# OpenFL and PCB Etching

**URL:** https://forum.formlabs.com/t/openfl-and-pcb-etching/9121
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [July 31, 2016, 7:35am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/openfl-and-pcb-etching/9121 "2016-07-31T07:35:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![rkagerer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/439d5e/32.png) [@rkagerer](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/rkagerer)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2016, 7:35am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/openfl-and-pcb-etching/9121/1 "2016-07-31T07:35:42Z")

</div>

Just wondering if anyone out there has been playing with PCB Etching via OpenFL? Any tooling / tips / process recommendations?

There was a thread opened [here](http://forum.formlabs.com/t/pcb-uv-etching/4382) but it didn’t get any response, and the Youtube video linked in it now shows “Unavailable”.

I was really excited by the quality of the [proof-of-concept](http://forum.formlabs.com/uploads/formlabs/original/2X/c/cef113cacabfe4e072511c28311fa7a1786e9a67.png) print shown in the initial announcement, but haven’t really seen any followup.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![BenFrantzDale](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/benfrantzdale/32/6064_2.png) [@BenFrantzDale](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/BenFrantzDale)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2016, 12:44pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/openfl-and-pcb-etching/9121/2 "2016-08-04T12:44:39Z")

</div>

I did the etching in the picture. (It was my first time etching PCBs.) The script I used is [https://github.com/Formlabs/OpenFL/blob/master/examples/image\_to\_laser\_moves.py](https://github.com/Formlabs/OpenFL/blob/master/examples/image_to_laser_moves.py) which converts an image to a .flp file. That can be sent to the printer and run. If you are going to play with it I recommend getting a pack of blue photosensitive paper that develops in water as they are inexpensive and develop instantly. Let me know if you have any issues. We are trying to expand the documentation and examples to cover what people want to use it for.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/3X/5/b/5bc2bdf993ff27c2e0eecab5010b25626fbb327a.png) [@system](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/openfl-and-pcb-etching/9121/3 "2016-08-18T12:59:45Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.