3mm thick bakelite PCB

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thomasdf

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Hello

I am looking for a 3mm thick bakelite PCB to build a pair of preamps, based on 50s Gates. I have 4 of them and would like to build two more. For that matter I am looking for this particular a kind of PCB.
I know it may sound a bit over the top, but I wonder if such things exist. If not, I'll go with the regular epoxy 1.5mm PCB.
I plan on using a CNC machine to etch the traces and do the drilling.

Thanks in advance,

Thomas
 
Thanks for your answers !
I should have started with a photo > I want to copy this, and I have no idea what it is called. I can see that Gates probably laid down some conductive track on the surface rather than etched. I was wondering if such things exists today, very thick PCBs for instance. I know there are reissues of old turret boards that are lovely, so I was wondering about these early PCB boards.
In the end, these preamps will be in a rack, so the look doesn't matter much... It's just that I like good looking builds too, and it will be more convenient for my spacers and all.
 

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I spend 2 hours searching but I am having a hard time finding single sided blank PCB in 3.2mm ! I am only finding custom PCB companies, or suppliers in India for industrial / commercial quantities ... I'll keep on looking ! The closest thing I have found in on eBay UK, a 3mm thick epoxy board for PCBs, but with no copper. Just epoxy.

To be continued :)
 
I spend 2 hours searching but I am having a hard time finding single sided blank PCB in 3.2mm ! I am only finding custom PCB companies, or suppliers in India for industrial / commercial quantities ... I'll keep on looking ! The closest thing I have found in on eBay UK, a 3mm thick epoxy board for PCBs, but with no copper. Just epoxy.
I had not caught that you wanted the raw material!
My recent experience with buying "copper-clad" (it was how we used to call it many years ago, I don't know if it's still in use) has turned in a lamentable one.
On AliBaba I ordered one square meter (11 sqft) of single-sided standard 1.6mm 1oz, cut in 500x330mm in order to save on shipping.
The basic cost was about $20, shipping was about $40, and with taxes and transit it came at a total of about $100.
If I had bought the finished PCB's from my regular supplier (JLCPCB), it would have cost a little less!
 
I believe it's the same as phenolic.
Actually bakelite (a brand name) pertains to a family of materials that aggregate paper, canvas, linen, nylon, fiberglass... with a phenolic resin.
 
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Super interesting, thanks for all the answers. I may be getting close. Let's say I get a phenolic / bakelite plate like the ones mentionned. How do I apply copper traces on it ? Do I lay a copper sheet of some sort and then etch ? Sorry, I'm a 33 yo newbie haha :) I have no idea how they made these PCBs back then.
Electroplating ?

I have access to CNC cutters / plotters so I can easily cut a very thin sticking copper sheet, but I don't know how it will last in time so I'd rather make this a plan B.
Or : Copper Foil Sheet with Conductive Adhesive - 12" x12" Sheet gluing a sheet like this, and then mechanical etching with a milling machine.
 
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Super interesting, thanks for all the answers. I may be getting close. Let's say I get a phenolic / bakelite plate like the ones mentionned. How do I apply copper traces on it ? Do I lay a copper sheet of some sort and then etch ? Sorry, I'm a 33 yo newbie haha :) I have no idea how they made these PCBs back then.
To me it looks like a standard etched PCB with a thick phenolic substrate. There were no CNC machines at the time so phenolic was often preferred because holes were punched instead of drilled. That made a cost difference. These techniques have been more or less abandoned.
Electroplating ?
AFAIK additive PCB rechniques never left the realm of lab experiments.
I have access to CNC cutters / plotters so I can easily cut a very thin sticking copper sheet, but I don't know how it will last in time so I'd rather make this a plan B.
If I was in your shoes, I would either superpose two standard 1.6mm PCB's or have JLCPCB do it for me directly in 3.2.
Of course it would not be period correct, but I suspect many components would not be either.
 
Are there any 3D-printed PCB's?
I made a working 3D circuit on the outside of a Coke can back in the 80s as a technology demonstrator. I also made one on the front page of Electronics Times, framed it and sent it to their editor. Got an interview out of it for the company I worked for at the time.

3D PCBs back then promised much but delivered little. Mind you, late 80s early 90s we were working on electric vehicles for the California state legislative as they were proposing to introduce legislation to force all cars to be electric. Some things never change.

Cheers

Ian
 
How did you print it?
It was a long time ago but if I remember correctly we silk screened silver loaded epoxy tracks and then used the same material to glue the components in place. Some years earlier I worked in the Aerospace industry where I was responsible for the thick film hybrid circuits used in the Sea Eagle missile. The technique used on the Coke can was much the same but without the firing stage.

Cheers

Ian
 

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