Sonsivri

I have electroplate my PCB but it didn't work...finally I know that it must be electroless plating before,
I have read PCB Handbook and it must be use palladium as catalysator. it is not a cheap catalysator, i have asked to chemical store and the cost about $120 / grams, i never use this chemical before,...Some info about it will be a luxurious gift..

 

Check out this link :-
http://www.caswellplating.com/index.html
They sell all types of plating kit.

I use the Nickle kit to plate my PCBs. They have electro and electroless kit.

jimbies, how does the solderability compare with a tin plated PCB?
regards etc.

The solderability is acceptable if you are talking about hand soldering.
I have not tried it on wave soldering.

yes I was referring to hand soldering. So it's better than trying to solder directly onto plain copper?

Jimby,
thats good idea, but i want try to make my aktivator (palladium colloidal) then electroless it by my self,
there are so many type of activator , such as conductor ink, carbon, gold, palladium, etc
but i'm very interest in palladium activator or palladium colloidal...
if anybody has experience about it will be a luxurious gift

Naste,

You can find some information regarding PTH at the link below -
 http://www.megauk.com/through_hole_plating.php.

There is an ecplanation of the process.

 :)

cjeffries,
the tin plate i think more easy  soldered, did you plated with tin solder paste...i use it for now

jimbys,
how much/ cost you buy your electroless plating from caswell?
did it work well?
I hope anyone  share his experience abaout throughole plating here. :'(

I bought the electro plating kit, it cost US$33.11. They also have a tin plating kit.

As far as I know, Caswell do not sell any plating kit for pcb through hole plating. They do sell electroless nickel plating kit but not electroless copper and they don't have any elctroless plating catalyst either. They use conductive paint for plating on non conductive surface. Similar to what Ron Reed sells at www.thinktink.com.

MegaUK do sell the pcb through hole plating system, but looks like you have to buy the whole system to get the chemical supplies.

-ichan

Ican is right, I have the catalog of caswell inc. They has a lot of plating method such as anodizing plating, nikel plating, gold plating
I have the anodizing ones, but caswell  haven't throughole plating/electroless plating  for PCB.
So, you think that i must buy the conductor paint from caswell or thinkthink? or try to make the catalys at home

For DIY purpose conductive ink should be enough, I bought it from thinktink about 10 years ago - not cheap for sure.

After that you still need to master the electrolytic copper plating process itself, plating the side wall of the pcb uniformly is not an easy thing to do. Be wary about "rim void", where the copper not deposited properly at the rim area of the hole.

-ichan

How much?
yes, i have the electroless bath, i have failed to electroless my PCB, and i know that it must be catalysed before.
did your conductive ink work well? are you use it until now?

Uhm? I am not the seller... please check it by your self.

I'll give you some question  ;)

- what stabilizer you use on the electroless copper?
- what kind of additives you use on electrolytic copper?

-ichan

oh i'm sorry ..
I use sodium hyphophospyt as additiv and Cn as stabilizer
i know this from my friend that work at chemistry lab.
did you know the best catalys and electroless bath?

Sodium Hypophosphite is a reducing agent, i guess your friend giving you the non-formaldehyde formulation - i think it wont plate directly on copper surface. True, Cyanide is the most common electroless copper stabilizer, but be very careful with it, with an acid it can generate deathly poisonous gas.

I play with these things daily, as I make money from it then I can't tell you to much in detail, Sorry.  :-X

-ichan, http://www.anekapcb.com

are you serious about sodium hypophospit? 
did you still use your conductive ink for your PCB?

Yup.
Nay.

-ichan

hi

can we use those chemicals to develop the pin throw holes coated with copper? 

Here is a nice book:-

Electroplating & Electroless Plating of Copper & Its Alloys
By—N.Kanani

Download Links :-

http://rapidshare.de/files/39283978/copper.rar.html
   
 OR

http://www.filefactory.com/file/fcae95/__9925a33__via_gigapedia.info__.html

But how to view this file?

Thanks.

Electroplating & Electroless Plating of Copper & Its Alloys
By—N.Kanani

Hello Naste,
after downloading ,did you find this nice book?

Interesting document, but look like it only contain the lists and abstracts of some journal.

-ichan

Interesting document, but look like it only contain the lists and abstracts of some journal.

-ichan

 Hello Ichan,
How to see those lists & abstracts ? Why I cannnot see anything?

tlooks like  a great set of documents
but what about the download links?

Here is what i do:
- extract the file copper.rar to a directory
- run iread32.exe
- on menu file -> open -> (chose copper.tex database)

In this way we can see summary of the journals and from the total size of the files i believe there is no full content of the journals.

-ichan

i have read alot of artikel n book about throughole plating..and the best methode is catalizing the hole with stannous and palladium colloid...stannous chloride and palladium chloride with critical percentage..
Then Electroless with the mix of sodium sulphate, NaOH and formaldehide..i haven't try that..but its time to try this stuff...i'll post the result

Naste, what is the role of sodium sulphate on the electroless copper plating? Never heard about that.

For Palladium catalyst, as a colloidal system - the most important thing is to maintain its colloidal state. If somehow the stability of the colloid disturbed in which the colloid can be shifted to become a solution or a suspension then it will will ruin all the expensive Palladium.

-ichan

oh im sorry i dont think so with sodium sulphate...i mean the mix of copper sulpahte, sodium cyanide, and formaldehide...thanks for your comment.
yes, the palladium colloid is very critical..it must be controlled everytime--i read from article that the colloid must be controlled everyday..