black spray paint (It is much better to cut PCB then to paint, BTW)
Here is it, you can see, that mill removed some paint from edges
CorelDraw and Laser¶
Then I imported ploted files to CorelDraw
made outline of PCB (The Black zone is SVG file format mistake)
Filled it with black paint
And after selecting PCB i moved it on black filled outline.
As you can see it went to back part of black rectangle
So I went to Object menu -> Order -> and selected To Front of Page option
Here it is
Then i moved my PCB design out of printing zone and let only outline in it (concider that line width is set as hairline)
Then in printing menu I selected Vector option and set cardboard cuting parameters
I cuted outline from cardboard
And puted PCB on that place
Then in CorelDraw i brought back PCB on outline
And in printing menu selected Raster option and set Raster parameters
You can see how laser is removing paint from PCB
I did it twice, to clear all paint from non copper zones
Chemistry¶
I will use FeCl3 to clean copper from non painted parts
I added some amount of FeCl3 to warm water
and dissolved it
Then i put PCB into that solution and started to clean copper with brush
I was making rotational movements for about 5 mins
I was checking PCB condition every 2 mins, You can see that there are parts, where copper is already cleaned
One more check
Here it is
Final cleaning and soldering¶
Then i put PCB back to Laser cutter, to clean soldering zones
I drew all of them
and filled that zones with red colour
Then I deleted PCB file and let on Cleaning zones, that I changed from red to black
Here is result
Then I started to solder all parts
Her it is
Conclusion¶
It is very important to know different methods of solving same problem. There are PCBs that are easy to make with CNC and some are better to make with this method.
I learned this method from very good friend of mine, FabAcademy graduate Miqayel Aramyan