Making PC Boards

Dec 27, 2004 2 Replies

Radio Shack sells small pieces of (paper impregnated with phenolic) prototype board with holes on a tenth inch grid, and a pad around each hole (single sided, not plated through). These are easy to score with a file and break into small rectangular pieces along lines of holes. You will have to use fine wire to connect pads together, if you need this. They also have several versions with rows of holes connected together. You can use an Exacto knife or moto-tool burr to cut breaks in the lines.

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John Popelish

I'm looking at either finding or making some small PC boards. They need to be about a 1/2 inch square. I'm wanting to mount an LED on each board but I'll need to connect 4 LED boards in series but each board will be connected to the next with insulated wires. I could either have a board with 4 holes right down the middle but then I would have a long length of wire for the negative side of the source. I was thinking of having a board with four hole on the upper half and two on the bottom half. The bottom two holes would just be a place for the negative wire coming in and one going out to the next board. The two center holes on the top half would be for the LED wires and the outer holes on either side would be for the positive coming in and one going out to the next board. So would it be easier to make a board as such or find something to work? I'm new at this so I'm looking for help and direction. The only thing is that the side the LED is mounted on to remain smooth so that means all the wires and LED legs to be soldered on the back side. Thanks for your comments and help. Palmer


For circuits this small and simple, John's suggestion is probably the way to go. But if you want to make real etched circuits for this, I have detailed instructions and tips for how to do it using a Sharpie marker, a Dremel tool, and ferric chloride etchant. See:

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Hope this helps!

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

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