Newbie PCB ques..

[Toby Paddock]

I've done a few boards using a resist pen. The hardest part for 
me was getting good coverage of the ink. When you lift the 
pen and then continue, it's easy to get a little bare spot. 
Same thing where the trace meets the pads. Sometimes you 
can tap-tap-tap make little dots to fill the bare spots while not 
letting the wet ink mess up the dry ink. 

Sharpie pens seemed to work better than Rub-a-dub pens, 
the only 2 types I tried. This was about 15 years ago. 
Pentel now makes a permanent pen that might be a possibility. 
Color in unused areas to reduce the amount of copper 
removed will make the etchant last longer.

I had a friend who could even sneak traces between DIP pads.
He also would renew the ferric chloride (?) by passing current
between electrodes and the copper would come out of solution 
and plate one of the electrodes. Or something like that.

I did one 2 sided board by drilling undersize holes first. 
Undersize because the edges of the holes get etched a little. 
The holes locate the pads on both sides. Drill the correct size 
after etching. Use a container with a roundish bottom. 

Note: If you have the bright idea of swinging the pen around 
on a string to get the ink to the tip. Be sure the cap is on tight 
or a Bad Thing can happen. Yes, I do know that for a fact.

No doubt this has been well covered by now, but I'm behind as usual.

 - -- -  Toby Paddock
http://www.seanet.com/~tpaddock

Paul Perry wrote:
>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.