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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Motor Controller Etching

I'm an h-bridge! :D
Etching is gross and fun :P I've etched a prototype of one h-bridge of Segboard's motor controller to test. I like etching because it's much faster than ordering PCBs (which takes like 2-3 days for shipping and stuff). Also etching is much cheaper. The only problem is that it's pretty messy if you're not graceful (ferric chloride stains your hands and clothes) and your board isn't the nicest looking thing. Oh well, I'm cheap and in college.
I look nice in theory!
I look gross in reality!
Gonna test over Thanksgiving. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

4 comments:

  1. Have you tried etching using a CNC mill?

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  2. Yeah! Unfortunately I don't have easy access to one right now (nor do I have the bits), so I'm just using chemical.

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  3. What happened?! The toner transfer method can produce comparable results to photoresist etching, which look superfancy.

    What sort of paper did you use to transfer the toner? How long did you iron it on for?

    If you want nice transfer paper, I've got a whole stack of it on my shelf.

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  4. We got new photo paper a while ago and it was my first time using the new kind. The problem was the toner is actually better on the glossy side than the matte on this paper, but it was the other way around on the other paper. When I etched this, because I printed on the matte rather than glossy, it turned out kinda gross.

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