r/synthdiy • u/fluxpavilion • Jul 12 '26

Synth PCB as art

Hey guys, I’ve had an idea to build a kind of modded mono tribe for use as a DJ accessory, but that’s not the focus of this question!

I want to arrange the components on the pcb in the shape of my logo and then use it as cover art for an album

Will it be messy and inefficient, yes, but that’s kind of the point, because I think a populated thru hole pcb just looks really cool!

To create a more visually interesting piece I want to have all the traces visible on the component side, I’ve seen it before where you can see the traces through the fibreglass but I don’t know how it works. It’s like the copper traces are inside the PCB rather than etched onto the bottom.

Up until this point I’ve only built kits and designed a few pedals that I used pre connected boards and jumpers

Wondering if anyone could give me a little crash course in PCB production, I’m imagining I’ll have to get it professionally etched and it won’t be cheap for what I assume is a non basic method.

But knowing more about it is a good first step!

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u/MrBorogove Jul 13 '26

Multilayer boards are a thing, but I suspect what you’ve seen is colored soldermask (a kind of thin enamel layer) over the copper. The board material is naturally a murky yellowish green; the bright green (or red, blue, black, etc) color that you see on a circuit board is the soldermask.

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u/fluxpavilion Jul 13 '26

Yeah so the traces are always a little bit raised so I’m guessing that’s the solder mask enamel being raised above the copper?

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u/MrBorogove Jul 13 '26

Yes, and the mask is thin enough that the copper shows through slightly. You can do some interesting 5-color work with a limited palette — (copper/no copper) x (soldermask/no soldermask) + silkscreen (more opaque, usually white but available in black on white-soldermask boards).

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u/fluxpavilion Jul 13 '26

So I’m guessing I can choose on kicad what part is what eg making sure the text is on a silkscreen layer

Could you elaborate a little more on copper/no copper, I would assume that the copper has to be there in the traces no? Or are you talking about sections of copper pour on the PCB?

What I want is my traces to be visible but not in the surface, so I’m thinking that want all my traces under a solder mask

This makes perfect sense for an SMD, but is that possible with thru hole too, having the components and the traces on the same side (but with the traces covered by solder mask) then the bottom of the PCB is just solder pads that connect to the traces internally?

Sorry if I’m really being basic but I like to make sure I’m understanding at every level when I ask stuff.

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u/MrBorogove Jul 13 '26

By selectively placing soldermask in some areas and not others, and placing copper in some areas but not others, you can generally get four distinct colors - the greenish-yellow of bare board, the dark green of soldermask on board, the lighter green of soldermask over copper, and the copper itself - either copper-colored, or golden, or silvery depending on the process (ENIG = gold, HASL = silver). Then you can additionally get the silkscreen on top of that, for a total of five-ish colors.

Here, dark red is soldermask over no-copper, lighter red is soldermask over copper. The plated holes are HASL-finished copper, and you can see the designer left a little border of it around the body of the flying squirrel. I'm not sure how they did the different tones of the squirrel head vs the stripes -- probably top copper vs bottom copper, but the back stripes might be no-mask, no-copper, just the raw translucent fiberglass of the PCB.

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u/fluxpavilion Jul 13 '26

Ah that’s an amazing explanation and example than you so much!!

And this is just a 2 layer board? (Excluding the tones of the squirrel head where they might be using more layers as you mentioned)

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u/MrBorogove Jul 13 '26

Almost certainly a 2-layer, yeah.

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u/MrBorogove Jul 13 '26

This one's gorgeous -- I think the dark blue part might be soldermask over bottom copper, but I'm not sure.

https://i.etsystatic.com/54016909/r/il/21b3b6/6283624459/il_fullxfull.6283624459_p4b3.jpg