Loud Wolf PCB Etchant?

[italianguy63]

"more pleasant to use".

Ineffective.

[samhay]

The proprietary part is probably because of the surfactants and buffer. The surfactant is probably to lower the surface tension of the solution so that it wets the board better, and the buffer is probably to make it "more pleasant to use".

yes and no - I'm pretty sure the electrochemistry (etching) will only work at acidic pH, so it will be buffered to keep it there.

In any case, the product doesn't work very well and the seller has not been particularly endearing, so it is probably best to give it a wide berth. The Amazon review aught to help in that case.

[Jdansti]

^Good point.

[vigilante397]

The proprietary part is probably because of the surfactants and buffer. The surfactant is probably to lower the surface tension of the solution so that it wets the board better, and the buffer is probably to make it "more pleasant to use".

yes and no - I'm pretty sure the electrochemistry (etching) will only work at acidic pH, so it will be buffered to keep it there.

In any case, the product doesn't work very well and the seller has not been particularly endearing, so it is probably best to give it a wide berth. The Amazon review aught to help in that case.

Very true. I did manage to get one decent board out of it using about twice the concentration recommended at about twice the temperature recommended and it still took 4 times as long as I was led to believe. I haven't actually wired it up yet so I'm still not sure how good it is. Maybe I'll get around to that this weekend... 

[Tony Forestiere]

^Water: LD50/LC50: Oral, rat: LD50 = >90 mL/kg;
This means that 50% of rats in a study die when fed >90ml per kg of body weight. This demonstrates that all chemicals, including water have a dose that is considered toxic. The inverse is also true: all chemicals have a dose at which they are considered safe.

I guess anything in excess is bad.  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-drinking-too-much-water-can-kill/

[vigilante397]

So I realize this thread has been cold for a while, but I have something to report. I finally finished up a layout I had been working on and was just looking to see if any stores in my area had ferric chloride (they do), but I looked up and saw this shady-looking bottle staring at me again. So I figured what the heck, why not give it one more try?

I mixed it a little more concentrated than it suggested and used hot water, agitating it frequently and after 30 minutes absolutely nothing had happened except that my permanent marker touch-ups had started fading. So I pulled my board out and dried it off, and re-traced my marker lines. I then decided to try something new: I boiled the mixture before putting my board back in. And what do you know, it etched in 2 minutes!!! 

Did I end up getting a decent-looking board out of it in a reasonable amount of time? Sure did. Will I ever buy the stuff again or recommend it to anyone? Nope.