How to make Clear Glass PCBs

**NOTE** This process has changed over the last few years. Please see the new video here: • Part 2: Printing Glass... it shows the updated process!
This is a video on how I make my clear glass PCBs. I'll be making a blog post sooner or later with more detail.
**ADDED** Here's the source file + (PCB/SCH (For ExpressPCB)) and the PDFs of them.
cnlohr.net/pubsvn/electrical/...
***
UV Glue: www.glass-etching-kits.com/uv_... (GM689)
Copper: You can buy this -- but I'm worried since there aren't may left, so you can just ask and I'll send you a sheets for $5/ea + shipping. www.ebay.com/itm/copper-foil-2...
Microscope slides: compare.ebay.com/like/29060736...
Also, link to the micro tiny isp programmer thing: cnlohr.net/pubsvn/electrical/... (It's in the Touch5 Folder)
Nimrod hall copper is available here: www.nimrodhall.com/1-4mil.php look under pre-cut sheets

[@bigclivedotcom]

The EPROM eraser uses shortwave UV light that is almost completely blocked by ordinary glass. That's why the EPROMs have quartz windows. A blacklight style longwave UV lamp may work better. Have you tried acetone nail varnish remover to clean the residual glue off?

[@CNLohr]

bigclivedotcom Acetone causes the traces to slup off. I think it gets between the traces and the back of the PCB.

[@NicuIrimia]

+CNLohr maybe the apliedscience's evaporative method would work? It's fast so I'm thinking maybe it would not have the time to get under the copper traces.

[@CNLohr]

I really need to make more glass PCBs some time. There's so many things I want to try and new ideas so many people have had.. Right now, I'm so busy with other stuff.

[@TechNed]

I tried using an EPROM eraser to cheat making photo-resist pcb's in the 1980's - It took forever but eventually worked. The problem is that the wavelength of the UV light is wrong. It's like the difference between UV-A and UV-B.

[@H5ck]

Dude this is fucking awesome, I am a mechanical engineering student but I'm learning so much about electronics manufacturing from people like you and other open-source projects. Thanks a lot!

+H5ck Well, I am a student of electrical engineering and I learnt everything from KZbin videos and Wikipedia. Thanks, school!

[@HaLo2FrEeEk]

This is so incredibly cool! I can think of so many "just for looks" applications for this to make some really cool, and actually functional, stuff. Thank you for sharing this.

[@Pritolus]

Wow. This is the first KZbin user I've ever encountered who actually knows the proper use of KZbin annotations. Well done sir!

[@CNLohr]

If you're doing regular circuit boards, the laminator (note this is a modified GBC H-220) is spectacular. You can usually get everything to stick really well in 2-3 times through. No ironing needed.

[@ArvinDomingo]

That is absolutely amazing!.. two thumbs for you my friend because that is technology and art in one piece.. not to mention it is functional as well.

[@Christopher_Gibbons]

It's so cool the way you can see the etching happening through the glass.

[@K12Reversal]

This is a flawless process and you did it with one hand, while filming and while talking. You are my hero. :) Great video!

[@juliushildman]

its a relief to see a very well done instructional video on youtube! Cheers to you my brother! Greetings from germany

[@roostersglass]

Your etching solution is actually etching the glass giving it a frosted look. If you use pyrex or borosilicate glass slides you will not have this problem. You will have totally clear boards! The glass you are using must be a "soft" glass which has a COE (Coefficient of Expansion) of around 130, Pyrex or Boro glass has a COE of around 30. The low COE also makes it far less susceptible to thermal shock. Clear and no cracks! Win! Also this is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!

[@kriskizlyk]

Wow, this is really ambitious and a very cool idea. We have expensive Liquid Flow Meters that just use a plate of glass over some heat detecting LEDs to act as simple push buttons but yet have the circuit isolated from the externals. This...could be very handy...great job by the way!

[@nugenki]

Wow this was the coolest thing I saw the past few months

[@blazblu82]

Dude, this is incredible! I have never seen anything like this. After seeing this vid, I have a few cool ideas to try soon.

[@geoffmaddox]

Wow, this is seriously amazing. Great result and very nicely explained.

[@MrsDavidiot]

Even though i have no clue what any of this video meant, I enjoy listening to your voice, its very instructive :P

[@danielduesentrieb]

Thank you so much, for sharing your idea, layout and code with us! You rock!

[@viscountalpha]

This is awesome. I'd love to see a controller like that for say, changing the radio or some sort of game input device. Thanks for showing us how you did it.

[@dtiydr]

I have made a PVD and i made a completely clear and very thin PCB with that some years ago, looked pretty cool. Have also made copper, silver and aluminum mirrors that looked awesome.

