Re: Was: CuCl etching

From: Jim Thompson (thegreatone_at_example.com)
Date: 02/13/05 

Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2005 12:10:22 -0700

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 13:48:46 -0500, Mark Jones <abuse@127.0.0.1>
wrote:

>richard mullens wrote:
>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>
>>> xray wrote:
>>>
>>>> In early Jan there was a discussion here about using CuCl to etch PC
>>>> boards. Sorry, I lost the original thread.
>>>>
>>>> Someone mentioned a web page about this. I think that was my page. My
>>>> site was in limbo at the time. I have finally gotten around to putting
>>>> up some pages in a new location.
>>>>
>>>> Here's the page on CuCl etching...
>>>> http://www.xertech.net/Tech/CuCl_ech.html
>>>>
>>>> This information is all copied from a book of the 1980's. I did contact
>>>> the author before posting. He goes into great detail on the process of
>>>> keeping the chemistry right.
>>>>
>>>> All the pictures on this page are from the book. When I did my version,
>>>> I found some porous plastic tubing in an aquarium store. I ran a few
>>>> rows horizontally across the bottom of the tank as a bubbler. I adapted
>>>> an aquarium heater in a large test tube. The heater was adjusted to a
>>>> level that could cook fish, but all the parts were there, so the
>>>> conversion was pretty easy.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> That is a cool page. I suspect that I will always be too lazy to
>>> actually etch boards (that's what quick-turn houses are for), but it's
>>> good information if I ever decide to do so.
>>>
>>
>> Interesting, What is more, when the cuprous chloride has been formed,
>> you can bubble acetylene through the soultion to make cuprous acetylide
>> - explosive, but not as good as the silver variety.
>
>
> A much safer alternative is ammonium tri-iodide. Take a pitri dish, add a few
>(read: one or two) iodine crystals, add just enough ammonia to cover. Ammonia in
>this case is household ammonia - the pure stuff would make the result far too
>unstable - breathing on it would set it off. Swirl gently, and after a few
>minutes the iodine crystals will turn purple. When wet, it is harmless. But once
>they dry, they become explosive. Apparently the molecules line up in very long
>chains when drying and are easily broken by physical force, creating a miniature
>atomic chain-reaction. The product of explosion is simple dis-assembly of the
>structure - it leaves an ammonia-and-iodine-stain on whatever unlucky thing
>touched it.

I prefer fulminate of mercury myself (remember the movie "Mister
Roberts" ;-)

                                        ...Jim Thompson 

-- 
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
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