Chemical Tin plating anyone?

[Altitude]

Well I saw this at the shop I go to and figured I would give it a whirl. Results are WONDERFUL and its a no brainer to do.  Mix the two parts with 12 oz water, heat to 120 F drop the board in and wait.  The only thing to remember is to keep everything super clean (i tried to clean some etch resist marker in the right corner, bad idea). I would also add that this time was the first time using the Philmore Datek boards and I am much happier with the results than with the GC brand (which tended to over expose easily).  I just used a laser printed mask and exposed it at 12 in for 10 minutes with a normal 100 watt bulb per the instructions

[moogah]

Nice looking board :)

I used the tin plating as well for hallucinogen's 808 boards.  Good stuff.  Allied Electronics sells a simple "tinning liquid" which you drop the boards into for ~ 5 minutes.  It's pretty expensive per bottle, but from my expirience one will last you for quite some time.

[c0nsumer]

One other thing to remember, especially when reusing the tin plating solution: Be sure all the crystals are re-dissolved before dropping the board in. If not, one can get what I can best describe as odd results, where certain parts of the board don't have a shiny plating.

Also, polish the plated parts with a paper towel and ammonia afterwards. If I remember the reasoning correctly, this dissolves some of the remaining stuff on the tin plate besides the metal itself preventing it from hazing over down the line.

-Steve

[Altitude]

this dissolves some of the remaining stuff on the tin plate besides the metal itself preventing it from hazing over down the line.

yep. to dissolve any remaining salts.  The solution should be at 130 F

[Sasha]

Looking great, but what is the real use of tinning? As far as I know It is easier to solder if the bord sits too long because there is no oxide on it. But, if you solder components right after making PCB, dirty copper surface after long time is not a problem, right?

[pay_c]

That´s only half-true. If you got *big* (meaning broader than 0,254 mm - ucapps PCB´s mostly have that) traces on your PCB, tinning or not is normally no question. But if you go thinner the copper corrosion can be a problem in some years (or even less) because the few µm corrosion then tend to be a problem someday (your traces just corrode away!). I had that problem *ONCE* up to now and that was a board with much to thin traces (one of my first self-designed boards). On the other hand corrosion never looks fine, your board just look really dirty (even already after some days sometimes) and good luck resoldering *any*thing. :) Tinning just gives your board a super-nice finish and will keep your board away from corrosion for decades! :D

btw: I really had VERY nice results with this here:

http://www.modulor.de/shop/oxid.php/sid/492425f4245af0fdda92e43e42134ee7/cl/details/anid/PWGD/listtype/search/searchparam/zinnbad

No heating up, no nothing, just dropping the board in there for a few minutes (2-3 minutes are already enough!) and super-sweet tinning.

Greetz!

[Sasha]

Thanks for the explanation. I might consider buying it. And what about green laquire? I think it is aplied using screenprinting technique, but if it can be found in spray, maybe it could be sprayed over soldered board. Somebody have some experience with it?

[Therezin]

I remember seeing a thread on here that mentioned 15 minute PCBs, and on the site it linked to they gave a board a solder-masked appearance, but using ordinary green acrylic spray paint - it doesn't do anything soldermask-wise at all, just looks good when you've finished.

[Digineural]

That would be http://www.pulsar.gs/PCB/a_Pages/1_Menu/overview.html.  I bought the same laminator (toner applicator) as a dual purpose gift for my wife  ;) and have yet to try it out.