[@themainproblem]

That was a very nice effort and thanks for sharing it with us.

[@badfender223]

Really cool. I wrap a paper clip around my soldering tip to get in really tight spots.

[@CNLohr]

AMAZING! Thanks for that suggestion. Glass "Good" Metal "Good". Saving this link for glues! And I don't use transfer paper anymore.

[@martinscopes3914]

Very good work I must say.one thing I see a lot is solder iron so big for the smallest work.And all so in a right mess .i have 7-soldering irons all different and shiny clean.one iv just bought is 12-volt and I Added a tiny micro switch so when I hold it I just press with my finger and all added a white bright Led the Led stays on all the time when I'm using this micro soldering iron.your work is good and would be easier for you to use a small soldering iron for when you re-solder some of you micro work.great video keep up the good work

[@Skrillbo]

I've had the notion to try and make some PCBs out of unusual material like glass for a little while now, but I didn't really know where to begin (I've done the toner transfer method, but I had no idea if I could even buy copper sheets), thanks for the inspiration!

[@JamesVincex]

This is very cool. It looks great and would get lots of kudos. I think think of a time where glass would be a practical advantage over epoxy but hey looks awesome. Great video thanks.

[@deezonmustardt6585]

Very cool . Glass makes everything cleaner.

[@jordanzish]

This is an awesome idea. I think I'm going to try something like this, and see if I can pull off a through hole board. It's got to be possible if you drill real carefully, and have lots of extras on hand in the event of a slip of the hand.

[@Crux161]

Awesome! I completely overlooked that file, thanks again. I was starting to pull my hair out because express pc doesn't like to run under my setup in crossover.

[@AunShovah]

Thank you both for your tips.

[@NightRunner417]

17:15 Lol I know the feeling all too well... Nice work, that's pretty slick! :-)

[@blackIce504]

nice work i shall try this on the next pcb i will make, thanks for sharing.

[@tomx63]

really great work and video!

[@steelerfan2223]

Well Done! Thanks for Sharing your work!

[@mvssarma3387]

you concept of DIY pcb on glass is so Nice, i admire and would love to repeat the process for my satisfaction. Great Effort has gone in. all the best of many more successes in future ,CNLohr. regards sarma

[@CNLohr]

thanks :)

[@GameFrameGaming]

It kinda reminds me of SG:A

[@geurogeuro9378]

the board looks great

[@heftycat]

Absolutely awesome. keep up the badassery!

[@jdsweet3657]

Its been about a year but I finally made a board that plugs into an Atmel board. Can't wait to get them in.

[@websavvydood]

Neat method for single sided surface mount designs but a few tips: 1. As Java Lu (and maybe others) said, TRIPOD - PLEASE!! 2. Tin board with tinning solution before assembly - gives superior soldering 3. Use several coats of auto-spray lacquer on final assy for vastly superior finish. 4. When spraying remove all connectors & protect the header pins with sleeving or low tack masking tape for larger blocks 5. CLEAN your soldering iron tip PLEASE & use a much finer tip for such work

[@dautop0r]

awsome work man!

[@alaaj99]

That was amazing. Thank you for sharing this.

[@CNLohr]

Watch the new video! It's linked in the description.

[@fully_retractable]

Also a syringe works well for depositing solder paste in tight areas, and automotive clear coat finish is highly resilient when it comes time to use solvents such as acetone, and is somewhat flexible until cured.

[@BadAndUgly]

This is awesome! Clear glass PCB's look really nice and I'd want to build something with LED's on a glass plate like that :)

[@arkanglegeibriel]

oh but note: the glass and actual construction of the board itself was quite sufficient in this video and I want to say awesome vid ^_^

[@AlabamaRiverMan]

I may try this... I don't have a laminator or uv oven though. It's been years and years since I fooled with circuit design and/or breadboarding. I've never made pcb's. My line of work is BGA reball/reflow and general computer repair. Love anything to do with electronics!

[@skilomodelista]

Nice work! Unfortunately I've not patience to do all this stuff, and never got a good results... Your work is very good, have quality!

[@natileyroxs]

i have no idea what i just watched but that was freaking cool!

[@jeriellsworth]

Awesome!

[@chepossofare]

Simply fantastic!

[@daikatarokamegawa542]

The fast camera part of the FeCl eating away the copper was damn awesome

[@fanjancombrink84]

Very cool, thanks for sharing it.

[@mccunecp]

now that I like the lamanater for adhering the toner to the copper I have always used a iron this is a nice idea I will now have to invest in one of those.

