I came to the conclusion that I would need to fabricate my own circuit boards to house all the needed electronics in the Launch Control Unit. After laying out the circuit in CAD and coming up with a total of three boards needed, I decided to try the toner transfer method of pcb fabrication.
This method requires that an image of the circuit be laser printed to a sheet of specially designed release paper. The image on the paper is transfered to a blank circuit board using and iron. The exoposed copper (that which is not covered by the laser image) is then etched away using a ferric chloride solution.
This produced usable pcb's after much trial and error. Using the proper amount of heat is paramount: To little heat and the image will not transfer completely, to much heat and you damage the blank circuit board.
I've included photos showing the pcb's after the etching and with components installed. Mouse over the first two photos for a before and after effect. |
