erdabyz has been playing with different DIY soldering paste stencils:
I’ve always wanted to make my own soldering paste stencils. Some days ago I tried a method which should theoretically work, and it somehow did. I spreaded a coat of soldermasking ink (the only photosensitive, acid resistant thing that I have) to a piece of thick aluminium foil (the one that’s used to make disposable food trays) and I insolated it. The soldermasking ink adhered very well to the aluminium. I covered the back of the aluminium piece with some plastic tape to protect it against the acid and I etched the stencil using diluted ferric chloride (it reacts veeery violently with aluminium). The result was pretty amazing for being the first time. However, aluminium is so soft that the stencil was useless as it was damaged while spreading the paste.
The picture shows version 2.0 etched in a copper plate. Can you guess what project this is for?
Via the forum.
I guess the PICqueno32
Interesting idea for stencil making, I wonder if the copper one was usable, and I think it is for a PICqueno?
Yeah, it was usable. I actually assembled my PICqueño with that stencil, with good results.
Very interesting. We’ve been cutting thin cardboard with a laser cutter and using that. It disintegrates after a few uses, bot for prototyping it works very well. You have to swell the pads on the gerbers a bit to get a good transfer. – Alden