That must be one of the best, extensive, and complete explanations of circuit boards that I imagine anyone has ever put together. I really like how you covered their predecessors, and went on to the considerations of further integration. Good job!
When I was going through ATT (Advance Technical Training) in US Navy Submarine School in 2012 we learned to troubleshoot component failures on old PCBs that had the hand painted traces on there. They had mountains of those old PCBs and I couldn't get over how cool it was that someone had painstakingly done the traces by hand over the course of probably several hours and here they were many decades later still /mostly/ functional.
When TH-cam first recommended this video I thought "What a dumb video, they are on circuit boards becuase how else can it be?!". When TH-cam recommended me this video for the fifth time I clicked and watched it. My first thought was wrong, it's an interesting and entertaining video with a fair bit of history. Now I am subscribed.
These are the best videos in my opinion. Those that get our certainties and smacks us in the face with them. I find this happens a lot with this channel.
Wow. I have been an electronics hobbyist since the early 1970's. I qualified in 1980. I'm so old that I have even worked on a real breadboard. (Not the pllastic kind with holes in it). This is the best video I have ever seen regarding the history of the printed circuit board. I believe that every single electronics student should be made to view this video when starting out on their career. Brilliant, Zack. Thank you so much.
I'm eyebrow deep in this very world and am *SO* grateful you're out here making electronics easily digestible. It really is endlessly amazing the dizzying number of things you can make with just a little understanding. I hope those just learning the basics keep pushing forward with mastering what in any other time would be considered magic.
lol welcome to the future baby he's got an augmented reality lens on his glasses that allows him to watch TH-cam among other things while making a video for TH-cam basically he's multitasking to the extreme
No, they are not the same thing. Government requires a phone that has secret chip #1. Cell phone maker adds secret chip #2 to give false information to secret chip #1.
@@jean-clauded5823 Yeah, that's not how things work, the TMPs all have backdoors and the baseband radio processor is completely hinges off wide open access, the baseband processor also has complete access to all the ram.
I was an old school TV repairman. Zenith, a major US TV maker bragged that their chassis was "hand-wired" way late into the solid state era. Eventually they began using small boards that plugged onto the "hand-wired" stuff. And socketed ICs and transistors!
"Zap themselves into the shadow realm" I love that you state call to action before you say to subscribe. I can't wait for the Pick and Place machine video! "Will we ever be able to smash mosquitos with reddit?" Very good overview of circuit boards! I'm gonna have to learn how to make them with something like KiCad.
Thank you very much! I'll do a PCB design video eventually; I'm still figuring out a good format for tutorials. Yes, I felt obligated to call attention to my call to action, both for humor and for personal integrity.
This video does a good job of explaining this, whether you are a college student or has been in the industry for a bit. BGA, Vias, failure mode involving delamination, multilayer boards, future of 3D printing, etc, this is some golden information! He doesn't explain things like factors that affect routing, power/gnd planes, the soldering process, and other stuff (there is too much to cover in 1 video) but this video is a great place to get introduced to the art of hardware and PCB design. Seriously, if you didn't understand something here but are curious about it, please read deeper into them. If you're a college student looking for a job, this kind of knowledge will impress your interviewers, since most schools don't teach this kind of stuff but is so essential in the industry. Thank you for making this video.
First time I'm seeing Zack Freedman and I've just got to subscribe. Nobody else is going to explain all this cool tech stuff with perfectly synchronized hand gestures, it's beautiful.
This history lesson was super super interesting. I'm an electronics engineer, but didn't know half of this really early stuff! So glad I started when I did
I use Hydrogen peroxide with hydrochloric acid. No need for JLCPCB or PCBway. While it can't dissolve invoices of them, it can dissolve most of their annoying key-chain pendants and company logo:P
When I watch an engineering video, I always think to myself, "Could I make a better video on this topic?" At 7:25 I am convinced I can't. You covered this topic 100%. Great Job!
You made a fantastic build up to a big finale about the Right to Repair, and I would have loved to hear you talk more about that on the macro scale. Perhaps a bit out of context for this video, but It would be really cool to see you do another on it! Fantastic channel, you bring refreshing enthusiasm and humor that other people of your incredible technical skill currently lack on the platform. Looking forward to seeing more of you as you keep doing your thing!
Yeah, there was originally a bit more, but the video was getting far too long. Right to repair and pro-circumvention will get their own video - I know from college that the economics of third-party repair is really hard to research.
I've been dorking around with solder and circuit boards since the 80s... even "scratching" or running my own lines to "refurb" my own hardware on occasion... So I wasn't a complete idiot when I clicked on this video and yet I still thoroughly enjoyed it :) I like your style and pacing
Future of boards: I speculate that "additive" techniques will be used to lay down copper traces, but they will be actual copper traces not conductive ink or other inferior substitutes. Instead of etching off most of a copper coating, start by printing the design using a primer and then soaking the boards adds copper only where the primer was.
That makes sense, it's one of the only ways the process could be made any cheaper since then you barely have to worry about recycling the copper afterwards.
@@gunar.kroeger I could see graphene being used for modules or small electronics, like smart watches for example, in the not super distant future. However, I'm a bit more skeptical that graphene growing could become affordable for larger circuit boards, such as motherboards.
