***Pin this***** 00:00 intro 09:05 Tests 11:41 Errors and Fixing drilling holes 13:00 Step-1 placing pcb 13:20 Step-2 cut the outline for positioning 14:12 Step-3 create top layer track 14:47 Step-4 Apply solder mask Step-5 make the holes( halfway) Step-6 Clear pads Step-7 Apply silk layer 15:50 Step-8 (important) Flip the pcb 17:04 all steps revision Software part 17:49 EasyEda software 21:00 no. Of files required 21:55 FlatCam software 28:41 EzCad-2 software 29:16 Comparison b/w speed power & frequency *Following (live) steps for pcb making 30:45 cutout outline for pcb 32:16 settings for cutting the outline 33:28 Engrave the top layer for tracks 33:59 Settings for engraving top layer for tracks 35:10 applying the solder mask 35:25 removing solder paste 35:48 settings for removing solder paste 36:30 make the drill 36:38 settings for drill 38:35 bottom layer 40:01 settings for tracks 40:12 apply solder mask 40:14 Remove solder paste 40:28 drill again half way 41:01 cut outline board THANKS, it may help😊

Now this is the way I do tend to do things, want this $30 off the shelf product, spend $2000-3000 (or more) on tools to make it myself! The knowledge gained traversing these paths is invaluable. Thanks for what you do. Fiber laser is next on my list, my Diode and CO2 lasers can only do so much.

Man, so much details here I'll need to watch again! Incredibly comprehensive.

Perhaps someone has already mentioned this. It is interesting to check the interelectrode resistance with a megaohmmeter. There is a possibility that the surface is carbonized and has a reduced electrical resistance, which is not good.

This is a great ad for your sponsor! Who wants to go through that much work when for a few bucks a board house can do it all for you, plus plated-through holes, HASL or ENIG finish, 4- and 6-layer boards, and maybe even assembly services? But it was fun to watch you do it!

Possibly the best video I have ever watched. All my questions answered. Perfect.

Hero! Half way through the board for holes is a great tip. This video is incredibly detailed. It must have taken days to research. Thanks.

First of all, thanks to the author for taking time to do this and share. No doubt this process if well executed can be the best way to make DIY PCBs. But the cost of fiber laser is well above the budget of most DIYers. Compared to toner transfer (albeit transfer frustration) and etching that cost next to nothing and with some careful planning one can even produce double sided boards without coughing up $2,000. If fiber laser cost is affordable going forward, then this is the way to go, but now, I stick to ironing and JLCPCB or PCBWAY.

The fumes from this process are gnarly. A mix of fiber glass particles and epoxy resin. You don't want to breath that smoke. Make sure to use excessive ventilation and a respirator. If it were me I would just do it outside.

Very comprehensive video with all the details and steps. Appreciate the fact that everything is discussed and the video is not a fast video transition show of 5 minutes!

This is an incredibly precise and step by step tutorial, wow!

Thank you for this golden skill you expose to us!

Nice! I've been waiting for this one 😁. Thanks!!

Great tutorial. Looks like you put a ton of work in trying to figure all this out. Thanks for sharing.

Wow! Thanks! OCR based pick and place arm for easy PCB assembly is hopefully next!

I love your PCB creation videos also the EasyEDA tutorials. Top knotch work my friend. Ty

Nice Video. 1) for fixing PCBs onto the laser we use a vacuum table with porous air-permeable plastic composite matt between table and pcb. ( mats like METAPOR®CE100 , 3mm to 5mm) a. this prevents the lasertable from getting marked (the mats can be easily changed when they are "worn out") b. the mats equalizes the vacuum, even when there are already holes in the PCB c. uneven pcbs get more flat 2) would be good if the laser focus (high adjustment) would be controllable by the process (stepper motor on z axis) This makes drilling/cutting the thru the full PCB much more easier and equal without the need to flip the pcb Simply do one cut cycle, then adjust the focus a bit deeper, then next cut, then focus a bit deeper and so on until the pcb thickness is done. For PCBs we adjust the high in about 0,03mm steps what gives about 50 cutting to got thru a 1,6mm PCB. And Yes, this takes a bit longer, buts give very good cuts with good cutting geometry and nearly no burned prepreg.

this is a fascinating process to watch. I know it's possible to use a small mill to cut the traces and vias out, but the results from that fiber laser are a lot cleaner.

Thank you for taking the time to make this as a guide, I'm really tempted to get one of those laser machines. Edit: I would like to see if you can electroplate the vías, if the sooth from the hole is conductive maybe you can even save a step.

This gave me an idea on how to spend some of the company's budget 😃 Nicely done!

