A warning to those who are using the ferric chloride etchant.
It is pretty corrosive stuff. Please be responsible. Do not pour it down the drain when you are finished. Find out from your local waste disposal what to do with it. Alternatively, find a company in your area that manufactures circuit boards to help you.
Do not get it on your skin. At the very least, you will have an ugly brown stain that will not wash off. I do not have a MSD sheet, but it probably wouldn't be pretty.
Finally, it will react very vigorously with aluminum so only use glass or plastic containers. One of my teachers put some ferric chloride in an aluminum baking pan to etch some circuit boards, then walked away to do something else. When he came back the room was full of smoke and the pan had completely dissolved. The etchant was all over the place. The aluminum oxide coating on the pan slowed the reaction just long enough for him to leave the room and not see the smoke.
Be sharp and be safe.
Phil
It is pretty corrosive stuff. Please be responsible. Do not pour it down the drain when you are finished. Find out from your local waste disposal what to do with it. Alternatively, find a company in your area that manufactures circuit boards to help you.
Do not get it on your skin. At the very least, you will have an ugly brown stain that will not wash off. I do not have a MSD sheet, but it probably wouldn't be pretty.
Finally, it will react very vigorously with aluminum so only use glass or plastic containers. One of my teachers put some ferric chloride in an aluminum baking pan to etch some circuit boards, then walked away to do something else. When he came back the room was full of smoke and the pan had completely dissolved. The etchant was all over the place. The aluminum oxide coating on the pan slowed the reaction just long enough for him to leave the room and not see the smoke.
Be sharp and be safe.
Phil
