PCB Design: DIY 2 Layer Boards

Current Part:

Parts
Copper PC Board
Ferric Chloride
Plastic Container
7805 +5v Voltage Reg.
100kΩ Trimpot
47uF Capacitor
2x 100uF Capacitor
29x Red LED 5mm
29x 360Ω Resistor
2x 10kΩ Resistor
1kΩ Resistor
2x 0.1uF Capacitor
2x 555 Timer
4x 74LS164
9v Connector
Breadboard Wire

Parts List Details
           For this tutorial, the focus is on the first 3 parts listed at the top. The rest of the parts correlate to the example design I'm using for this board, to show that things will work. So I only listed out the parts also seen in the design for completeness. Below I'll describe the most important parts in a little more detail.

Copper PC Board
           The Copper PC Board is where everything starts for this tutorial. It's basically a blank slate until we put our design on it and etch away the excess copper. These boards are widely available over the internet and you can cut them yourself into whatever size you require.

Ferric Chloride
           This is the copper etchant that will be used to eat away the excess copper on the board after we transfer the toner design onto it. It is a poison and can be harmful to the enviornment so take great care around this chemical. Use gloves, a mask and keep it in a well ventilated area.

Plastic Container
           Ferric Chloride likes eating away and many different types of metals, so when you get to the etching stage, be sure to use a plastic container to hold the ferric chlroide. I used a metal container with some cling/saran wrap over it as an example of what NOT TO DO, so when you see that, please don't follow my bad example.

7805 +5v Voltage Reg.
           This is a standard voltage regulator that I've used in many of my projects. It will take input from a 9v battery and regulate it down to +5v. We need to be at +5v for the 555 timers and the 74LS164 TTL IC's.

74LS164 - Serial Input - Parallel Output
           These IC's will be used as LED drivers as the 555 timers shift in data, they will light up LEDs accordingly. This is what creates the cool floating effect of lighting up the LEDs from left to right.

555 Timers
           The 555 timers will provide the clock input to the 74LS164 and a second 555 timer will provide the serial data input. The trimpot on the side will vary the input data speed.



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