Quick and Dirty PCB Prototyping

Quick and dirty PCB prototyping.

Items required:

-Copper board (in this case single sided)

-Sharpie pen

-Etchant (Ferric chloride)

-Plastic containers

-Rubber gloves

-Cotton

-Nail polish remover

PCB prototyping helps provide a robust temporary circuit for proof of concept or a cheap way to build a circuit and free up space on your project board for other projects.

Here I needed a 12V supply but there wasn't enough space on my project board for it. So a prototype board is a fast and cheap way to clear up some space.

I did it the quick and dirty way. Drawing my circuit with a Sharpie pen on a single sided copper board. Didn't even bother to clean up the surface before I started drawing. 2 coats of Sharpie covered the circuit. 

Once the ink has dried, time to remove the unwanted copper. Prepare your etchant, in my case I used ferric chloride. Remember that it is corrosive, so protective gear and well ventilated work area is a must. Always use plastic to hold corrosive liquids. I prepared the etchant and placed my board in it. I poured warm water in a bigger container to heat the smaller container that has the etchant.

As you can see in the picture above, I mucked up on the first board. Basically my thumb touched on the right side of the circuit while I was manipulating the board during the etching process. So note to self, don't touch the surface!

My next attempt was much better and the sharpie is still intact.

I used some nail polish remover (a few drops) on a cotton ball and wipe off the Sharpie ink. Populated and soldered the board. Its working!

DIY PCB Manufacturing

Only 1 word to describe this...COOL!

I read of this in Hackaday (blog link -> here)

It's a Waste of Time to Compare

We are so uniquely individual that there is no basis to compare.  The faster we acknowledge and let that fact be part of our daily self, the more time we would have to develop our unique potential.  

Occupation - To Occupy One's Time with Meaningful Work

Ever dread going back to work after a vacation? You know there is going to be a mountain of emails to go through and actual work to complete. With that it's enough to make a man jump on a plane and go back where he came from.

A job is an occupation. To occupy one's time with meaningful endeavour. Well...basically to trade our time and efforts for pay to provide for food, clothes and roof.

That's the basic. Now, I am thinking its gotta be more than that. Imagine if you are working long hours, trying to meet deadlines and trying to find solution to problems...heck, you deserve more! Right? The fact is you do deserve more but then, does your boss give a damn?

Think of it as a trade. A barter if you would. You trade time and effort for money. How can we get more work done with the same amount of time and effort? Now if you can do that then you have more leverage to trade for a better pay.

Life is a constant state of motion. Its like the book, "Who Moved my Cheese?". We have to be constantly aware of our environment and ourselves in order to adapt to our surroundings. Hence to occupy our time meaningfully we have to constantly move ourselves to improve ourselves...lest we fall into a state of infinite loops...blaming society for our misfortunes.

Rudyard Kipling aptly said in the last part of his poem 'If'...

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With 60 seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it

And - which is more - you will be a Man, my son!