Homemade PCB: Via advice

Posted by Padu on November 21, 2005, 3:59 pm

Is there anything wrong on home-making PCB vias by drilling a hole,
inserting a piece of wire in there (a component lead for example) and
soldering both sides? Is not going to be a hole anymore, but who cares?

Thanks

Padu

Posted by Joe Pfeiffer on November 21, 2005, 6:45 pm

> Is there anything wrong on home-making PCB vias by drilling a hole,
> inserting a piece of wire in there (a component lead for example) and
> soldering both sides? Is not going to be a hole anymore, but who cares?

That'll work just fine... but why are you doing it? The places I've
gone to for PC fabrication always plate-through the holes, so I get
vias whether I want them or not.
--
Joseph J. Pfeiffer, Jr., Ph.D. Phone -- (505) 646-1605
Department of Computer Science FAX -- (505) 646-1002
New Mexico State University http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer
skype: jjpfeifferjr

Posted by tim gorman on November 21, 2005, 8:08 pm

Padu wrote:

>
>
> Is there anything wrong on home-making PCB vias by drilling a hole,
> inserting a piece of wire in there (a component lead for example) and
> soldering both sides? Is not going to be a hole anymore, but who cares?
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Padu

It should work fine. Lot's of kits have boards you have to do this with. It
is cheaper to make them this way so it keeps the kit prices down.

tim

Posted by John Nagle on November 22, 2005, 2:38 am

Padu wrote:

It works, although few people bother with do it
yourself board making today. The gear you need to
make good boards at today's pin densities costs
more than you'll save.

There are services that make boards for about $50, so
home-making PCB boards just isn't worth it any more.
Double-sided plated through is now the low end of PC
boards.

There used to be special through-hole rivets
for making vias, but that, too, is a dead technology.

John Nagle

Posted by Randy M. Dumse on November 22, 2005, 12:00 pm

> Is there anything wrong on home-making PCB vias by drilling a hole,
> inserting a piece of wire in there (a component lead for example) and
> soldering both sides?

Well, you're in for a rough go, when you put IC's into those holes.
You'll have to solder both the top and the bottom. It's very hard to
solder the top pins of an IC with it cover over half the holes. You have
to heat both the pad and the pin at the same time, or you'll have weak,
cold, or no solder connection.

Essentially you'll have two, one-sided PCB's. The pads lift easily from
either side without the metal plated through the hole. Reliability isn't
good, as mechanical forces will tend to break the connection from one of
the sides, by working against the other.

It can be done. It really isn't worth doing, other than for the
experience. Remember, experience is what you get, when you don't get
what you want.

--
Randy M. Dumse
www.newmicros.com
Caution: Objects in mirror are more confused than they appear.