Just wanted to share a couple things I figured out this weekend.
Ever have trouble with the photofilm resist lifting off the board when peeling the second backing off? Not any more you won't! Once you heat/press the resist to the board (I use a hair dryer and paper towel), take it out of your dark room (mine is a bathroom with red headlamp) wrapped in a towel and put it in the freezer for 5 minutes. Take it back to the dark room and grab the backing with a piece of electrical tape while the board is still cool and that backing will pretty much fall off.
Pad mask trick. If you use double sided tape to stick paper to your desk, then use the same tape to stick the boards to the paper, then use heavy tape to hold a sheet of acetate in place, you can paint the pads with acrylic and use a piece of glass to press it down. I just did a test to see if one layer of acrylic would do it, and it did. The marker on top is not necessary. The tape holds the acetate from sliding around, just press straight down on the glass (it don't work without things secured). 30 seconds with UV and straight to the rubbing alcohol to remove the uncured resist from the pads. Now I get to try it on the probe boards
Edit: Scraping tip lol. And when you forget to sand the bare spots of the board and forget to clean it, you get bad adhesion. Its not easy getting all of it back off, but you can use tape to lift off whats loose, then, the best tool to scrape is another piece of FR4. Its strong and abrasive, but will not gouge the copper.
Ever have trouble with the photofilm resist lifting off the board when peeling the second backing off? Not any more you won't! Once you heat/press the resist to the board (I use a hair dryer and paper towel), take it out of your dark room (mine is a bathroom with red headlamp) wrapped in a towel and put it in the freezer for 5 minutes. Take it back to the dark room and grab the backing with a piece of electrical tape while the board is still cool and that backing will pretty much fall off.
Pad mask trick. If you use double sided tape to stick paper to your desk, then use the same tape to stick the boards to the paper, then use heavy tape to hold a sheet of acetate in place, you can paint the pads with acrylic and use a piece of glass to press it down. I just did a test to see if one layer of acrylic would do it, and it did. The marker on top is not necessary. The tape holds the acetate from sliding around, just press straight down on the glass (it don't work without things secured). 30 seconds with UV and straight to the rubbing alcohol to remove the uncured resist from the pads. Now I get to try it on the probe boards
Edit: Scraping tip lol. And when you forget to sand the bare spots of the board and forget to clean it, you get bad adhesion. Its not easy getting all of it back off, but you can use tape to lift off whats loose, then, the best tool to scrape is another piece of FR4. Its strong and abrasive, but will not gouge the copper.
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