[@rasmusbangpedersen4907]

I have no purpose for this thing, but you made a really good and interesting video :) Thanks for making the world a better place :) Have a nice day :)

[@JasonDoege]

I used a pen-plotter once with appropriate ink. It worked out very well.

[@gnif]

Thanks for the fast reply. I have ordered some copper that is normally used for guitar pick-up shielding to experiment with. I have the exact same printer in this video to use I can test with and see what I can get it to do :). If I find a reliable method I will let you know.

[@AquaPorn]

Really Cool!!! Thanks for making this video.

[@victorwilliams7879]

A very useful video.thanks man.

[@CNLohr]

There have been a lot of suggestions for this. I've switch to a spray polyurethane, but a number of products would probably work. I really don't have the time or resources to try them all! I recommend making some glass PCBs yourself and trying it out.

[@xmeda]

I made something similar, but first step was to vapor-deposite copper on glass, then a bit of galvanic process to enhance layer, then mask + etching and OALA circuit on glass was done :)

[@pu2clr]

Nice work. Thanks for the video.

[@Min3Mak3r]

This is really cool!

[@MrElectrosock]

Very good job.... thanks for show you..

[@akasickform]

Absolute legend! I was just thinking about this the other day, love the fact you can use it capacitive touch! Fair play to you! Currently working on a few things.. Maybe hit me up for a chat some time? Cheers!

[@franklynd]

I would pay good money to see you tackle making vias :P. Great work !.

[@SlothPrincessCos]

That was fascinating!

[@aralox]

really cool! thanks for the video

[@davidrangel777]

Amazing..keep up the good work

[@CNLohr]

That's really cool - I tried angel gilding and electroplating it thicker and a few other things, but nothing could stand up to what I was after like this.

[@gordonwolff9209]

Thanks a bunch got it working, very cool.

[@CNLohr]

Are you gonna post a video?

[@BelfonteFurnace]

@CNLohr Ahh well, guess i can only find out through experimentation. I'll give it a go anyhow, if it doesn't I'll just make some nice clear PCBs. these things look gorgeous! thanks for the tutorial

[@CorbyStarletCj1]

Super work !, nice idea.

[@ISamuelII]

That was a nice spark when you plugged in your programming board ~18:10. Your last resistor looks like it had a short under it. From our view, the top one to our right of the IC chip. The first time you place the copper on the glass slide, there is a better way to prevent bubbles to begin with so you don't need to squeeze them out. Basic bio-lab slide making 101.

[@17GigaHertz]

Very nice video and the circuit is also a very cool thing! You should use a finer soldering tip xD

[@GaussMathking]

super nice project...

[@PunyMortal]

I have no clue what you did there or why. But it sure was interesting to watch.

[@CNLohr]

It's an interesting idea. I have often thought about using an acrylic, but that would have problems at solder temperatures... I was always under the impression epoxies without a strengthener were very brittle, though.

[@0raibi]

amazing video and details, i may ask for some circuit board programming and making from you hahaha

[@geoffallan3804]

To those asking about thru-holes, why not just have a ribbon cable on one edge that goes front to back? You're still going to be restricted to SMD, but if you could just get say 10 or 20 around that would be all that most projects would ever need.

[@CNLohr]

you'd still need to print on both sides which is a pain.

[@raypsi1]

CNLohr no pain no gain the Romans used to say

[@zsmalls2000]

Hey there, I dig the video man! I'm a Artist/Glassblower/Musician I'm working on a cigar box guitar amplifier at the moment I was wondering if you had ever tried making PCBs on round/ed glass or other shapes for that matter? I would love to do a collaboration circuit or something........? I'm just barely getting into the diy pcb/circuit making thing so I've be watching a lot of vids on it and so far you are the best I've seen, you seem to have high standards when it comes to high quality pcb crafting the video is a little rough around the edges but whatever I have a few vids that purdy rough myself! lol! Anyhoo I've been blowing glass for just about 13 years now so I got the glass down and you seem to be quite versed with your electronics/pcbs/circuits etc, I'm sure we could come up with some pretty amazing stuff. Anyway if your interested hit me back and let me know what you think,Ideas?,glass shapes/designs/colors? Maybe send you some glass to play with? Just a thought.Cool vid! ttysh Zac ;-)

[@mu86neer]

great job bro , Thank u for making and uploading this awesome video :-)

[@sleblanc]

Compressive forces on the surface of the pane make it much harder to break. However, high tensile strengths in the glass pane make it shatter if cut, chipped or even sometimes scratched. This is why car windows, for example, will shatter into small, barely sharp parts instead of large, razor-sharp pieces.

