Antennas and Microwaves
PCB Prototyping
DRILLING AND PEELING
Once the design has been scored onto the copper, the unwanted areas will need to be peeled, unfortunately this will still have to be done manually, see bottom of page 2.
If small surface mount circuit boards are to be attempted, then a good light, a freestanding magnifying glass, a pair of tweezers and a fine tipped soldering iron are useful additions to your peeling tool kit.
The final PCB, ready for loading with components.
Reference my Previous Work page : The X-
CONCLUSIONS
A simple, cost effective method for prototyping microwave PCBs has been presented. Using the entirely manual approach, a wide variety of microwave structures maybe fabricated using no more than a computer, printer and basic tools.
The use of a CNC vinyl cutter would allow more complex circuits and structures to be produced. The additional cost should be within the budget of colleges, small development labs and the serious hobby users.
USEFUL LINKS
Here are some sources of information that you may find useful.
Manufacturers of the substrate material. They have a list of area representatives
on their site, I have always found them very helpful and efficient. If you only require
small quantities, a polite concise e-
A very comprehensive transmission line calculator from Rogers Corporation. Includes microstrip, stripline and coupled lines. This is the old 100KB version. Go to the main Rogers Corp site for the latest version (~3MB).
TechSoft specialise in supplying budget CAD/CAM systems to schools and colleges. They stock CNC vinyl cutters and a range of other interesting goodies.
Signmaster specialise in sign making equipment and stock a wide range of desktop cutters.
Page 5 of 5