It's already been done for many years - generally called 'selective electroplating', but used in specialised applications due to higher cost, or practical limitations such as the 'porosity' and 'conductivity' of the plating. So-called 'conductive ink/material' processes usually have similar issues of porosity and conductivity. Hence 'additive processes' are nothing new either, if you know your engineering or history. 😉 Possibly the most common substrate materials used to date for these processes would be ceramics and 'Teflon' (PTFE) in high frequency or extreme temperature applications.
A long time ago, I laid out some PCBs by hand. Where "paint" is mentioned, we used permanent markers. They're water proof so they resist the ferric chloride etching solution. It was actually pretty much fun to do. Printed plastic boards would be nice, but one critical property of PCBs is the ability to resist heat. Soldering is tough on PCBs, some cheap prototype boards can't even take one rework if you make a mistake, the copper delaminates. If you want to see some interesting work, search "surface mount pcb repair" (or something like that). There's some amazing skill out there soldering microscopic parts, getting it right and not having any solder bridges.
It's really interesting how, sometimes we just get it right. There is still room for improvement, and there's probably some issues to be solved that people haven't even noticed yet. But overall, it's cool stuff. Amazing that it's been that long since we've had them. Also, Raytheon making TVs tickles me in a way.
A bit of clarification. I used to work in a circuit board factory a long time ago and while home made single sided board may be etched first and drilled later, the process is actually reversed in professional manufacturing. The holes are first drilled using a CNC drill (my job). The drilled boards are then sanded down so the holes edges are nice and flat. Following that, the boards are washed, and laminated with a special photo-sensitive laminate film. The circuit mask is then exposed onto the laminated board (the drilled holes are typically used for the pattern alignment, which is why they need to be done first) The exposed parts of the film are washed away using high pressure water jets. The boards are then etched, cleaned in acid and finally copper plated to make the tracks more even. For double sided boards, it is also plates the inside of the holes (called through-plating). Then the green/red/blue/yellow solder mask is applied (yes, we did do all those colours), baked, followed by the component overlay and baked again. Then cut up and shipped out. Fun times. :)
I think that technology will revert to old 3D design, but with additional stability. Something like sandwich, but not only with copper and dielectric, but also with components. Such devices will be almost non-maintainable, but in many cases it is not needed, since it is cheaper to buy new one than to fix old one.
Honestly, repair becomes cheaper the more spread out the industry is. While it's expensive now, it is really an untapped industry. There is definitely money to be made repairing and reselling old electronics. However with the influx of anti right-to-repair, it will shut down independent review for the most part, and what few repair places are still capable of operating will keep costs artificially high.
i’m hoping that you keep making infotaining vids such as this. i recently got serious about making and electronics; could you do one on oscilloscopes? what does an electronics/maker/3d printer nub really need starting out? all of those knobs look daunting. how often does an ocilliscope come in handy for your prohects & in what ways? what are the main reasons to get one? is the Hantek DSO5102P one on amazon a good deal? can they be hacked to be 200MHz? nice job on the video!
Those are some really good questions that definitely deserve an episode. The maker world has changed tremendously since I got started, and I'm curious how the 'new player experience' has changed. I build digital electronics, so the protocol sniffer features on my scope are the most important features. I use a Rigol DS2072, which could hypothetically be hacked to the 200MHz DS2202 model. Pay close attention to scope reviews; you want one with high-quality probes, deep memory, easy-to-read documentation, and a good interface.
An o'scope is useful for debugging misbehaving circuits and for reverse engineering unknown circuits. For making my own circuits with an 8266 and some sensors, my o'scope stays on the shelf. For trying to find out if my garage door opener has a 9600 serial port, or a JTAG/test port that I can use to automate the door? Out comes the scope. For my home lab I have a dinky China 20MHz / 50Msample two channel scope; because I seldom need more than 9600 serial, or 115200 serial. And two channels for clock and data, or for doing math like A-B. (Trigger on the clock to see what the data looks like, etc) Debugging an unknown connector, first I use a multimeter to check voltages and that gets me DC and verifies I won't hurt myself or my scope. Then the scope gives me waveform and frequency. And if it is serial, a TTL2USB and a laptop or Pi with python gets me the protocol. I guess a less dinky scope would have protocol decode "built in"; but a computer can also transmit ;) For 3d printing and electronics, priority 1 is a soldering iron. Then a fume extractor to get the solvent smells away from your face. Priority 2 is a decent pair of calipers, for measuring things and making houses for the PCBs that actually fit!. Then a cheap multimeter, for checking continuity, voltage and sometimes resistance. Many simple IoT or Robotics or quadcopter projects will get by just fine with that. And the o'scope comes out for advanced work, debugging protocols and sensors that misbehave; and for anything with radios. I have seen a couple of TH-cam videos that discuss basic Rigol and Hantek units; some of them also go into "what can this do?" "Why do you need this?" And "how do I not blow this up?!" (Ground loops aren't just for car stereos! :eek:) Good luck and best wishes.
@@Lightning_Mike I'd like to think that too, but since youtubers are not even allowed to say the word "killed" or "murdered" (even in the context of news or similar) if they want to monetize their video. And since there are algorithms in place that detect "non advertiser friendly words" and which most certainly can not identify context, it does not seem to far fetched.