I feel like this video is going to have more views than the other last ones, or at least I hope so. Nice video)

That's really cool. Before prototyping services became so affordable, I would've definitely tried this route. A couple ideas: you could use tinning solution before soldering to protect any exposed copper and give it that silver colour. Also, you could use the laser cutter to make a stencil for the silkscreen layer, and then using your screen/applicator with the stencil to apply the silkscreen layer on the finished board like they used to do on professional PCBs before they switched to direct printing.

Great ingenuity and craftsmanship!

Ideally soldermask should be baked after screening on, you'll get a better surface finish especially and quality if you are doing transparency exposure. It gives time for surface tension to do it's thing. A toaster or reflow oven works great.

Nice video! You packed a lot of information in this video and I appreciate the effort you put into your clear presentation and fine editing. You got much further than I did with my cheap laser engraver. Your video inspires me to take another attempt to improve my results. Perhaps in a follow up you can show the soldering of via's and components? BTW. as for an SMD solder stencil, I used a piece of thick paper with laser cut holes. This worked remarkably well and the stencil was sufficiently reusable for multiple PCB's. Thank you for sharing!

Love the deep dive

One thing I didn't see you mention, is that with a fiber laser like this, if your gonna be drilling holes through a material that is thicker than like 0.2mm thick, you need to be using less than half of the available size your lens can do. I.e. if you have a 110mm working area lens, you shouldn't be drilling through a part larger than 55mm in diameter. This is because the closer you get to the edge of the working area of the lens, you will get distortions. Specifically with drill holes through thicker material, the holes at the edge of the working area will be drilled at an obvious angle through the piece, NOT straight down through it. Drilling half way through then flipping the piece to finish the drilling from the other side doesn't really work either because the angle of the holes will be at opposing angles if its flipped. As long as you stay near the center of the lens though it's not a problem. Also, larger area lenses will give you more room to work before hitting the obvious distortions, and a larger area lens has more depth of field where it stays in focus better when working with thicker materials, but you will get less transmitted power into the work piece, so you'll need to crank up the power or lower the speed.

Working at a shop that makes PCBs, I always find it interesting how people make homemade boards!

This looks like an awesome idea. I have no experience with your fiber laser CNC machine but I noticed that the base has threaded holes in it. Depending on the allowances of the machine, you could create some type of standoff that threads into those holes that securely index the board, allowing repeatability and aligning for the opposite side. It would also improve your issue with holes through the board.

I like this video. There is a lot of valuable information in it. Great work for a pcb at home! Just as some already mentioned, you should consider more safety regarding the toxic emitions from the process. Stay safe!

i like this video most, it is better than any other video

Nice long job🤝. Good experience ❤. Precision explanation 👀.

Really nice work and tutorial! 👌

Muchas gracias por explicar tan detalladamente todos los pasos con sus detalles y justificacion de los posibles problemas y como los solucionas. Tienes que haber dedicado mucho tiempo en conseguir ese resultado y preparar el video. Enhorabuena. 🙌👋👋👋👋

Very nice tutorial, thank you for your comprensive explanation!!!!

Oh wow !!! fantastic work !!!!, thanks for sharing !

Fascinating. Still, I won't be running out and buying one of these laser engravers any time soon, but it is impressive what you've done with it. I used to make my own PCBs, until I realized that manufactured PCBs were often less than the cost to buy plain copper clad. I used photo resist film on double sided copper clad. I made masks by printing (inkjet) on high resolution digital negative film. Dust, scratches and air bubbles were problematic with the photo resist. Honestly, the best I could consistently achieve was about 0.5mm traces. The most annoying issue was making vias. Basically, I'd drill the holes, run thin wires through the holes and solder to each side of the board ... which is crude and tedious, especially for big boards, but it got the job done. Headers were also annoying, because they essentially needed to be soldered on both sides of the board. I eventually found that sending everything to JLCPCB was far more elegant and probably cheaper anyway, especially if I combined a bunch of boards into a big order. And this is the one downside. It takes a while to accumulate a bunch of projects, place a big order and then wait for delivery. DIY PCBs can be much quicker. However ... stencils from JLCPCB can be really expensive, (mostly because of the extra shipping cost), so I often make my own stencils the same way I made PCBs, except instead of copper clad, I use 0.05mm copper foil, available in rolls from AliExpress. With stencils the imperfections are not nearly so important, so this still works well. (I also tried stainless steel stencils, but copper works better.) I imagine using this laser setup to make stencils could be really easy and quick.

Awesome! this is very useful and arguably revolutionary! This is bound to be under appreciated and you should develop this and some how monetize it. You could become very rich.

