Newbie PCB ques..

[harry bissell]

And I might add... you are not exactly a newbie. I've seen your stuff on your web site. It has to be the most professional looking gear I have ever seen, DIY. I doubt I
could duplicate your quality.
    I wouldn't recommend the trace between dip for anyone who is not very skilled at etching... You can get a maybe 10-15 mil trace through unless you shave the pads. Most
people unless they are very skilled in the art will etch off traces below 20 mils. I get poor yields below 20 mils (but I'm not that good). Small pads tend to float off
during solder (and re-solder, like a newbie will... I am good at soldering at least), or drill out. A lot of newbies will solder bridge a trace between DIP. And won't have
the tools or skills to find the problem easily.
    In the old days my (former) employer did in-house board fab. Single side only, with both silkscreen and photo resist. We never put a trace between DIP pads on the
solder side, and got very high yields. I will put a trace between DIP pads on a double side... as there is no danger of solder bridge.

I did invite Flames... didn't I ???   :^)   Harry

jorgen.bergfors at idg.se wrote:

> >IMHO only a "kook" will try to run between DIP pads on a home etch board.
> >Fix the layout and use a jumper... reliability will be 100% better. Flame
> >ME if you want... I'm right !!!!
>
> I always put traces between IC pads on my home etched boards, when there is a need to. After around 20 densely packed boards, I have never had a single problem with it!
>
> /Jorgen