This may not mean much to you, but literally I play the voidstar mix when I call it a night. Not even pharmaceutical drugs can consistently get me to sleep every night, but these videos literally disconnect me from the crazy in my brain and literally lock into the videos subject matter and in that moment, I can actually sleep. It’s a weird compliment and is no way intended to come across as an insult…on the contrary, you literally help my brain not drive me to insanity…plus the content is super informative and entertaining ❤
My uncle worked on one of the first rockets that went into orbit and came back (basically the motor for an ICBM). The vibration destroying the solder joints in the circuitry was a big problem. they tried a lot of things, but he told me what worked was when we put down insulation foam, then did point to point soldering on top, then sandwiched more foam on that. That prototype "board" was the first one they tried that didn't get destroyed.
Fun fact: basically everyone in my family worked for IBM at one point or another, bc that was the main job supplier in the area. My grandmother soldered for them for at least ten years, she didn't work there as long as most of the rest of my family, many of whom actually have a pension from them. And my grandfather had a crapton of acid burn scars from his time working for them.
I just recently watched a video from the creator of the little lego block computers, seeing them assemble this 3D circuit board into the shape of the board was really fascinating and shows the versatility of the circuit board to be used in unconventional ways. Thanks so much for the lesson.
5:25 Two years later, the call to action worked. While I love the 3D printing stuff, the videos going over the hows and whys of electrical engineering will always be my favorites. I think it just tickles the part of my brain that's addicted to the feeling of "I'm going to do that" more than the printing.
Apple gets a lot of flak for how it treats outdated products, but they were one of the first companies to stop specifically designing low-end products and sell refurbs instead. For instance, there is no low-end iPhone X. The XR is a midrange device, and they sell refurbished 8’s to budget customers.
@@ZackFreedman Except here's the issue with that: Apple offering refurbished products sounds fine on its own, but it's a symptom of a bigger problem. The problem is they are trying their hardest to make sure *they are the only ones* who can do so. Anyone could refurbish and sell their stuff (likely cheaper than Apple offers it for AND offer repairs), like any other product, but Apple is trying to make that as difficult as possible (for example by controlling the market of repair parts, seizing imports and threatening repair shops). What you mentioned is not a good thing, but an example of their shitty practices ("Nobody dare touch our devices except us!").
This is the best video to learn the history and functionality of PCBs! Even though I already knew most of it, you brought even more details and interesting knowledge! Thank you!
there you go, they're still being manufactured: www.newark.com/illinois-capacitor/226tta500aqw/aluminum-electrolytic-capacitor/dp/66W2884?st=capacitor%2022%20uf well it's a different model, less voltage tolerance because of inferior net voltages over in the US, but oh well^^
I learned how circuits work by restoring a pinball machine. It took me two years because I didn’t know what I was doing and I broke a lot of it that I had to replace with modern equivalents, but it didn’t have a circuit board. It didn’t even have a logic array. Pure electronics.
My grandpa was a materials chemist for a circuit board manufacturer and no matter how many times he tried, he could NEVER explain to me wtf he actually DID in a way that I could easily understand. 17 minute video > my gasbag grandpa's longwinded rambling lmao. Thanks for making such awesome videos
As someone who's been running an electrolytic plating line & ammoniacal etcher for 15yrs, I can tell you that it's getting more & more difficult to achieve what customers want nowadays. The tolerances are so slim. Was plating panels last week that had track sizes of 0.075ums & the gap between the tracks was the same. It can be a nightmare trying to achieve IPC Class 3, which is 25ums, plus an extra 5ums, to compensate for copper loss, when put down the etcher after plating & other processes. I get the panel, with the pattern on, & have the copper areas' of each side of the panel in dm2 & what deposition of Cu they want down the holes. How long the job gets put into the plating line for is down to me & my experience. You have to take a good look at the panel & adjust plating times & currents as you see fit, whilst trying not to overplate the panels. It's a bit of a dark art, but I love it. We make stuff that's currently in space, weapons, Covid ventilators, the lot. It is getting more difficult, though. New 3D printing pcbs will be the next big thing, it's just not quite there, yet, though.
I've done the PCB since the 70s. Never thought of them as a component. AND - there was a bunch of cool meta-knowledge in here I never knew. Great video!
That's surprising. Especially once you get to RF-level signals, the natural inductance and capacitance of the traces can quickly rear its head, and there's been a number of tricks to build in antennas, signal filters, transformers, even heating coils strong enough to solder components to the PCB.
Perhaps this is an odd comment, but I really commend you for your video's lack of background music. It provides a much cleaner experience than many other channels. Thank you!