[@agustinbmed]

Looking forward if you're successful! Thanks

[@abdullahsorathia3394]

Awesome Work.....Great ! Love the sensitivity of the Glass. Can it be used as a touch number pad...?

[@MacGuffin1]

Good vid & Good process :D

[@Chr0nalis]

Glass PCB!!! Very nice :) I'm really looking forward to making these . I'm not looking forward to finding all the parts for it though (I'm in europe)

[@kd1s]

Pretty cool project. The camera focus bit was funny. A tip, just put the camera in macro mode. No more focus problems.

[@itsmeisityou1]

Wow, that is amazing sir well done. Have you come up with any uses for it ? maybe touch remote or something.

[@CNLohr]

@BelfonteFurnace You could always try with the not-glass variety. Additionally, I only have about a 50% yield when making boards of about 20 square inches and up.

[@dbzfanatic21]

@CNLohr basically the same thing you do to eat away the copper but for the UV glue you have. Use a solvent instead of ferric chloride(not sure if that's supposed to be one word or not) and use the etched pcb traces instead of toner. That way the glue is removed from the glass and the traces protect the glue under it. Like I said though you're already doing something similar with the polyurethane but with the added benefit of replacing the glue with something else more permanent.

[@Arm2tron]

great job!

[@dbzfanatic21]

@CNLohr I think orgameron means leaving the copper traces in place while brushing a solvent over the areas where you don't want/need the UV glue and just using the actual traces to protect the glue like the toner protects the copper during etching. It seems like that's more or less what you're doing with the polyurethane though as it cuts through the UV glue like a solvent but is also acting as a new method to adhere the traces at the same time.

[@Silverfox2487]

Very cool man, I really want to make one of these. It would be a really cool little weekend project. You should try and make a huge one, like the size of a window with a lot more leds just a suggestion lol I'm sure you've though about it before lo.

[@CNLohr]

As size goes up, difficulty increases exponentially

So cool...I could imagine it would be really cool to put glass pcb's in a clear capsule and maybe som RGB leds inside to lit it up.

[@busterdafydd3096]

really educational, keep up

[@CNLohr]

I use Liquid Tin quote often on most of my projects. The boards look 'cooler' with bare copper rather than tinned. I have still never successfully done a dual layer (not that I haven't tried). I would imagine the static properties are almost identical to regular FR4. I've been using glass circuit boards for a number of touch projects in my house which is carpeted, and even noticed some serious static, but haven't had a failure yet.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

I doubt the slide has a UV coating - it's just that glass is not very transparent at the short wavelength used in UV erasers (253nm) Eprom windows and eraser tubes are made of quartz for this reason. It may also be the case that the glue is not very res[ponsive at that wavelength. You will probably do better with a longer-wave UV source like an insect-killer tube (365nm).

[@neilruedlinger4851]

Some safety notes: 1. When working with UV eraser, please don't open the drawer when the light is on. The UV-C wavelength used is 253.7nm; can cause skin/eye cancer or cataracts; 2. When working with chemicals, such as FeCl, use eye protection or a face mask rated for use with corrosive or caustic chemicals; 3. When using volatile chemicals or chemicals producing gaseous emissions, please work with a carbon based respirator in a well ventilated room, or in a fume cupboard using forced convection

[@TJCrows]

Consider using an optical grade UV curing glue and gluing the shiny (polished) side of the copper foil to the glass slide. This should minimize the translucency you see after etching and the traces will look shiny through the glass.

[@CNLohr]

I actually use copper leaf from nimrod-hall now, so both sides are shiny :)

[@agustinbmed]

Hi, I've done quite a lot of thru hole PCBs and I saw this video and was amazed, I've been trying to Fe into smd/smt pcb fabrication, and I was wondering what kind of solder paste are you using? Do you have another video with in-depth description on smd soldering? That'd be awesome! Thanks a lot and keep up the awesome work!

[@madjimms]

Very cool that you recycle the hazmat type stuff. :-)

[@jedwatkins7305]

I dont do this stuff, but am interested in learning how. So for what it's worth from an inexperienced observer, perhaps using a hot plate or inverted iron to heat the glass evenly when melting your solder paste would limit the possibility of cracking it. place the slides in a thin frame (thumb tacks point up through cardboard) to prevent them from sliding around as much when applying the poly. Split a small dowel in half and pinch steel wool between the halves. Insert one end into a drill.

[@user-xw9ej5dg5r]

If making a clear circuit was done in a mass scale we would have a clear phone not entirely clear but the first company to build it would the first step for the other companies. It would change the entire world.

[@CNLohr]

It's got so many drawbacks though. This was more for an aesthetic than any practical reason.