pcb'S

[Matt Haines]

>     So, in a nutshell, here's the typical costs for making a PCB:
[stuff]
>     Total = $60 + $300 + $30 + $1500 = $1890 plus tax.
>
>     If you did a nice job and you don't really need all 50, you can sell
>     most of them (at a little more than you paid for them) and get your
>     money back, and have a few circuit boards to play with in the end.
>


You mentioned shareware layout programs. Is there ANYTHING for the Mac? As
for my PCB costs - which look pretty darn good by the way! :) - I design
the layout on ClarisWorks and then print it out on an ink jet printer. I
then photocopy it onto a Toner Transfer System sheet and iron it onto the
copper board. Soak the paper off, dump it in the FeCl (is that the chem
name?) and voila! Total cost:

copper board:   $4.00
TTS sheet:      $1.50 ($3 ea, I usually get two layouts per sheet)
FeCl            $1.00 (I figure conservatively ten boards for a $10 bottle)
photocopying    $0.50
                -----
total:          $7.00 per board!

As for time, it's quicker than these prototyping houses, because the
largest amount of time is spent laying everything out. Probably quicker on
dedicated design software, but it can't be that much. The rest of it is
done same-day service, and the labor is free.

I'm just putting this up so that folks who are perhaps daunted by the cost
of getting boards made don't think that's the only way. If you're making a
run of 50 or so, like Gene did for the ASM-1, it makes perfect sense to use
a proto-house.

I'd just like to find cheap/free layout software that will print out to a
laser/inkjet printer, as ClarisWorks (2.0 no less) can be a bit annoying.
But feel free to check out what you can do with just basic software: Ric
Miller has uploaded my SSM2044 layout to his web page. I've since improved
my technique, but everything's to scale and the board works well. Uh
wait....I hope he included the one minor correction that's needed to keep
the 2044 from blowing up.... :)


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Matt Haines  haines at apc.net         .       .       .       .
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Aliens suck.