6:09 - old school PCB art was done with sticky black crepe tape onto a mylar film, and stick-on transfers for component pads and footprints. With 2-layer boards blue and red plastic tape were used. PCB exposure could then be done for both sides from the same artwork. Yes, I've got some PCB drafting tapes kicking around somewhere(!)
great stuff I learned a lot. Having worked 30+ years for a large US chemical company and my first 6 years in its Epoxy resin business, modern high performance PCB's are made from Epoxy resin with the Fire Retardance coming from the use of Brominated Epoxy resin (made from tetra Bromo Bisphenol-A (TBBA) as opposed to regular Bisphenol-A (BPA) in regular Epoxy resin) and an additional fire retardant additive in the resin formulation. some cheap consumer products not requiring high heat & dimensional stability may still use the older, cheaper laminated paper / phenolic resin boards. looking frwd to viewing more on yr channel
You are realllyy good at explaining things. Coming into the video I expected a basic reason of why they are square. However the video had a very indepth history, kept me watching till the end! Great work, imma sub
"Anybody with a screwdriver can replace a broken camera"
Apple: "ya, lets see about that"
#RightToRepair
🤣🤣
He say that this is for "consumers", Apple users aren't consumers, they are accolades of a sect. just pay and stay shut
Get y'all a Fairphone. Screwdriver included.
If you wanna replace it you'll have to pay another 1k
You do know you can do that right? Apparently none of you have been inside an iPhone before lol.
That must be one of the best, extensive, and complete explanations of circuit boards that I imagine anyone has ever put together. I really like how you covered their predecessors, and went on to the considerations of further integration.
Good job!
When I was going through ATT (Advance Technical Training) in US Navy Submarine School in 2012 we learned to troubleshoot component failures on old PCBs that had the hand painted traces on there. They had mountains of those old PCBs and I couldn't get over how cool it was that someone had painstakingly done the traces by hand over the course of probably several hours and here they were many decades later still /mostly/ functional.
When TH-cam first recommended this video I thought "What a dumb video, they are on circuit boards becuase how else can it be?!".
When TH-cam recommended me this video for the fifth time I clicked and watched it.
My first thought was wrong, it's an interesting and entertaining video with a fair bit of history.
Now I am subscribed.
These are the best videos in my opinion. Those that get our certainties and smacks us in the face with them.
I find this happens a lot with this channel.
Wow. I have been an electronics hobbyist since the early 1970's. I qualified in 1980. I'm so old that I have even worked on a real breadboard. (Not the pllastic kind with holes in it).
This is the best video I have ever seen regarding the history of the printed circuit board. I believe that every single electronics student should be made to view this video when starting out on their career. Brilliant, Zack. Thank you so much.
I'm eyebrow deep in this very world and am *SO* grateful you're out here making electronics easily digestible. It really is endlessly amazing the dizzying number of things you can make with just a little understanding. I hope those just learning the basics keep pushing forward with mastering what in any other time would be considered magic.
Everyone else: use a teleprompter.
Zack: uses Google glass.
*builds Google Glass
Looks weird as he has to move his eyes more due to the close distance.
@@primtones Thats the kind of weird I subbed for! (:
@@primtones New hack idea: Just display one word at a time in quick succession (like Spreeder), and use voice recognition to control the display rate.
Is not Google glass.
Is better.
Is Optigon (TM).
what kind of glass u r wearing on your left eye. what is that
It’s my wearable teleprompter! Check it out: th-cam.com/video/50614QMNQPo/w-d-xo.html
@@ZackFreedman No it's just a scouter to see power level of people
lol welcome to the future baby he's got an augmented reality lens on his glasses that allows him to watch TH-cam among other things while making a video for TH-cam basically he's multitasking to the extreme
Borg...
@@RogerBarraud nope borg would have in implanted cause that's more fun for borg no need for battery's then
>secret government espionage chips
>security chips to protect you from secret government espionage chips
these are the same thing
The trick is which government is mentioned at which moment
No, they are not the same thing.
Government requires a phone that has secret chip #1. Cell phone maker adds secret chip #2 to give false information to secret chip #1.
@@jean-clauded5823 optimistic.
@@jean-clauded5823 Yeah, that's not how things work, the TMPs all have backdoors and the baseband radio processor is completely hinges off wide open access, the baseband processor also has complete access to all the ram.
@@jean-clauded5823 So we're essentially talking hardwired politics now? William Gibson was on to something ....
I was an old school TV repairman. Zenith, a major US TV maker bragged that their chassis was "hand-wired" way late into the solid state era. Eventually they began using small boards that plugged onto the "hand-wired" stuff. And socketed ICs and transistors!
Zack: Why Are Circuits on Boards?
Me: Where else would programs drive their lightbikes?
hmm good point
That comment makes me want a mobius strip board.
@Darren Munsell yeah darn those users darn them to hell lol
Tron!!
The writing and performance in this video are actually really well done. Nice job.
"Zap themselves into the shadow realm"
I love that you state call to action before you say to subscribe.
I can't wait for the Pick and Place machine video!
"Will we ever be able to smash mosquitos with reddit?"
Very good overview of circuit boards! I'm gonna have to learn how to make them with something like KiCad.
Thank you very much! I'll do a PCB design video eventually; I'm still figuring out a good format for tutorials. Yes, I felt obligated to call attention to my call to action, both for humor and for personal integrity.
I’ve never liked so many TH-cam videos. This channel gives me hope. I don’t know how or why. Thank you for being you.
Man I would love to be your student XDDD
Thanks a lot! There are plenty more videos like this on the way!
But you already are! Just keep watching his videos.
