ARRL Technical Information Service Printed-Circuit Board Manufacturers - Custom and Supplies Rev: October 1, 1993 File: PCBOARD (\public\info\tis\pcboard.txt) This information was prepared as a membership service by the American Radio Relay League, Inc., Technical Information Service, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 (203) 666-1541. Email: tis@arrl.org From the files of the ARRL Automated Information Server (info@arrl.org) Reprinted from: October 1993 QST, Lab Notes, "Printed-Circuit Board Circus" Copyright 1993 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All rights reserved Thank you for requesting the following information from the ARRL Technical Information Service or the ARRL Automated Information Server (info@arrl.org). ARRL HQ is glad to provide this information free of charge as a service to League members and affiliated clubs. For your convenience, you may reproduce this material, electronically, or on paper, and distribute it to anyone who needs it, provided that you reproduce it in its entirety and do so free of charge. If you have any question concerning the distribution of this material, please contact Michael Tracy, Technical Information Service Coordinator, American Radio Relay League, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111 (email: mtracy@arrl.org) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Printed Circuit Board Circus When it comes to building your own equipment, printed circuit boards sure make the job easier. But do you buy your boards premade, or make them yourself? If you choose to make them yourself, which process should you use? Mike Gruber, WA1SVF, ARRL Laboratory Engineer, comes to the rescue with information can you use!--WB8IMY Q: Mike, my son and I are interested in building some electronics projects. It seems like a great way to learn, and I think we'll both enjoy the experience. Printed circuit boards seem to be almost universal these days, but are they really necessary? A: In most cases, no. In fact, numerous other construction techniques, such as wire wrap, "ugly" construction, breadboarding and point to point wiring, are frequently used by the home electronics hobbyist. The best technique for your particular project depends upon its complexity, the need for easy modifications during development, durability, the environment in which it will be used, ease of construction, components used, operating frequency and other circuit requirements. Q: Wow, this sounds complicated! Let's concentrate on printed- circuit boards. What advantages do they offer? A: Well, commercial manufacturers favor PC boards for a variety of reasons, including automated manufacturing and product consistency. As a hobbyist, you can enjoy some of these same benefits at home. Printed circuits offer faster, easier construction. They also reduce the chances of wiring errors. At UHF and microwave frequencies, printed circuit traces can even be used to simulate actual circuit components, such as capacitors, inductors and transmission lines. Assuming that you're interested in building published designs, PC board construction will probably be one of the more appealing options. The most difficult part, of course, is obtaining the boards themselves. Q: That's what I was afraid of. How do you go about getting a board for a particular project? A: Many published projects, and virtually all recent QST projects, have PC boards available. Your best bet is to contact the source called out in the article. Two excellent sources for QST project boards are: A & A Engineering 2521 W La Palma Ave Unit K Anaheim, CA 92801 tel: 714-952-2114 A&A also carries PC boards for projects published in other magazines. They also manufacture boards, but the cost is prohibitive for quantities less than 100. (Stas Andrzejewski, W6UCM, president) FAR Circuits 18N640 Field Ct Dundee, IL 60118 (No telephone number available) In addition to many QST project boards, FAR also sells PC boards for projects that appear in the ARRL Handbook, QEX, W1FB's QRP Notebook and QRP Classics. FAR will manufacture custom boards if you provide the artwork. Small quantities. Send an SASE for complete information. (Fred Reimers, KF9GX, owner) So you have the choice of buying a premade circuit board, or creating your own. It's not surprising that some hobbyists prefer to make their own boards. Q: Really? Is it really possible to make the boards at home? I'll bet it's expensive! How is it done? A: The least expensive approach involves using a special Magic Marker-type pen, tape or dry transfer to outline the desired pattern on a solid copper-clad board. You can create your own pattern--often referred to as artwork--from a schematic diagram, or use the pattern published in the magazine. For many QST projects, a pattern is available free of charge from the Technical Department Secretary. See the project description for ordering information. After the pattern is created on the board, the board is placed in a tank containing a corrosive etching chemical, usually ferric chloride. This chemical eats away all the undesired copper. Only the copper protected by the ink, tape or transfer coating remains. The board is then rinsed and the coating is removed. All that remains is to drill the necessary holes for the components. Everything you need for this particular process is available from your local Radio Shack. Their 276-1576 PC Board Kit includes: (2) 4.5" X 3" single-sided boards (1) Resist ink pen (1) PC board cleaning pad (1) 1/16" drill (1) plastic box/tank (1) Six-ounce bottle of etchant (1) Two-ounce bottle of resist ink solvent This complete kit, by the way, is enough for two 4 1/2 x 3- inch boards and costs $9.95. Printed circuit boards can be a relatively minor expense when compared to the overall cost of most projects. Also available from Radio Shack are: 276-1499--Dual-sided PC board, 115 mm x 160 mm 276-1577A--Direct etching dry transfers (4 sheets 7 7/8" x 3") The resist ink, tape or dry transfer process can be time consuming and tedious for very complex circuit boards. As an alternative, you may wish to consider the photo process. Not only does the accuracy improve, you don't have to trace the circuit pattern yourself! At the heart of the photo-etching process is a copper board coated with a light-sensitive chemical. In a sense, this