DIY PCBs with Diode Laser + Etchant
I just recently started creating my own PCBs at home using a diode laser and sodium persulfate. Had a few issues at first, but I managed to optimize the process to the point where it has been 90-100% reliable the last couple of weeks. I can implement components with a 0.5mm pitch, manufacturing time is around 2-3 hours for a small board. I am using two single sided 0.8mm thick boards which are connected with rivets to form a double sided PCB. I did that to avoid alignment issues while creating an etching mask with the laser. I also came up with a track width compensation to deal with the fact that the laser focal spot isn't a perfect square (it's rectangular). Without the track width compensation the vertical tracks (<0.6mm) always turned out to thin and the horizontal ones to thick, with the track width compensation they always are the same size regardless of orientation.
If you are interested, I documented my optimization work on Github (https://github.com/JonasHeselschwerdt/PCBs\_with\_laser\_engraver) and on my YouTube channel \@ElectrJonics, if you have questions feel free to DM me :)