PCB pens

[Alastair W Heptonstall]

I've just started trying to make PCBs last week, and so far I've only 
etched one, but I used an etch resist pen to draw the circuit and it 
didn't work very well at all.  Lots of bits where I had drawn on lines 
got etched off and although I've tried to fix these breaks in the line 
I'm a bit hesitant to go out and spend lots of money on all the 
components without being sure how good this board is.

My question is to do with the etch resist transfer tracks you get.  
Are these any good or do they just get etched any way like my 
resist pen ?  They look deceptively simple, but then so did the idea 
of drawing on the tracks by hand.

Is this the easiest/best way to create PCBs because I'm pretty 
sick of trying to use vero board and work out how to interpret the 
circuit diagrams.

Thanks for any advice given

Alastair Heptonstall
University of Glasgow
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Tel:-(0141) 402 6357/8
Mail:- 
Flat 1/Right
529 Sauchiehall Street
GLASGOW
G3 7PQ