Wait hes a teacher? Im lazy and i didnt watch the whole video
You are
Ka bol raha ha angrez smj nah ata
This video does a good job of explaining this, whether you are a college student or has been in the industry for a bit. BGA, Vias, failure mode involving delamination, multilayer boards, future of 3D printing, etc, this is some golden information! He doesn't explain things like factors that affect routing, power/gnd planes, the soldering process, and other stuff (there is too much to cover in 1 video) but this video is a great place to get introduced to the art of hardware and PCB design. Seriously, if you didn't understand something here but are curious about it, please read deeper into them. If you're a college student looking for a job, this kind of knowledge will impress your interviewers, since most schools don't teach this kind of stuff but is so essential in the industry. Thank you for making this video.
me: I'm subscribed to this guy right?
*checks*
Ah, good.
lol I made the same check.
good shout, I wasn't. now I am. thanks.
I wasn't too, don't hit me, i already did
😅same
Did that halfway through the video
When he said, “now you are watching TH-cam in the bathroom and forget to wipe,” I felt that.
Literally
Zack: It's not the best idea to stuff everything in one place.
Apple: M1
To be fair that's just standard SoC stuff, which has proven to be both sufficiently reliable & flexible to justify integration :-)
my thoughts as well. next thing we know we'll have an entire desktop computer in a microSD card
@@CommonTater100 We already have an entire computer in a RAM module after all :-) (Pi3 compute module hehe)
@@cheaterman49 that is pretty stinkin' amazing! never heard of it till now
The Cheaterman
First time I'm seeing Zack Freedman and I've just got to subscribe. Nobody else is going to explain all this cool tech stuff with perfectly synchronized hand gestures, it's beautiful.
This history lesson was super super interesting. I'm an electronics engineer, but didn't know half of this really early stuff! So glad I started when I did
fixing and building fpv racin drones hot me into soldering a few years ago, love it. this video filled in a ton of blanks for me thank you
This video NOT brought to you by pcbway
The problem with cheap PCB's is that it makes free merch less convincing :|
@@ZackFreedman what
FWIW JLCPCB seems to have faster turnover, even though the assembly capabilities are limited :-)
I use Hydrogen peroxide with hydrochloric acid.
No need for JLCPCB or PCBway.
While it can't dissolve invoices of them, it can dissolve most of their annoying key-chain pendants and company logo:P
@@dieSpinnt Hahaha :-D to be fair I did use Ferrous Chloride for some prototypes early on, but now it's usually breadboard → perfboard → JLCPCB :-D
When I watch an engineering video, I always think to myself, "Could I make a better video on this topic?" At 7:25 I am convinced I can't. You covered this topic 100%. Great Job!
You made a fantastic build up to a big finale about the Right to Repair, and I would have loved to hear you talk more about that on the macro scale. Perhaps a bit out of context for this video, but It would be really cool to see you do another on it! Fantastic channel, you bring refreshing enthusiasm and humor that other people of your incredible technical skill currently lack on the platform. Looking forward to seeing more of you as you keep doing your thing!
Yeah, there was originally a bit more, but the video was getting far too long. Right to repair and pro-circumvention will get their own video - I know from college that the economics of third-party repair is really hard to research.
1:00 man your references are always on point
Thank you!
Your channel will blow up for sure!
Absolutely. Terrific content quality and deliered with great wit and presence.
I've been dorking around with solder and circuit boards since the 80s... even "scratching" or running my own lines to "refurb" my own hardware on occasion... So I wasn't a complete idiot when I clicked on this video and yet I still thoroughly enjoyed it :) I like your style and pacing
Future of boards: I speculate that "additive" techniques will be used to lay down copper traces, but they will be actual copper traces not conductive ink or other inferior substitutes.
Instead of etching off most of a copper coating, start by printing the design using a primer and then soaking the boards adds copper only where the primer was.
That makes sense, it's one of the only ways the process could be made any cheaper since then you barely have to worry about recycling the copper afterwards.
@@OrangeC7 or the etching chemical! what about synthetic materials that are better than copper, like graphene?
@@gunar.kroeger I could see graphene being used for modules or small electronics, like smart watches for example, in the not super distant future. However, I'm a bit more skeptical that graphene growing could become affordable for larger circuit boards, such as motherboards.
Same process in reverse then?
It's already been done for many years - generally called 'selective electroplating', but used in specialised applications due to higher cost, or practical limitations such as the 'porosity' and 'conductivity' of the plating.
So-called 'conductive ink/material' processes usually have similar issues of porosity and conductivity.
Hence 'additive processes' are nothing new either, if you know your engineering or history. 😉
Possibly the most common substrate materials used to date for these processes would be ceramics and 'Teflon' (PTFE) in high frequency or extreme temperature applications.
I watch your videos on lazy days off and it get me motivated to actually work on my projects, so cheers man, awesome as always
TH-cam's been very kind and it's recommending your videos! You're gonna blow up in subs soon
A long time ago, I laid out some PCBs by hand. Where "paint" is mentioned, we used permanent markers. They're water proof so they resist the ferric chloride etching solution. It was actually pretty much fun to do.
Printed plastic boards would be nice, but one critical property of PCBs is the ability to resist heat. Soldering is tough on PCBs, some cheap prototype boards can't even take one rework if you make a mistake, the copper delaminates.
