Newbie PCB ques..

[Christian Hofmann]

On Tue, 17 Aug 1999 11:22:22 +1000
Paul Perry <pfperry at melbpc.org.au> wrote:

> In a model engineering mag I found a hint on how to do
> simple ones with not much gear:
> 
> you take the artwork drawing, and stick it to the raw PCB.
> Then get a pointed punch, and ding wherever there is a hole.
> Then take off the artwork, and use a 'resist' pen to 
> draw in the tracks. You cant go far wrong, as you have the dings to 
> guide you.
> Then drill the holes & etch the board.
> 
> WARNING: I havn't tried this. But, for an uncrowded single side board,
> it looks likely.

Yes, this works fine. I do it occasionally, if I know I won't need a 2nd
board with the same layout (e.g. simple PSU using a cheap surplus xformer
with a weird pin layout).
However, I do the drilling after etching, to avoid scratches on the
resist pattern.

Btw, 20 years ago I did a complete Elektor Formant with this method...

Christian