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!

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Making cupric chloride etchant from scratch

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant | 4 Comments

Making more cupric chloride etchant

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant | Leave a comment

PCB etch fail

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant | Leave a comment

New air stone for PCB etch tank

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant, PCB Etching | 2 Comments

Etching board holder

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant, PCB Etching | Leave a comment

First cupric chloride board etch

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant | Leave a comment

Cupric Chloride is Green!

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant | Leave a comment

Cupric Chloride Etchant Getting Closer

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant | Leave a comment

Cupric Chloride update

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

Posted in Cupric Chloride Etchant | Leave a comment