Need Better Sharpie Pen

[tranceracer]

The sharpie pen ink dissolves in my etchant does anyone use any other pen brands that work better for touching up board traces? 

Sharpies used to be good but it seems these pens just dont work as well as they used to.   

[kurtlives]

I use a Sharpie and it works great. Maybe it reacts differently to different copper boards and chemicals....

[zachomega]

Have you tried the sharpie super permanent marker?

-Zach

[tranceracer]

I use a Sharpie and it works great. Maybe it reacts differently to different copper boards and chemicals....

Yea, Maybe.  I've been using Feric etchant.  I'm going to switch over to the peroxide / muric acid when my feric wears out.  It seems that the older pens worked fine but the new batch of pen's ink dissolves in the etchant and etches away part of the trace that I touch up.

Have you tried the sharpie super permanent marker?

-Zach

No I haven't tried the super permanent marker.  I'll head to office depot and pick some up with my $5 off $5 purchase coupon today.

Thanks for quick responses and recommendation!

[antojado]

I use fingernail polish and apply it with a very sharp tooth pick. I like that better than a sharpie.

[Mark Hammer]

I have used Staedtler Lumocolor pens for longer than most of the members here have been alive, and they work fine. More precise than a Sharpie, and generally last as long if not longer.  My standard recommendation is to purchase two colours, like red and black or green and blue.  Why?  Because it is the liquid vehicle in the pen that actually provides the resist coating, not the coloured pigment.  You could use bright yellow and it would etch just as well as black.  HOWEVER.....two coats provides better resist than one, and using one colour for the first coat and a different colour for the second coat lets you keep tabs on what parts you have and haven't touched up yet.

[bumblebee]

i use these or variants there of.
link

[John Lyons]

I used to use sharpies and then lumocolor pens but muratic/Peroxide goes right through it.
I use a tooth pic and enamel model paint now. Bullet proof! I just put a dab on and get it as fine as I can, then scrape with a razor knife/exacto to get it just right.

Are those Dykem pens stable in all etchants?

john

[bumblebee]

i use ferric cloride and a dykem "printed circuit marker" and it works nicely. ive only ever used fecl3.i use a toothpic to clean it up and thin out the traces.

i have a ton of model enamel paints,i might try that way.

[tranceracer]

Thanks for the recommendations!  I was hoping that there would be a recommended brand I could pick up at Office Depot/Max.  The Testors model paint sound promising too.  I'll definately pick up the SmallBear pen on my next order.

I dont know if you guys read my thread on the wax paper trace but the reason I need to touch up the traces is not because the traces come out bad but my printer is a cheap oh-Brother HL2040 lazyer and the toner layer is a little thin so I need a good ink pen to touch up the larger power traces or they will have little pinholes after I etch and the Sharpies aren't up to the task.

I cant complain to much because it's much better than hawlin my @$$ down to the copier at my local office supply shop or drug store which always seems to be under repair. 

I have used Staedtler Lumocolor pens for longer than most of the members here have been alive, and they work fine. More precise than a Sharpie, and generally last as long if not longer.  My standard recommendation is to purchase two colours, like red and black or green and blue.  Why?  Because it is the liquid vehicle in the pen that actually provides the resist coating, not the coloured pigment.  You could use bright yellow and it would etch just as well as black.  HOWEVER.....two coats provides better resist than one, and using one colour for the first coat and a different colour for the second coat lets you keep tabs on what parts you have and haven't touched up yet.

I'll have to check out that Staedtler Lumocolor pen too.

Thanks again guys!

[ianmgull]

i use these or variants there of.
link

I use one of those pens, but beware...If you push down to hard on the tip, you will have a puddle of ink pour out of the bottom. I covered a copper plate in ink accidentally once. Aside from that warning they work great!

[Mark Hammer]

Make sure the surface of your copper board is shiny and smooth.  One of the things that happens to porous-tip pens is that if there is friction between the tip and board surface, small amounts of copper will rub off the board and that will clog the tip and prevent ink flow, whether it is a Sharpie or any other brand, superfine or coarse tip.  The better buffed that copper board is, the less friction.  So think of superfine steel wool as "pen helper".