Paper PCBs Manual

This is a manual for building your own Paper PCB.

One needs:

  • a proto board (copper stripe board)
  • a printer (laser or inkjet)
  • a nice paper (could be transparent or colorful)
  • double sided tape
  • a needle or some other pointy thing
  • a pair of scissor and a cutter


- Print out the drawn circuit on transparent paper.

- Cut it out.

- Glue a doublesided tape on the back of the print.

- Mark your protoboard, 1/2, 1/3, 1/6 or the one you need. Cut the copper side with a cutter.

- Break it into pieces on the edge of a table.

- Grind the edges with sand paper.

- Stick the printed trasparent paper on the protoboard, care about the marks. You can use needles for help.

- Cut off excess material.

- Pierce all marked holes with a needle.

- If you need holes for screws, it's a good moment to drill them now.

- If the board has a chip build in make sure to remove the copper stripes between the legs of the chip. For doing so put in the chip and mark the place between the pins on the copper side. Remove the chip. Use a cutter to cut out the copper.
Some boards have a cut throughout all copper strips. It's marked with a red line in the design file. The best is to use an iron saw for the cut to get a nice and wide cap between the copper stripes.

… and now put in the parts and start to solder!

… et voila - there is your Paper PCB!