I thought we were being really clever with this one but apparently it has been done before!
We needed a PCB making for a simple stepper motor driver and thought “why can’t we use the laser?”. A quick trip to maplins we had a copper clad board and some grey automotive primer.
The process itself is really simple:
1) Spray board with Primer
2) Engrave board with design
3) Etch Board
4) Remove remaining primer with acetone
5) Solder Board!
You will have to excuse the soldering – My drill bit was too large and i didn’t have any flux!
We are not going to be making proffesional boards like this but for a clean, high speed way to make a PCB its pretty good.