If you want to see some interesting work, search "surface mount pcb repair" (or something like that). There's some amazing skill out there soldering microscopic parts, getting it right and not having any solder bridges.
It's really interesting how, sometimes we just get it right.
There is still room for improvement, and there's probably some issues to be solved that people haven't even noticed yet. But overall, it's cool stuff.
Amazing that it's been that long since we've had them.
Also, Raytheon making TVs tickles me in a way.
right? i thought "huh, aound even back then"
gotta do something with that CRT manufacturing capacity not currently being used for radar displays ;)
A bit of clarification.
I used to work in a circuit board factory a long time ago and while home made single sided board may be etched first and drilled later, the process is actually reversed in professional manufacturing.
The holes are first drilled using a CNC drill (my job). The drilled boards are then sanded down so the holes edges are nice and flat.
Following that, the boards are washed, and laminated with a special photo-sensitive laminate film.
The circuit mask is then exposed onto the laminated board (the drilled holes are typically used for the pattern alignment, which is why they need to be done first)
The exposed parts of the film are washed away using high pressure water jets.
The boards are then etched, cleaned in acid and finally copper plated to make the tracks more even.
For double sided boards, it is also plates the inside of the holes (called through-plating).
Then the green/red/blue/yellow solder mask is applied (yes, we did do all those colours), baked, followed by the component overlay and baked again.
Then cut up and shipped out.
Fun times. :)
I don’t have anything to say but I heard leaving a comment is good for the algorithm.
Really? Well, just in case...
@@putrid.p I'm so engaged right now.
I've heard the same thing..
We pray to the algorithm to supply us with more content as good as this.
I guess it does
I'm saving this for the next time I teach basic electronics. Absolutely brilliantly done, super well paced, clear and fun.
Omg the algorithm lord did it again bringing me to an awesome future-ly huge channel out of nowhere!
"These can run way cooler. Temperature and awesomeness."... You've just earned yourself another subscriber, man! :)
I just want the world to know I was here before this dude blew the F up. Cheers Zack.
your watching youtube in the bathroom and you forgot to wipe
Any video with an Idiocracy reference deserves a thumbs up!
Thank you for taking the time and making these videos. You may not be as big as other tekkies but you are just as good. Please stay with it :D
This is one of Zack's videos that I rewatch every so often and say "oh, I understand a little better what all this means"
I think that technology will revert to old 3D design, but with additional stability. Something like sandwich, but not only with copper and dielectric, but also with components. Such devices will be almost non-maintainable, but in many cases it is not needed, since it is cheaper to buy new one than to fix old one.
Honestly, repair becomes cheaper the more spread out the industry is. While it's expensive now, it is really an untapped industry. There is definitely money to be made repairing and reselling old electronics. However with the influx of anti right-to-repair, it will shut down independent review for the most part, and what few repair places are still capable of operating will keep costs artificially high.
Man I now need a drink ! ... How many times can you divide 1 into 2 parts ???
Amazed and terrified at the same time.
i’m hoping that you keep making infotaining vids such as this. i recently got serious about making and electronics; could you do one on oscilloscopes? what does an electronics/maker/3d printer nub really need starting out? all of those knobs look daunting. how often does an ocilliscope come in handy for your prohects & in what ways? what are the main reasons to get one? is the Hantek DSO5102P one on amazon a good deal? can they be hacked to be 200MHz? nice job on the video!
Those are some really good questions that definitely deserve an episode. The maker world has changed tremendously since I got started, and I'm curious how the 'new player experience' has changed.
I build digital electronics, so the protocol sniffer features on my scope are the most important features. I use a Rigol DS2072, which could hypothetically be hacked to the 200MHz DS2202 model. Pay close attention to scope reviews; you want one with high-quality probes, deep memory, easy-to-read documentation, and a good interface.
An o'scope is useful for debugging misbehaving circuits and for reverse engineering unknown circuits. For making my own circuits with an 8266 and some sensors, my o'scope stays on the shelf. For trying to find out if my garage door opener has a 9600 serial port, or a JTAG/test port that I can use to automate the door? Out comes the scope. For my home lab I have a dinky China 20MHz / 50Msample two channel scope; because I seldom need more than 9600 serial, or 115200 serial. And two channels for clock and data, or for doing math like A-B. (Trigger on the clock to see what the data looks like, etc)
Debugging an unknown connector, first I use a multimeter to check voltages and that gets me DC and verifies I won't hurt myself or my scope. Then the scope gives me waveform and frequency. And if it is serial, a TTL2USB and a laptop or Pi with python gets me the protocol. I guess a less dinky scope would have protocol decode "built in"; but a computer can also transmit ;)
For 3d printing and electronics, priority 1 is a soldering iron. Then a fume extractor to get the solvent smells away from your face. Priority 2 is a decent pair of calipers, for measuring things and making houses for the PCBs that actually fit!. Then a cheap multimeter, for checking continuity, voltage and sometimes resistance. Many simple IoT or Robotics or quadcopter projects will get by just fine with that. And the o'scope comes out for advanced work, debugging protocols and sensors that misbehave; and for anything with radios.
I have seen a couple of TH-cam videos that discuss basic Rigol and Hantek units; some of them also go into "what can this do?" "Why do you need this?" And "how do I not blow this up?!" (Ground loops aren't just for car stereos! :eek:)
Good luck and best wishes.
