Copper circuit board

If the acid doesn’t etch properly, perhaps the problem is in the
preparation of the board. What are the exact steps you take to prepare
the board for etching?

Hello,

Ive been there a long time ago.I build electronic circuits in my
younger day’s and had these kind of problems.The problem as far as I
can just it is not your acid,since I used the same acid as you do.If
you start with a new board,they always have a protecting coat which
need to be removed with sanding paper and water.some steel whool can
do the same job,they just get rusty after a while.As far as I can
recall, I used a 600 grid watersanding paper to begin with and clean
the board with it.The next step was a kind of abbrasive dish soap
called “CIF” which is a very common product here in Europe,really
nothing special.The board has to be painless clean WITHOU ANY
vingerprints.I made a path out of plexiglass in order to hold the
board without using my vingers.Out of the same plexiglass,I made a
pair of tweezers to pick up the board.Whipe it of with a clean cloth
an be sure that the board is totaly dry before you start spraying
your photo sensitive film on it or whatever your next step might be. I
performed this procedure for a very long time and never had problems
with the etching of my boards.If you treath your boards this way you
can be more then 100% sure that the problem you have has nothing to
do with the board itself. If yo still need some don’t
hessetate to ask.I’m willing to help as much as I can and I’m not the
only one!! Regards Pedro Palonso@t-online.de