Category Archives: Cupric Chloride Etchant

My attempt to make and use cupric chloride to etch PCBs.
A local copy of the Seychell paper is here.
An nice Instructable on the topic is here.

Making cupric chloride etchant – with 35% hydrogen peroxide!

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Jim

I scored some 35% “food grade” H2O2!  I tried a few local health food stores with no success, but finally found a link to places that sell it.  I called Life Spring Health Food in Chicago and they had it … Continue reading →

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Making cupric chloride etchant from scratch

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Jim

One of the goals of this project has been to come up with a recipe for making the etchant from scratch without need for tuning steps like titration or specific gravity measurement.  Just do these fairly painless steps and you’ll … Continue reading →

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Making more cupric chloride etchant

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Jim

The CuCl2 etchant is working great, but I lose a very small bit with liquid that clings to the board and holder each time I take one out.  Between that, wanting a little deeper bath in case I need a … Continue reading →

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PCB etch fail

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Jim

Wow – I just had an etch fail dramatically.  I don’t think this has ever happened before – certainly not since my process stabilized with presensitized board (long before I started with cupric chloride).  I suspect it was just left … Continue reading →

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New air stone for PCB etch tank

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Jim

I’ve been using my new Container Store spaghetti-holder etching tank with cupric chloride etchant for several months now, and I’m pretty pleased with it.  I can walk away and let the bubbles do the etching, needing only a visit halfway … Continue reading →

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Etching board holder

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Jim

I needed a better device to hold boards while in the CuCl2 bubble etcher.  The plastic shipping holders from the coffee packet system (Flavia) we use at work looked like they might be useful someday, so over the past year … Continue reading →

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First cupric chloride board etch

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Jim

I finally etched my first board in cupric chloride (with no extra oxidizer).  It was a little slow, but came out fine.  I heated the etchant some, but not as much as I typically heated ammonium persulfate, for fear of … Continue reading →

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Cupric Chloride is Green!

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Jim

Wow – after an extra couple of days’ aeration (with extra acid during that time), the etch bath is beautiful light green in the drop-on-white test.  It’s ready to go!  I’m really curious whether the acid had any effect on … Continue reading →

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Cupric Chloride Etchant Getting Closer

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Jim

When I looked at the jar on 4/17/11, it was just kind of ugly brown, even though it had been on the bubbler for days.  I started to look a little closer, making measurements and doing a little math.  So … Continue reading →

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Cupric Chloride update

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Jim

I had to do the last 4  IR boards for the Educubes last night, and hoped the CuCl2 etchant might be ready.  It wasn’t – so I used ammonium persulfate again. Most of the 80g of wire dissolved over the … Continue reading →

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