This channel deserves more subs, keep it going man!
What a time to be alive where you can't even say the actual technical name of a component out of fear for getting demonetized..
I... I think that was just a joke
Which component?
@@Gormadt Flame retardant material. Probably because it has "retard" in it, but I've never known anyone who thought that was a bad word.
@@Lightning_Mike I'd like to think that too, but since youtubers are not even allowed to say the word "killed" or "murdered" (even in the context of news or similar) if they want to monetize their video. And since there are algorithms in place that detect "non advertiser friendly words" and which most certainly can not identify context, it does not seem to far fetched.
@@TheIBeanz "And in other news, a man's existence was ended in florida by Florida Man. More on that after the break."
This may not mean much to you, but literally I play the voidstar mix when I call it a night. Not even pharmaceutical drugs can consistently get me to sleep every night, but these videos literally disconnect me from the crazy in my brain and literally lock into the videos subject matter and in that moment, I can actually sleep. It’s a weird compliment and is no way intended to come across as an insult…on the contrary, you literally help my brain not drive me to insanity…plus the content is super informative and entertaining ❤
Damn it another channel I need to subscribe to.
This was a great video, keep up the great work
👏 This is probably the most informative and entertaining video I have seen about circuit boards on TH-cam. Great job Zack!
Dude... I LOLed at blurring the transformer silkscreen on the TV Typewriter board at 4:07
Great moments in engineering when they mount heavy components on a PCB.
My uncle worked on one of the first rockets that went into orbit and came back (basically the motor for an ICBM). The vibration destroying the solder joints in the circuitry was a big problem. they tried a lot of things, but he told me what worked was when we put down insulation foam, then did point to point soldering on top, then sandwiched more foam on that. That prototype "board" was the first one they tried that didn't get destroyed.
Wires tho, they’re on literally everything, regardless of board or not
resistors too, lmao
As an ex Electronics design engineer I really enjoyed your video, Well done.
Hey man, do you have a patreon or something? i'd love to support you some more. love your videos, and your style in general.
It’s in the works, but for now, your kind comment is more than enough!
First time in 5 years I liked a video! And I watch 100 a day!
"The more you know, you are watching TH-cam in the bathroom and you forgot to wipe"
This man is a real wizard.
Thanks Zack! That was a great video!
Your enthusiastic delivery and jokes are all appreciated, 🙂
"I'll see you in the future."
Sorry, this is wrong. You will be seeing me in the past as I go back and watch your entire channel's backlog of videos.
This was much more detailed than I thought it would be. Nice.
My toilet was flushing as I heard the words “and forgot to wipe”
(I did not forget, but a funny coincident anyway)
First video of yours that's hit my feed. It was well produced, you'll hit a million in no time. Subbed.
i like this so much I'm watching liking commenting and subscribing from my second channel lmao
you done this video at a great time because now you are able to print your own PCB boards at home
Pretty damn awesome! Oh, and the video was pretty cool, too! Xoxoxo
Fun fact: basically everyone in my family worked for IBM at one point or another, bc that was the main job supplier in the area. My grandmother soldered for them for at least ten years, she didn't work there as long as most of the rest of my family, many of whom actually have a pension from them. And my grandfather had a crapton of acid burn scars from his time working for them.
Why haven't you showed up in my recommendations before now?
You weren't ready. Welcome to the future.
I just recently watched a video from the creator of the little lego block computers, seeing them assemble this 3D circuit board into the shape of the board was really fascinating and shows the versatility of the circuit board to be used in unconventional ways. Thanks so much for the lesson.
"Here's a 2020 model"
_shows the i9-10980XE_
5:25
Two years later, the call to action worked. While I love the 3D printing stuff, the videos going over the hows and whys of electrical engineering will always be my favorites. I think it just tickles the part of my brain that's addicted to the feeling of "I'm going to do that" more than the printing.
11:10 apple execs watched this parts and saw $$$$$
Apple gets a lot of flak for how it treats outdated products, but they were one of the first companies to stop specifically designing low-end products and sell refurbs instead. For instance, there is no low-end iPhone X. The XR is a midrange device, and they sell refurbished 8’s to budget customers.
@@ZackFreedman Except here's the issue with that:
Apple offering refurbished products sounds fine on its own, but it's a symptom of a bigger problem. The problem is they are trying their hardest to make sure *they are the only ones* who can do so.
Anyone could refurbish and sell their stuff (likely cheaper than Apple offers it for AND offer repairs), like any other product, but Apple is trying to make that as difficult as possible (for example by controlling the market of repair parts, seizing imports and threatening repair shops). What you mentioned is not a good thing, but an example of their shitty practices ("Nobody dare touch our devices except us!").
This is the best video to learn the history and functionality of PCBs! Even though I already knew most of it, you brought even more details and interesting knowledge! Thank you!
"this is the modern version"
Shows electrolytic capacitor that could easily be 50 years old.
modern as in 'still in use in modern times' not as in 'this was manufactured last week' :)
there you go, they're still being manufactured: www.newark.com/illinois-capacitor/226tta500aqw/aluminum-electrolytic-capacitor/dp/66W2884?st=capacitor%2022%20uf
well it's a different model, less voltage tolerance because of inferior net voltages over in the US, but oh well^^
Seriously. Who TF uses axial capacitors?