Nice video. keep up the good work!

Very good job. Quite inspiring

I was thinking if you could use a fibre laser using your resin printer method. Thanks for testing this out and teaching us how to do this.

Ever since your video of using a UV MSLA Printer to make PCB, I've been waiting for an update. I was thinking 4K or 8K printer, but this is great!

Nice video congrats! In many cases you can move the vias to an area that does not interfere with other components and then the soldering option is perfect. The rivets pose a connectivity problem over time when heat and corrosion sets in, they also have a height that can give issues with components that come over it. But I'm interested in things you try. I design pcs's sometimes and any option to make them myself has my interest.

amazing video! tysm for your content!

Great and succinct video! Thank you. Many or your naysayers don't appreciate the value in this method - quick iteration with a short design-test-iterate-... cycle. Quick turn to many DIYers is worth the $$$. Maxwell doesn't have much to say here for the lower frequency spectrum that most PCBs operate in. Plus most employ digital ICs with good noise immunity. Also, if you try to stick to surface mount devices, you'll cut way down on vias to only a handfull as in your example. Avoid requiring vias at thru-hole devices and only require backside soldering in these cases. Instead, if required, place a top-bottom via near the thru-hole component (was suggested earlier). Thought - can you precoat both sides of the raw copperclad material (or buy precoated copperclad?) with colored soldermask then laser etch copper cuts, then etch isolating solder masks then etch for same color silk screen labels. Not as pretty but much quicker and simpler, avoiding separate soldermask and silkscreen steps. Probably for manual soldering only. Potential problem is the relatively small space between copper etch and solder mask etch for a possible solder bridge. But careful soldering might avoid this problem. Thanks again!

Great job here!

A thin metal sheet can have the silkscreen lasered out. Then the sheet can be placed on the pcb and white mask can be spread and cured, same procedure as applying solder paste.

thank you, awesome video

I've been doing this also. I like your paper board locating idea!. One tip is to use FR-1 boards (paper+resin). They are much more forgiving during the copper removal stage as the fiber laser does not burn/char the substrate like it tends to on FR4.

good video, love it a lot. I did not watch all of it yet but I will soon. thank you.🙂🙂🙂

I was watching in anticipation that was building up on "what about the vias?" We definitely need an update with vias. 😀 One thing I like about the laser method is that it has much less chemicals than printing out silhouettes and dipping the board in acid etc.

Great video! Looks a bit complicared to me. But good job on doing that, its the best home made pcb i have ever seen!

Very accurate. No etching solution. Direct pcb on lasers! For professional work this is good.

For the vias, you should try electroplating. Do your drills first, then electroplating. Then you circuit patterns & soldermask. I think you could probably electroplate in copper sulphate solution using one side of the board as anode and the other as cathode. Anyway, interesting video, I'll be watching for more. Thanks 👍

Hello sir , will you just added a new project in my life to match you but Hats Down sir awesome work and great job ! Best of luck 🤞 thank you 🙏

this is the greatest video ever

Brilliant! What a great tutorial video! I wonder if you could make “plated through holes” with the laser too somehow? Squeegee some sort of a fine metal powder into the holes, then blast it with the laser? The trick would be to make the hole bigger than needed and then play with the laser parameters, perhaps first to sinter the metal particles into a solid, then blast a new, smaller through hole out of the middle. It seems like you ought to be able to deposit conductive metal on the walls of the holes through some combination of steps. The big problem would be to insure electrical continuity with the top and bottom traces. Hmm, what if… Not thinking in terms of holes for non surface-mount parts, but just vias. Suppose you used some version of the above just to get a metal coating on the hole walls, not for conductivity but just so solder paste would have something to wet to. Then expose the via holes in your solder mask for the SMT parts, so the pads get a covering of solder paste, and the paste also gets down into the holes. Apply paste to the via holes/pads on both sides of the board so there’ll be paste over the via pads in both sides of the board so the solder will wet to both pads at the same time and not just get sucked up out of the holes if wetting inside the holes isn’t as good. Or… I wonder if there might be some simple, single-bath photo-chemical method, that would use the light from the laser to driver metal deposition, making a simpler process and perhaps eliminating the electroplating phase? (Could just the electroless-nickel that’s the first stage of PTH fabrication be used with the idea above of filling holes with solder to result in conductive vias? True PTH is obviously superior for commercial use, but could solder-plugging work well enough for hobbyists?) I dunno, it’d be tricky and maybe impossible, but it’d sure be cool if there was a non-chemical way to make conductive vias with the laser; it’d be nice not to have to resort to rivets or bits of wire to connect traces on the two layers.

suggestion drill the plated holes on bare copper clad board, then electroplate the board to make plated thro holes. Then do all the steps you listed, it doesn't matter is masking gets into the holes.

