Clear PCB

Possible, yes. Easy? No. Cost efficient? No.

I mean, technically you could use clear glass, but that would be pretty hard to make and brittle as well. Clear acrylics might work, but plastics tend to have static issues that's not good for a lot of parts. I'm sure there is some fancy transparent material out there that is suitable, but it's likely much more expensive.

Also, on more complex or multilayer boards or those that require ground planes, you wouldn't be able to see through them anyway because of the copper / traces.
 
agent420 said:
Possible, yes. Easy? No. Cost efficient? No.

I mean, technically you could use clear glass, but that would be pretty hard to make and brittle as well. Clear acrylics might work, but plastics tend to have static issues that's not good for a lot of parts. I'm sure there is some fancy transparent material out there that is suitable, but it's likely much more expensive.

Also, on more complex or multilayer boards or those that require ground planes, you wouldn't be able to see through them anyway because of the copper / traces.
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layered acrillic resin... wouldnt be hard to do, and shouldn't be more expensive that the fiber base they use now..

put down a layer, lay on some copper, trace it, etch it, layer of resin, wash rince repeat

it would be more brittle, but it should accutally be easyer to make ( i dont know about cureing time and the costs involved however.. (i.e. fiber board cures in x time, resin takes x time, time=$, there for a longer cure time may mean a no go, that is.. if it takes longer... ) )

and yeah.. grounding planes would mean its not really see thought.. but that might be able to be worked around depending on how ambisious the maker is.

as far as static, cover any exposed traces, punch throught points, and unused pads with a layer of resin and they whould be protected from any static..

im not saying its worth it, im just saying its not totaly impossible, or cost effective (maybe maybe not)
 
Another consideration would be thermal expansion... In today's surface mount world, board and component materials are more carefully matched in this respect, otherwise you tend to have failures as things expand & contract at different rates and work loose connections, or worse yet, physically crack.
 
use a hatched ground plane.. not a solid one.. and you're good..

infact hatched ground planes are better than a solid one, they prevent the conduction of eddy currents...
 
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