Copper Thickness

Archive BatchPCB
1

Hey does anyone know what copper thickness is used on the BatchPCB boards? I have a feeling it’s 1 oz or 1/2 oz.

I kind of need it for a design that got sparked up by finding a rather hefty 350VA 24V transformer I rescued from being pitched at a company. So I need to know how thick the copper is before I can determine width (although I have the feeling when the hook up wires hit board, I’ll be needing 1- 1/2 inch traces).

2

Well, I guess the best answer would be to go to golden pheonix’s website. They seem to do mostly 1oz. copper, and that’s probably what they’re using on these. (Just in case anyone else would like to know, since I do remember at least a few PCB houses use 1/2 oz. copper as well.)

3

1oz copper. Shoot. This should be in the FAQ…

-Nathan

4

Okay, N00b question: What is meant by “1oz.” copper? Is that the amount of copper over a specific area of PCB? What area? How does this translate to microns of thickness, or whatever?

5

The weight of the copper is per square foot. So 1oz. of copper is spread out evenly over a square foot of raw copper clad board. I’m not quite sure of how to calculate for thickness. If I wanna know how much current I can pump through I just go to either of these sites:

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/ … eWidth.htm

http://www.desmith.com/NMdS/Electronics/TraceWidth.html

6

Ounces, sq. feet, mils, inches, millimetres…

too…many…units…of…measure… AUGGH!!!

7

The weight of the copper is per square foot. So 1oz. of copper is spread out evenly over a square foot of raw copper clad board. I’m not quite sure of how to calculate for thickness.

I worked this out once… I’ll try to do it again :slight_smile:

The specific gravity of copper is 8.96 so there are 8.96 grams of copper in a cubic centimetre.

Ummmmm… hehe… tired brain :slight_smile:

There are 28.35 grams in an ounce.

so… hmmm… one cubic inch of copper would weigh 2.54 * 2.54 * 2.54 * 8.96 = 146.83 grams, or 5.18 ounces.

so… 1 ounce of copper would be 1 inch * 1 inch * (1 / 5.18) = 0.193 inchs.

There are 144 square inches in a square foot, so 0.193 / 144 = .0013"

OK… So… ‘1 ounce copper’ in pcb terms is .0013" thick.

That sounds about right, from memory.

Someone should double check my figures, though.

Steve.

8

Well according to one of those PCB websites I listed above:

Input: 1oz, 1A, 10C rise, 25C ambient, 1 inch length, 5V peak

Output: 10.0242 mil, 13.5025 mil^2, 0.0532 ohms, 0.0532V drop, 0.0532 W loss

13.5025 mil^2 / 10.0242 mil = ~1.347mil thickness (0.001347")

So, you calculations check out. A+ :slight_smile: