**What Is a PCBs? and How Can we Make One at home?

A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways or traces, etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-onductive

substrate.

Advantages:

PCBs are rugged, inexpensive, and can be highly reliable.

How to make one at home?

Actually,there are two methods to do so

1-Toner Transfer Method : is to print the schematic of the circuit on Papers (i.e. Paper of a Magazine)

and attach the Printed paper to the Blank Copper Board and heat it.

2-UV Exposure Technique: is to print the schematic of the circuit on Papers (i.e. Paper of a Magazine)

and attach the Printed paper to the Blank Copper Board Sprayed with Photoresist material and then it is put on an UV lamp.

Actually the first Method is easier than the 2nd technique

so we'll Explain it in details

Requirements:

1-Magazines or advertising brochures

2-Laser printer (or Photocopier)

3-Household clothes iron (for heating the Copper)

4-Blank Copper Board (single side)

5-Etching solution ( Ferric Chloride ) to remove the copper on board that not

required

6-Kitchen scrubs to clean up the copper

How it works:

Laser printers and photocopiers use plastic toner, not ink, to draw images. Toner is the black powder that is resistant to etching solutions used for making PCBs - if only you could get it on copper!

Steps to accomplish a PCB:

1- Draw the schematic on a computer using PCB Making Softwares and then Print the schematic of the cct want to turn into a PCB on a magazine-paper

and make sure that you printed a mirrored view of the cct

2-cut the copper board to the required dimensions

3-Clean copper surface using Kitchen scrubs till copper becomes shiny

4- Attach the paper to the surface of copper and heat it using an Iron for 5 mins

5- remove the paper using water and the toner now is attached to the copper surface

6- put the board in Etching solution for 15-20 mins and then clean with plenty of water

7-Drill the Holes which are place of components and solder your elemnts

now we have a PCB made at home

This is a video to demonstrate the whole process from scratch

PRESS HERE TO PLAY

This is the Software I used to make PCBs Express PCB