What are the advantages of PCB Tinning?
The industrial method of manufacturing printed circuit boards uses strong solvents like sodium sulfate. Doing this simplifies the manufacturing process and also prevents unwanted etching. Tinning will facilitate this since the risk of corrosion is much lower when a printed circuit board is tinned.
Also, the cost of placing copper traces with higher thickness levels on circuit boards with small current areas is much higher than usual. It is another reason why PCB tinning is preferable; it will save money, especially when there is a high existing path bridge.
What are the disadvantages of PCB Tinning?
- Very sensitive to handling – gloves must be used
- Exposed Tin on final assembly can corrode
- Not good for multiple reflow/assembly processes
- Aggressive to soldermask – soldermask dam should be more than 5mil
- Baking prior to use can have a negative effect
How to tin a PCB step by step?
You will need the following:
- Your circuit board – after etching and before drilling*
- Acetone/nail varnish remover
- A large flat bastard-cut file
- A wire brush
- A small tub of brown flux jelly
- A small lump of tin/lead solder
- Gloves, paper tissues/clean rags, etc
- A 25W soldering iron with a largeish (say 5mm) chisel tip in good condition
- A clean sheet of white A4 paper
How to tin PCB at home?
All of the above information points out that DIY PCB tinning is not only possible, but it also is not very difficult to do if you possess the right materials and skills. That being said, there are many precautions to take if you decide to create your PCB tinning solution and apply PCB tinning to your own homemade printed circuit boards. Since DIY PCB tinning does entail using household items, it also can cost some money. This chapter will cover both of these.
The stereotype of fluids being placed into tubes and blowing up in chemistry classes is not entirely wrong. Do not forget that printed circuit boards revolve around electric charges and generating power to and from a source. Moreover, although PCB tinning is done when a printed circuit board is not necessarily active, dangers are still involved.
As you can see from the above picture, not only does the creation of almost anything related to a printed circuit board involve a lot of small materials, but these materials are very fragile and under much pressure.
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