Friday, 22 November 2013

FYP 2 Week 10 – Hardware Circuits Development

PCB Board Preparation


Figure showing steps involved in PCB board preparation.


Step 1


Step 2


Step 3


Step 4


Step 5

                 For printing of PCB design layouts to be done, first the plain PCB board of matching size to the design layouts need to be prepared following the steps shown in figure above.
                 Step 1 shows cutting of PCB design layouts from the printed OHP paper. In step 2, the plain PCB board are being cut following the size of cut out design from OHP sheet. Step 3 is about polishing the copper surface of plain PCB board to remove the oxide layer, followed by wiping of oxide dust with tissue paper and then with thinner as in step 4 and 5 respectively.


Ironing Method

Figure showing steps involved in printing PCB layout designed onto PCB board prepared.


Step 1


Step 2


Step 3



                 After preparing plain PCB board of matching size, printing of PCB design layouts on plain PCB can now be done following steps shown in figure above. First, the printed side of the OHP sheet need to be placed onto the copper surface of PCB board. Then, with the board and OHP sheet placed under a piece of white paper, the ironing can be done for printing process. Lastly, if the printing does not seem to be perfect with some of the dark line not appearing, then a permanent marker needs to be used to draw onto it.

Etching
                 Etching is a process of removing unwanted copper part on the PCB board designed, leaving only the copper part covered with permanent marker. To start etching process, the final product after the printing process as shown in step 1 of figure below need to be immersed in a container containing the etching acid which is dark brown in colour, as in step 2 below. The container need to be shaken gently and constantly for the acid to move around the surface of the copper layer of the board for more effective and rapid etching process. After etching the unwanted copper, now it can be clearly seen as in step 3 below that only the permanent marker lines are left over. In step 3, the board was cleaned with plain water to remove the acid layer.

Figure showing steps involved in etching process.


Step 1


Step 2


Step 3

Removing Marker Layer


                 Following after the etching process are process of removing permanent marker layer covering the copper layer. The permanent marker is removed using thinner by wiping with sponge as in figure a below. The result is PCB board with shiny copper design layout on top of it as in figure b below.
Figure showing process of removing permanent marker on PCB layout.



a


b

Checking Connectivity

                 When the multimeter touches connected copper lines, it gives reading of “0” as in figure b below. If the copper lines are disconnected, it gives reading of “1” as in figure a below.
Figure showing process of checking connectivity for the PCB layout.



a



b


Drilling

Figure showing PCB hand drill used in the project.

Figure showing drilling process.


Step 1


Step 2

                 Drilling of PCB need to be done carefully to ensure the PCB layouts are not damaged or disconnected. For that, the hand drill had to be held firmly and be pointed to the exact drilling point without shacking when started to drill as shown in step 1. The drilled hole need to be checked and cleaned from the board dust produced during drilling process as to prevent the drilled hole being blocked as shown in step 2 figure.

Completion To Hardware Development

Figure showing PCB circuits board prepared for the component placement and soldering.

Soldering

Figure showing soldering process after the component placement.



a



b

                 To start soldering process, several tools and material have to be prepared first, such as soldering iron, solder lead, solder paste, sucker, and wet cloth as shown in figure a above. Before start soldering, the method need to be understand first in order to produce good soldering work. When soldering, first the copper pad surrounding the component leg need to be heated. Then, solder lead need to be touched on to the heated pad and let it melt to stick to the component leg perfectly as shown in figure b above.


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