How to make PCBs at home – The toner transfer method

Step 4) Finishing

After washing the board dry it and then apply acetone or gasoline in order to remove the toner from the copper traces.

Use with extreme care the kitchen scrub and acetone. You will get a result like below pretty easily :

 

 

 

Now it is time to do some drilling !

I have seen a lot of people using drill press but i have found that this solution is an overkill.
If you do not have an drilling machine buy one that it is slim even if it is not potential.
By doing this you can keep the machine with your hand like a pencil! So you do not need any drill press.
Another tip i can give you is to find a drilling machine with variable rounds/min. I set it at 6000 rpm.

As i said before i am using the PMGS 12 A1 modeling and drilling machine from Lidl and has all these characteristics
The problem with the dremel clones are that, at least for me,  way too fat so i couldn't treat them as a pencil.
With this drilling machine i didn't broke a single drill bit and i haven't made any mistake at all.
The 0,5 mm drill bit is so small that the drill header can not hold it, but using a paper around it and worked like a charm !

 

 

 

 

 

With this method i had 100% success so i really do not find any reason why i need to buy a drill press and a bigger drilling machine.
Lowering the rpms at 6000 you can control extremely well the tool and really you cannot make any mistakes.

Now place your etched copper board under the wooden board and you are ready to drill.
The photo below is for demonstration reasons since the board is not etched yet.

 

 

 

 

Congratulations !
You have just made your first board at home !

In a next article we will demonstrate how to solder with safety your PCB.