Equipment/PCB etch station

Etch station

Status

We are currently planning on fixing-up the unit and working out how it should be configured:

From a quick test it appears to have no major faults : it heats all the tanks, it bubbles, the spray wash solenoids click, and the tanks don't appear to leak. And the cupboard turned out to contain some developer and tin plating crystals!

The tanks are currently full of water - very polluted by the previous contents. Don't expect it to etch ! The intention is to soak off the old contents, clean them out and then refill.

The bench should be usable in the simplest form as soon as we've checked it out, but there are some things we can do to make the best of it. There's a need for a handful of plumbing and electrical accessories.

Do NOT put water in the spray washes (the unlidded tanks between the main tanks) at the moment. These have open drains leading into a pipe that currently goes nowhere - so they'll dump water on the floor. What's supposed to happen is that the cold inlet can be turned on (with spray buttons on the front panel), and the wash water runs straight out the drain, they do not fill up like .

Usage configuration

• Since it's already stained there's no problem in putting ferric chloride in it if we have some available (it needs 5 litres but 3 or 4 would do).
• We can use a spare tank to start brewing the cupric chloride if we want to do that
• I (artag) have some of Mega's good developer I can use to set up a development tank
• I have some date-expired mask stripper we can try in a strip tank
• Mega also sell some ferric chloride cleaner at £16 for a kg. Might be worth a go.
  • This is apparently Oxalic acid. There may be a cheaper source, eg builder's merchants.

Placement

• We need water and waste connections for the rinse tanks. These are simple washing machine fittings but we may need adapters for the supply pipework and a waste hose. I do have some plumbing fittings but we may need more.
  • Depending on when you need these, I could go out and get these on Fri/Sat. -- Elliot
  • I think we'll need at least one cold fitting, ideally another cold and a hot too, and a way to get 1.25" waste into the sink plumbing - possibly just a length of pipe, possibly some joints. May be easiest to put things in place and then find exactly what's needed.
• Where do we put it ? I suggested replacing the unit 23 sink, but short-term it could simply go next to it. Tools may need moving, though. Or it could be installed in the unit 23 toilet. Or it could be integrated into a darkroom build. Discuss ..
  • I think it can fit next to the sink in the place of the metal cabinet that is there currently - it may be a bit longer and deeper but that shouldn't be a problem. Ideally it'd be nice to keep the sink for other chemical type experiments. If we can avoid talking about the darkroom then we can save ourselves a lot of hassle :-) -- Elliot.
• It would be nice to have power without using the extension lead. The existing ring main might be extended fairly easily to put sockets on the wall near the sink.
  • Again, depending on when electrical stuff is needed, I could go out and get conduit/socket/back box/etc. on Fri/Sat. -- Elliot
  • I see there's a bit of conduit near #23 back door. Needs a socket plate and probably some more 2.5mm wire to link into the ring. Could be patched up but a better plan might be to look at fixing a couple of electrical jobs and buy the bits at the best price rather than in small pieces.