Brilliant!

Process window will be much larger for 532nm pulse laser (as copper absorb it much more). Unfortunately they are more rare. 355nm less optimal. 1064nm - is quite hard, glad that it worked for you.

Thank you

Nice video, thanks :)

Nice Video Thank-you ! Do we know the peak and continuous power of the system ? Same Hardware is used for all the Model Y version ? they just play with the fet numbers ?

you could make two diagonal holes to hold it in place and 3d print a jig that gets bolted into the laser table to always hold it in place.

Great video. Maybe post links to the components you use such as the rivots and solder mask for example

Thank you for this very interesting video

A suggestion for the double-layer/dual-color solder mask trick: Do two applications of the bottom layer, to make it 2x as thick as the top layer. That would give you more margin for error to burn off the top layer without also penetrating the bottom layer. (In the test coupon you showed, it looked like it was a fine line between totally getting rid of the top layer yet still have a continuous bottom layer.) I thought the idea of combining two colors like this was super-clever!

My experience shows that you can produce pcb's with a diode laser, as long as you don't try to erode the cooper itself with the laser. Get a mate black permanent marker (edding and BIC have good solutions), and cover the area to be etched with it. The laser will eliminate the areas that you want to have the copper removed from. You obviously will still need to remove the copper with an etching solution, and the remaining paint can be cleared with alcohol. I haven't got around to try to cut the PCB with it, I'm afraid it may be a huge fail, but overall I'd say that for this purpose, a diode engraving laser is a good option nonetheless. This is just so that people don't think that because their laser isn't a fiber one, that they will be left out in any way. I also only clear the copper around the tracks and pads, Not the entire PCB. I do it this way for two reasons. One is to conserve my Iron Chloride solution, the less copper I dissolve in it the more it will last, and secondly, I can make a ground plane with it, which in theory will be beneficial in avoiding cross-talk for high speed circuits. The resin paste can be applied and the same laser etching technique can be made, exposing the pads that are to receive the solder. This is where it pays off to invest in an adjustable JIG. If you have positioning holes in the PCB, and they are keyed properly, you can remove the pcb and place it again, even flip it to make the other side, and you won't loose alignment. It becomes a seamless process. And here is the best part about the diode laser; no matter how much you try, the copper will reflect the laser, it only get's absorbed by the black marker paint. If you make a mistake, just recover it with the marker again, and it's all good. It's only when you are sure that you have it right that you chemically etch the PCB, and you can do both sides at once. For simple vias I would just run a wire and solder it on both sides. It's not the best professional look, but it's a handy solution, if you are not trying to balance the board's thermals. These days, through hole components are getting less and less common, and to be honest, anything that would be to become a commercial product, you want to avoid them as much as possible. If it's a hobby or POC board, you can also fold the leads and make them as "SMD" solutions. Right now, i only consider THC for mechanical stability purposes, in case they are heavy, like transformers. Aside from that, SMD all the way, no questions asked. Overall, a good video. If anyone finds any flaws in my suggestions, do comment. I'm always up for a revision of my concepts and a chance to learn something else.

Ahora podemos utilizar tecnología avanzada en casa que no podíamos hacer hace 30 años. ¡Qué mundo!

Me llego el anuncio de video por Gmail. Me alegra ver un video tuyo en cualquier idioma, aunque debo decir que entiendo perfectamente el inglés no siendo nativo

Very good video. I have watched a few others, but yours is really complete. I have already made a simple one not using isolation tracing as my POC. But, of course, I want something more professional. I have an Onron 60w. What power is yours?

I applaud your process and quest for knowledge. More than that, thanks for sharing. That said there are a few observations I have. The first of which you touch on, that of safety. In professional shops with such machines there is process air extraction with extensive filtration. In allot of places it would be illegal to simply exhaust to the outside potentially exposing others without filtering first. The vaporized solder mask, copper, and epoxy are all sorts of dangerous. It would take little time to reach toxic levels in a small shop like most contemplating DiY. But extraction and filtration bring with them a host of other issues too. Air replacement and conditioning and associated cost. The second thing is the cost of a decent fibre laser rig capable enough to vaporize copper in a relatively short number of accuratly applied passes. Beam quality and consistency of focus with a scanned laser positioner means that the work area is small. The plus is that the speeds are much higher than an XYZ table though. The third, and this for me is the killer, I can simply spit out a file I drew in CAD to any one many online services. I can get any reasonable number of boards of multiple layers with vias and masks to my door in a few days. The prices are unbelievably cheap and the results are generally production quality. For me this is just not worth it.

