Board colors?

[T-Flex]

I'm interested in finding some boards for etching other than the standard green/copper/etc.  What I'd really like is some sort of black base material clad in silver (just silver color).  Do boards like this exist?

Thanks

[Hides-His-Eyes]

You can spray the topside no problems

Otherwise any decent fab has a range of colours of soldermask

[defaced]

You can buy copper clad FR4 that's black and use liquid tin to get the traces silver.  Check ebay for the board and MG Chemicals for the liquid tin. 

[.Mike]

Yup, you can get black pcb from ABCFAB

[darron]

i get mine from ebay, blue black, red.




the silver colour that you are talking about is tin. i don't think that you can buy blank copper clad board pretinned because it wouldn't etch well.


tin it yourself after etching, you just need to buy some liquid tin sollution. it's very easy and adds a nice touch and better continuity for soldering etc.

[amptramp]

Tin gives you a very shiny appearance to the traces, but when we used to buy boards, we specified lead-tin plating (essentially solder plating).  Tin looks good but doesn't solder as well as lead-tin.  We got boards that were either green or blue but we also used polyimide boards that were sort of a burnt orange colour for military multilayer boards for use in extreme environments.

The solder mask covers everything that is not supposed to be soldered, so don't worry about trace appearance - it will be the colour of the mask.

[darron]

Tin gives you a very shiny appearance to the traces, but when we used to buy boards, we specified lead-tin plating (essentially solder plating).  Tin looks good but doesn't solder as well as lead-tin.  We got boards that were either green or blue but we also used polyimide boards that were sort of a burnt orange colour for military multilayer boards for use in extreme environments.

The solder mask covers everything that is not supposed to be soldered, so don't worry about trace appearance - it will be the colour of the mask.

that sounds like a pre-fabricated board though?


i reckon using the lead-free solder is much easier to make nice shiney joints and get less cold joints... just turn your iron up a tiny bit and it's the same.

using the old leaded stuff might be good for a retro looking pedal maybe

[StereoKills]

In my experience, lead free solder will actually give LESS shiny joints and does not flow as well as regular 60/40 leaded solder. I have to use it for about half of the boards I fab/rework at work and I highly prefer working with 60/40.

[darron]

it won't flow as well at the same temp. the lead has a much lower melting point.

what temp do you set your iron to?

i think most people will agree that you'll get a much nicer joint when you get it flowing right... but i guess there might be exceptions.

[markeebee]

Double plus for Bill at ABCFAB. He often had red and blue, as well as black, but doesn't always list it on eBay. If you drop him a line with specifics of what you're after he'll help you out.

Last time I ordered some it got held up in UK customs - Bill was very concerned and very helpful.

[defaced]

Looks like I should be getting my boards from ABCFAB tomorrow.  Interested to see how they look.  Too bad I won't be able to play with them until June cause I gots stuffs to do 

[sixstringphil]

FYI, ABCFAB is currently not listing, but said he would relist items in July.