board becomes your photographic film. The first step to is make a contact print of the desired pattern. To accomplish this, the printed circuit artwork is transferred to special copy film. This film is attached to the copper side of the board and both are exposed to intense light. The areas of the board that are exposed to the light--those areas not shielded by the black portions of the artwork--undergo a chemical change. This creates an invisible "image" of the artwork on the copper surface. Now the film, er, I mean PC board, is developed (developing techniques vary). After the board is developed, the etching chemicals will remove the copper from all areas of the board that were exposed to the light. The result is a PC board that looks like it was made in a factory. Everything you need for the photo process, as well as Resist Ink-type processes, is available from: Kepro Circuit Systems 630 Axminister Dr Fenton, MO 63026-2992 tel: 800-325-3878 314-343-1630 fax: 314-343-0668 The photo process offers a very convenient method to reproduce published artwork. If you have access to a laser printer, you can make boards from the output of a CAD program. Kepro sells a special copy film that can be used with a laser printer or a standard photocopy machine to create ready-to-etch artwork. A positive can also be made from the copy film, if necessary, with Kepro's new orange reversal film. It can be developed in ordinary tap water. Another source for complete circuit board kits (similar to the Kepro process), single and double-sided boards, chemicals, tape and other equipment is: GC Thorsen 1801 Morgan St PO Box 1209 Rockford, IL 61102 tel: 800-443-0852 (Call for nearest distributor) fax: 815-968-9731 The Meadowlake Corp Dept 1 PO Box 497 Northport, NY 11768 tel: 516-757-3385 PCB Kits 750 Mariday Lake Orion, MI 48362 tel: 313-693-0328 If you're looking for printed circuit board kits, chemicals, tools and other materials, try: Ocean State Electronics PO Box 1458 Westerly, RI 02891 tel: 800-866-6626 Ocean State carries products by Kepro, GC, Datak and the Meadowlake Company. See pages 43, 44 and 45 of Ocean State's 1993 catalog. Q: What about commercial circuit board manufacturers? What advantages do they offer? Will they manufacture boards from my home design, or from a magazine project--even if I don't want 10,000 pieces? A: Yes, there are companies willing to manufacture small-quantity printed circuit boards. They can offer features that are not readily available to the home board maker, such as multiple layers, plated-through holes, special plating and precision tolerances. Although most of these features are not necessary for home-type projects, some hobbyists prefer to have their boards manufactured for the sake of convenience. (The manufactured approach is also handy for club projects where many boards are required.) When choosing a printed circuit board maker, be sure to shop around. Prices and artwork requirements can vary considerably. Some companies even accept CAD artwork via telephone modem! Here is a partial list of companies that will manufacture PC boards in small, or even single, quantities: Colt Technology Corporation Mid-America Industrial Estates 15301 W 109th St Lenexa, KS 66219-1294 tel: 913-888-1673 fax: 913-888-3666 A 24 hour modem service is available. Express Circuits 1150 Foster St PO Box 58 Wilkesboro, NC 28697 tel: 919-667-2100 fax: 919-667-0487 Primarily a prototype house, but can accommodate short runs in the 25 to 500 unit range. Can accept artwork generated by smARTWORK, HIWIRE-Plus, TANGO.PCB, TANGO SERIES II, PROTEL AUTOTRAX, EE Designer I or EE DESIGNER III. General Technology Corporation (GTC) 6816 Washington NE Albuquerque, NM 87109 tel: 505-345-5591 fax: 505-344-3227 Considers their market niche to be, "the small-quantity user who typically needs delivery in less time than the industry average." Speedy Circuits Division of PJC Technologies, Inc 5332 Commercial Dr Huntington Beach, CA 92649 tel: 714-898-4901 fax: 714-891-0607 A typical prototype run is expected to be from five to ten pieces. Atlas Circuits Company PO Box 892 Lincolnton, NC 28092 tel: 704-735-3943 Specializes in prototypes, short runs and small quantities with 7 to 10-day service. Note: Products and manufacturers are listed in this column for informational purposes only. No warranty or endorsement is expressed or implied. We welcome your suggestions for topics to be discussed in Lab Notes, but we are unable to answer individual questions. Please send your comments or suggestions to: Lab Notes, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. Additional PCBoard manufacturers: Beaver Brook Circuits 10 Grassy Plain Street Bethel, CT 06801 comments: reasonable prices, fairly quick turnaround, small runs accepted Brock Circuits, Inc. 101 Schnieder Rd Kanata ON Canada K2K 1Y3 tel: 613-591-7321 Metro Circuits 205 LaGrange Ave Rochester, NY 14613 tel: 716-254-2980 comment: pricey, but they have low turnaround Midland Technologies 34374 E. Frontage Road Bozeman, MT 59715 PCBOARDS, Inc. 210 W. Main Street Chanute, KS 66720 tel: 316-431-0406 comments: slow turnaround, but very affordable for small runs PCB Prototypes of Sandy, UT Ronald Baker 8195 South 2660 East Sandy, UT 84093 comments: no phone number available. Affordable plated-through hole work PSI Inc. 514-T Milton Way St. Helens, OR 97051 tel: 503-397-5682 comments: flexible, quick turn around, small runs accepted SM Company 170 Broadway Ashville, NC 28801 tel: 704-254-0877 comments: cheap overall, but a lot of setup charges added. competitive for small runs Trend 888 Washington Street Dedham, MA 02026 tel: 617-326-8700 commects: expensive, but they specialize in multi-layer work Volunteer Circuits Inc. Dept. T Highway 20 Bells, TN 38006 comments: similar to PSI for service ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If anyone knows of any other suppliers of inexpensive custom prototype printed-circuit boards or small-quantity printed-circuit board supplies, please send the information by postal mail to: ARRL Technical Information Archives 225 Main St Newington CT 06111 The members and HQ staff would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this information file: WA1SVF Send any additional information or changes to mtracy@arrl.org. Thanks, and 73 from ARRL HQ, Michael.