making PCB

In article , mario writes

If you want results quickly for a one (or few) off on such an apparently simple circuit look for Stripboard (aka Veroboard) which is pre-drilled laminate with copper strips you can cut and links as required. Perfectly reliable results are possible Making home-brew PCBS is really rather tricky and will require some trial and error you may not have time for.

Remember that a Luxeon (Lumileds) needs cooling thorigh the PCB!

I have made Luxeon boards before. And what's more: some electronics and software I developed are used in machines placing and soldering those leds!

Regards,

Pieter Hoeben

For simple one-off or prototype boards, you may want to consider hand-drawn methods. Complete details with hints and tips at

Hope this helps!

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

The 'Stars' need to be mounted on a heat sink or their life will be short indeed.

-- Regards ........... Rheilly Phoull

Have a look at

Sounds interesting... I might have laser printer(s) on my disposal. But tell me those mylar sheets are those used for graphoscope or what? What then? The same procedure like with UV lamp?

or!!!!!!!!! one could if they had around an Nice heavy powered toner laser copier that would adhier the image to mylar sheets. using the printer in your computer you can put a reverse lay out of your art work. copy it to a mylar sheet using a Heavy toner laser copier. clean the copper clad nicely and dry. get your iron out. lat the image toner side down on the iron and heat it just enough to allow the toner to melt onto the clad. wait for it to harden and slowly pull away mylar.. P.S. make sure the copier is set for max Contrast 2 tone shad only. its also possible of you have a laser printer around that you can do this directly from the computer. in any case it use to be a nice method, something that you can experiment with.

grahamk wrote:

really

Luxeon

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way,

them

Just some unsolicited advice: if you try to "learn how to make PCBs" AND "finish this project swiftly & with style" simultaneously, you'll end up doing neither. Allocate some time & materials for training, and buy a flashlight.

Good Luck! Rich

If you want to make a custom board fairly easily, radio shack has a kit with a copper plated board, a bottle of mild etching fluid and a acid resistant marker. You just draw the printed circuit on the board and soak it in the fluid for about a half an hour and all of the copper plating that wasn't drawn on dissappears from the plate. Finish by drilling holes for your components with a dremel and small drill bit.

really

Sometimes if you just want a simple copper only PCB it's cheap to get it made for you...

...although most will also do solder resist and silk screening if you pay more. Some places do a good deal on a fixed board size (eg Eurocard) if you want a few smaller boards it can pay to replicate the artwork until you reach that size (like a sheet of postage stamps). Then cut them up yourself when they come back.

Colin

Thanks for the advices, I appreciate it.

The drawing for three LEDs on small pcb, including the 'maximum metallization' principle recommended by Lumileds, is fairly easy to make and accomplish. I read the info you sent me and contacted local distributors including RS and Conrad (pity there's no Radio Shack here... slightly disappointed by Conrad though) and I'm sure I could do it after some trail and error. I am after all (theoretically) capable of designing fifth generation strike fighter... OK, that was a bad joke.

Anywayz, the new problem arose after I checked Luxeon Emitter thermal considerations PDF... darn thing has to be made on MCPCB. Yes, *thee* Metal Core PCB. As some of you who have experience with Luxeon LEDs noticed, they have to be cooled through cathode, and they have to be on MCPCB. What about that? Where do I get MCPCB? Another thing is how do I make drawings on it since using ferric chloride etchant is out of question? That thing would completely destroy aluminum layer on the back of the board. Any ideas?

OK... I know, I thought about it and asked my self is it worth the trouble. The answer is probably one big fat NO. But the thing is that actually designing the darn lamp would be a success for me. I don't want to bother you with the details but this project has commercial dimension and I am the only one in the competition who started with LEDs. If I do it, I might even earn some money, plus showing the guys who's the daddy. That's why I'm going to push this thing until I run out of options.

Again, thank you guys, you helped me a lot. If you have any thoughts on MCPCB I appreciate it.

Cheers!!

mario

you

yourself

Well if you could design a regular 4 layer PCB and use the inner layers as the heatsink. If you can't afford professional processing costs perhaps you could make your own multi layer board by gluing two double sided boards together after etching (ok there is more to it than that but you get the general idea).

If you want heatsinking how about using ordinary DS PCB and putting solder onto the thin copper?

Regards, NT

Anyone out there in the LA area? I have several 3' x 4' sheets of 1/32" thick single sided epoxy coppperclad with 2 oz copper I would sell cheap.

snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net

Dan

-------------------- How much do you want for it? 3 feet by 4 feet?? Nice.

I'm in Santa Cruz.

-Steve