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LED PCB etcher

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Conundrum
Thu Mar 26 2009, 10:22PM Print
Conundrum Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4059
Hi all..

Seems that lasers are sooo much hassle to use, so I came up with this. It uses an array of 0603 SMD UV LED's driven by a micro in Charlieplexing mode.

Here's a test with a single LED to prove that it works :)

image below is with 1, 2 and 5 seconds exposure at 3mm.

-A
1238106131 96 FT0 Pcb

1238106131 96 FT0 Pcb1

1238106131 96 FT0 Pcb2
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3l3ctrici7y
Fri Mar 27 2009, 03:54AM
3l3ctrici7y Registered Member #1806 Joined: Sun Nov 09 2008, 04:58AM
Location: USA
Posts: 136
I get it; the top pic is the LED on the board, the middle pic is the let led, and the final pic is the 1, 2, 5 second exposures. The high density of the intended array is for illuminating a board that is coated with photo resist, masked by the pcb artwork....

How am I doing... oh...
no, wait.. were you going to literally "CNC" etch the board by selectively exposing the photoresist with the multiplexed leds?

Perhaps get a uv laser diode, and appropriateeba focusing lens, and drag it around the board to draw your pattern. Ah, here we go... Something like this in a 2 axis (at least) cnc might get the job done... ebay

But I digress.. what exactly are you doing?
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Hazmatt_(The Underdog)
Fri Mar 27 2009, 07:26AM
Hazmatt_(The Underdog) Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735
Hate to be unimaginative, but I just use 10 min of free sunlight.
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...
Fri Mar 27 2009, 11:23PM
... Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445
He is trying to etch boards without makign a mask, thus the need for many small LEDS

he tried using a laser to expose it in an earlier thread, but didn't have much luck.

Although except for maybe etching the simplest of boards, it seems the resolution of this will be too low.

Heres my idea, take a black/white LCD panel and put a backlight of UV leds behind it. There will probably be a ton of loss from the uv being absorbed in the screen (but i wouldn't expect a whole ton, glass is pretty transparent under 380nm and plastic goes to about 350nm). Then just bring up a picture of the board you want and viola
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Conundrum
Sat Mar 28 2009, 10:52AM
Conundrum Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4059
hmm.... i did try that with a damaged single line HD44780 panel but unfortunately the panel broke during removal of the backplate.

It might work, i've confirmed some light gets through. My latest idea is using a spare PCMCIA laptop edge connector (which has virtually identical pin spacing to 0603) and a spare LCD panel's STaB connector as a ground plane and interconnect. Plan is to use Charlieplexing (common +V and Gnd) to minimise the number of interconnects to sensible levels.
Am up to 12 LED's soldered with no defects... :) pics soon.

Will need to use some sort of mask to prevent spurious PCB exposure, have an idea to use a sheet of acetate with pinholes at the correct spacing.

-A
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Netzpfuscher
Sat Mar 28 2009, 06:06PM
Netzpfuscher Registered Member #1131 Joined: Mon Nov 19 2007, 01:36PM
Location: Germany
Posts: 9
you need a blue-ray diode and mount it on a plotter ;)

This is my project:
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=JG5qUhn9sSM&feature=channel_page

Laser01

Laser02

Laser03

Laser04

Laser05

Adu1
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Conundrum
Sat Mar 28 2009, 07:21PM
Conundrum Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4059
hmm, thanks for that, i might try it.

in the meantime i've made progress on the LED PCB..
-a
1238268117 96 FT66471 Uvleds
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cjk2
Sat Mar 28 2009, 08:54PM
cjk2 Registered Member #51 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:17AM
Location:
Posts: 263
@ Netzpfuscher

That is amazing! how thin can you get the traces?
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Conundrum
Sat Mar 28 2009, 10:47PM
Conundrum Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4059
Not exactly sure, estimate around 0.2mm.

i can improve on that, by using a shadowmask though.
the plan is to use the prototype to make a pcb for the better version...
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Netzpfuscher
Sun Mar 29 2009, 02:15PM
Netzpfuscher Registered Member #1131 Joined: Mon Nov 19 2007, 01:36PM
Location: Germany
Posts: 9
@cjk2
It depends on the setting of the laser-focus, from 0.05mm to 1mm but the mecanical resolution of the plotter is limited to 0,1mm. the best results are with 0,15mm laser and ~30mm/s pen speed.
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