Frequently asked question on the subject of designing, creating, producing printed boards, veroboards or perfboads and on point-to-point construction techniques.
They remove the lacquer after the etching process.
NO
Actually, most professional PCB design programs provide for as many as 12 layers for a single PCB design - for example - a bottom layer, a top layer, a silkscreen layer, a solder layer etc.
The pads are usually inserted as multi layer elements by the design process - so a solder mask layer is very easy to implement. For the solder mask or the laquer layer the pads become holes in the lacquer coating. I do not manufacture commercial PCBs, but I would guess that the lacquer layer (including the pad holes) is sprayed onto the solder side of the board immediately after the etching process and before the solder side is tinned.
cheers
bajaman
I use common spray lacquer and it can be soldered over. I just spray the whole solder side and it's fine. In fact, I have read that the lacquer acts as a mild flux, and from my results I believe that this is the case. This isn't professional solder mask stuff, it's just common lacquer I get at the hardware store. It does work well as a mask too, and it does an excellent job of protecting the copper.
"Analog electronics in music is dead. Analog effects pedal design is a dead art." - Fran
I use common spray lacquer and it can be soldered over
I was thinking in that direction also........and question is how to make solder pads protected from being sprayed? little drop of candle wax first, and then spray it over and then remove wax.... clean pad
cheers
boris
now I spray all over pcb after soldering...so all is under lacquer