Multicoloured PCBs

[Wayne.]

My eyesight is not as good as it used to be, and trying to see copper on
khaki is very hard even at the best of times for me.

I have searched Farnell and a few others, but I cannot seem to find
green or other dark coloured copper clad boards.

I realise that these may cost a bit more, especially for a hobbyist but
where can these be obtain from?

 

[David L. Jones]

My eyesight is not as good as it used to be, and trying to see copper
on khaki is very hard even at the best of times for me.

I have searched Farnell and a few others, but I cannot seem to find
green or other dark coloured copper clad boards.

I realise that these may cost a bit more, especially for a hobbyist
but where can these be obtain from?

I've rarely encountered coloured fibreglass substrate material, but it does
exist, e.g.:
http://www.jjorly.com/black_g10_fr4.htm
http://www.micam.com/micam_details_copperlam.html
Perhaps ask someone like Acetronics if they know a supplier:
http://www.acetronics.com.au/

You can of course get many colours in solder mask on manufactured boards.
What about if you simply tin-plate your board for better contrast?
Would a lower cost CEM substrate board provide better contrast?

What's the real issue here? Being able to inspect the tracking after home
etching??

Dave.

 

[Wayne.]

I've rarely encountered coloured fibreglass substrate material, but it does
exist, e.g.:
http://www.jjorly.com/black_g10_fr4.htm
http://www.micam.com/micam_details_copperlam.html
Perhaps ask someone like Acetronics if they know a supplier:
http://www.acetronics.com.au/

You can of course get many colours in solder mask on manufactured boards.
What about if you simply tin-plate your board for better contrast?
Would a lower cost CEM substrate board provide better contrast?

What's the real issue here? Being able to inspect the tracking after home
etching??

Dave.

Both the inspection and soldering are the issue with fine pitch
components. A FTD232RL's pins blend so well with the copper and the
khaki board even under a magnifying lens.

I had a spare green PCB template board - even without the lens, I could
see what I was doing.

I have read about tin-plating the board, and just as an experiment I
used some solder. It made it easier to 'cement' the connection, but not
to see though.

Is there a paint that I might be able to use, even if all it does is
stain the board? I have a collection of Tamiya, Humbrol, Revell, and
Testor enamel and acrylic paints.

 

[David L. Jones]

Both the inspection and soldering are the issue with fine pitch
components. A FTD232RL's pins blend so well with the copper and the
khaki board even under a magnifying lens.

I had a spare green PCB template board - even without the lens, I
could see what I was doing.

I have read about tin-plating the board, and just as an experiment I
used some solder. It made it easier to 'cement' the connection, but
not to see though.

Is there a paint that I might be able to use, even if all it does is
stain the board? I have a collection of Tamiya, Humbrol, Revell, and
Testor enamel and acrylic paints.

No idea about staining fibreglass.

Why don't you just get properly made gold plated solder masked boards made
by someone like PCBcart?
Soldering is much less of a problem with the solder mask, and the gold
plated pads should provide better contrast with the tinned component pins.

Dave.

 

[Ross Herbert]

:My eyesight is not as good as it used to be, and trying to see copper on
:khaki is very hard even at the best of times for me.
:
:I have searched Farnell and a few others, but I cannot seem to find
:green or other dark coloured copper clad boards.
:
:I realise that these may cost a bit more, especially for a hobbyist but
:where can these be obtain from?

There are FR4 materials in a couple of shades of green and I have seen it in red
as well. The only way you can get contrast to make it easy to see the tracks is
to specify that the pcb maker colour the copper tracks. For example, back when I
was specifying pcb's from various manufacturers back in the late 80's, I would
often specify a light green FR4 material with the copper tracks in black oxide.
This was extremely effective.

 

[Swanny]

Never seen a khaki fibreglass board myself.

I had a Soltek PC mainboard that was a vey nice shade of purple ! Pity the
electro's all spewed their guts....

geoff

Most of the different colours are achieved using the solder mask which
may be either wet ink or dry film and is put on after the boards are
etched. These can be a variety of different colours.

 

[David L. Jones]

Most of the different colours are achieved using the solder mask which
may be either wet ink or dry film and is put on after the boards are
etched. These can be a variety of different colours.

The OP is asking about different colours in the FR4 material itself, which
is fairly rare, but available. Most likely not an option at the hobby level.

Dave.

 

[Wayne.]

My eyesight is not as good as it used to be, and trying to see copper on
khaki is very hard even at the best of times for me.

I have searched Farnell and a few others, but I cannot seem to find
green or other dark coloured copper clad boards.

I realise that these may cost a bit more, especially for a hobbyist but
where can these be obtain from?

Thank you for all the responses. Just as a test, I used heavily thinned
emerald green enamel paint, and using a dish cloth wiped it across the
surface.

The paint did not adhere to the copper, but it did stain the epoxy which
made it easier to see where the copper was.

I then used an electric fry-pan to heat the board so I could melt some
solder over the tracks. This made it very easy to see what I was doing
when placing small pitch components.