@@wesleymays1931 your mom
Hey man, Im from Brazil and I realy like your videos, please dont stop making it! All the world need you guides.
Move on, just a generic comment for the YT algorithm to spice up the ranking.
doin the electric lords work
Thank u flix o7
@@deaneatsgreens Second level spicing up here!
s p i c e
I don't know why but I keep re watching this one over and over again.
"""we ended ww2""" lol the audacity
Gross huh
Couldn't believe it as well. Nice sounding words for one of the biggest atrocities ever commited. It's as he is almost proud of it.
@@janklostermann6664 the soviet union ended WWII
@@rafaellisboa8493 How
@@dafoex by killing/capturing more than 80% of all german troops, liberating all of eastern europe and the balkans and invading berlin
I learned how circuits work by restoring a pinball machine. It took me two years because I didn’t know what I was doing and I broke a lot of it that I had to replace with modern equivalents, but it didn’t have a circuit board. It didn’t even have a logic array. Pure electronics.
My grandpa was a materials chemist for a circuit board manufacturer and no matter how many times he tried, he could NEVER explain to me wtf he actually DID in a way that I could easily understand. 17 minute video > my gasbag grandpa's longwinded rambling lmao. Thanks for making such awesome videos
I got the "Idiocracy" reference! Kudos. Great videos as always, so glad to have found your channel recently. I am tooling up to get started!
Was looking for this comment! XD
Awesome video, thanks Zack!
As someone who's been running an electrolytic plating line & ammoniacal etcher for 15yrs, I can tell you that it's getting more & more difficult to achieve what customers want nowadays. The tolerances are so slim. Was plating panels last week that had track sizes of 0.075ums & the gap between the tracks was the same. It can be a nightmare trying to achieve IPC Class 3, which is 25ums, plus an extra 5ums, to compensate for copper loss, when put down the etcher after plating & other processes. I get the panel, with the pattern on, & have the copper areas' of each side of the panel in dm2 & what deposition of Cu they want down the holes. How long the job gets put into the plating line for is down to me & my experience. You have to take a good look at the panel & adjust plating times & currents as you see fit, whilst trying not to overplate the panels. It's a bit of a dark art, but I love it. We make stuff that's currently in space, weapons, Covid ventilators, the lot. It is getting more difficult, though. New 3D printing pcbs will be the next big thing, it's just not quite there, yet, though.
I've done the PCB since the 70s. Never thought of them as a component. AND - there was a bunch of cool meta-knowledge in here I never knew. Great video!
That's surprising. Especially once you get to RF-level signals, the natural inductance and capacitance of the traces can quickly rear its head, and there's been a number of tricks to build in antennas, signal filters, transformers, even heating coils strong enough to solder components to the PCB.
The opidomy of Geekery right here. Thanks for the primer on PCBs
Perhaps this is an odd comment, but I really commend you for your video's lack of background music. It provides a much cleaner experience than many other channels. Thank you!
Well, you’re gonna hate my other videos
@@ZackFreedman It was a small benefit; now having watched some of your other videos, their content and delivery is fantastic.
Worked for the phone company...wire wrapping was a drag. The persons that came up with the 66 and 110 blocks should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize.
this video is way more in-depth and informative than the title implies
A way more fun video than the topic deserves, your writing is superb!
Im loving this channel and you more and more every video, and it started out pretty high tbh XD
Was wondering exactly this a few weeks ago... and then you pop up on my home page! Excellent in-depth video, and I loved the history lesson. Cheers!
This video autoplayed after your recent one about tying the clock signals on your left and right eye drivers together. Holy A/B, Batman!
Most informative engineering video I've seen in... Maybe ever
This was way more captivating than I expected it to be. Thanks, Zack, I just became a subscribing fan!
I'm glad TH-cam recommended this channel! Great stuff so far!
one of my newest favorite channels!
2:15 reminds me a little of my senior design project in EE in the mid 1990s. Although we did not have as many components on our board.
6:09 - old school PCB art was done with sticky black crepe tape onto a mylar film, and stick-on transfers for component pads and footprints. With 2-layer boards blue and red plastic tape were used. PCB exposure could then be done for both sides from the same artwork. Yes, I've got some PCB drafting tapes kicking around somewhere(!)
I subscribed not because of the call to action, but because of the sick PCB spins.
great stuff I learned a lot. Having worked 30+ years for a large US chemical company and my first 6 years in its Epoxy resin business, modern high performance PCB's are made from Epoxy resin with the Fire Retardance coming from the use of Brominated Epoxy resin (made from tetra Bromo Bisphenol-A (TBBA) as opposed to regular Bisphenol-A (BPA) in regular Epoxy resin) and an additional fire retardant additive in the resin formulation. some cheap consumer products not requiring high heat & dimensional stability may still use the older, cheaper laminated paper / phenolic resin boards. looking frwd to viewing more on yr channel
You are realllyy good at explaining things. Coming into the video I expected a basic reason of why they are square. However the video had a very indepth history, kept me watching till the end! Great work, imma sub