Neat idea, but I must have feedthrus, plated-thru holes, and plated SMT pads (HASL or ENIG). Thanks for mentioning PCBWay; I send most of my boards there.

Great Video

Great video

El contenido que haces vale mucho la pena!!

That is a very nice-looking circuit board. It can rival your sponsor. Can you make your own stainless steel solder-paste stencils? You could increase the holes for the rivets and use the paste to hold them during the soldering process. The bow tie shape is brilliant. Couldn't you make it symmetrical so you could flip the board and keep its registration? It might be hard to match the top to the bottom while taping the second cardboard stencil to the table.

Thanks

When you cut the first outline, could you leave the outline in place and using a thin blade flick the inner part out for cleaning. I’m thinking this could be firmer than card stock for repeatable location. Outline could even be cut to tabs to hold it.

very nice video. It is a guide for beginners. But I actually i have the question if we have similar results with a diode laser

Fantastic. This is exactly what I want to try soon at work. We have a fibre laser, but it is in an enclosure that can be filled with Argon to avoid burning. Could you provide a link to the UV panel you use for curing the solder resist? (Also, I'm happy to share my progress on my machine at work)

Question: You used two different colors of soldermask to get something like a silkscreen layer for text and markings. Couldn't you just add a single layer of soldermask and slighty burn it with the laser, so it only changes color but is not removed? The white soldermask might go darker if you don't evaporate it.

I had this problem where I needed a connection to a component both sides, when making my own PCB. I did the solder a wire in the vias. What I did, providing there was room, when designing the PCB, If I needed a component that needed a connection both sides, I would put a via next to the leg of a component. This way the leg of the component needs only soldering one side and the via connects the track to the other side. I Hope you understand. In addition, re: vias. I used quite thick copper wire for the vias, the hole was just big enough for the wire to go through (a snug fit). This way the wire cold be cut just a little long so the it stook out a little both sides. Cutting the wire in its place, deforms the ends to stop it falling out. Then using long nose pliers, I squeezed the the wire on its ends, which squashed the wire to be a solid fit in the hole. I think I would do as you have done if I had that type of laser, but I would still leave the round holes to to the CNC drill machine. Nice Video, Practice makes perfect

Good job

The cost of all this equipment, along with the time taken mesing about, whilst educational, buys a LOT of perfect PCB's from the likes of PCBWay.

Love it 👌👌

Hey, as always thanks for a vid.🎉 Which laser machine do you use?

Great info!! I have been doing a lot of work to refine my PCB making process. Got stuck on solder mask removal with a diode laser however. Fiber lasers seems to allow much more control. Are you using the MOPA version of the ComMarker fiber laser or the standard B4 fiber laser engraver? Greetings!!!

Can the engraver be used to selectively harden the solder mask and then a solvent wash to remive the uncured mask?

Hi, You are amazing and very informative. This method is preferred for single-layer PCBs. What is the cost of your engraver and its specifications?

Hi, Your are amazing, very informative,this method is preferred for single layer PCB, what is the cost of your engraver and it's specification ?

Will it burn off old oxide? Saves cleaning the copper.

Very interesting, why not remove more copper when making the vias? You said small particles can fall in the channel and bridge the connections, why not remove a lot more of material, or even all the copper that is not used in the vias?

that was great

Thank you so much sir❤️ for making tutorial,it is first video on UKposts which contains all the information needed to make your own pcb (and all the software are same that i use) if you have access to laser machine . Is setting are the same for CO2 laser? Because our college has CO2 laser 5.5 feet tall machine

You can make a double sided PCB (with plated through holes, soldermask, silk screen and stencil!) in less than half hour-realtime!(with some features not even available from a board houses), you just need the right equipment and know how🤔.Not going to spill the beans though.❤👍

Very cool what can be done with a fiber laser. I have a CO2 laser which is good for organics and acrylic but useless for metal at my power level (45 watt). If you were doing a small production run. I think I would probably use a cnc router to handle the hole drilling as a last step. So while the fiber is making traces the router could be drilling. Just a thought.

Incredible! A laser can do it all now!

Very good, but scorched PCB is no longer an insulator but a conductor. It is better not to cut through copper completely, but to etch the remaining few microns

Well for a second attempt this was really perfect i'd rate it 90% ,only 10% are for *The small errors *the white layer of solder mask isn't that much visible (the text layer) and btw the vias should be better with a small thin wire overall, Amazing video man you covered all details and instructions , Wasn't bored for those 45mins❤‍🔥