[sdiy] "Drawing" circuit boards?

[Peter Grenader]

The following are the opinions of Peter Grenader and does not *necessarily*
reflect those of the entire world:

There are sooo many s/w packages out there, many free - that this type of
thing. IMHO is outdated to the point it's much more of a hassle than
rendering in a gerber program and getting those files to one of scads of
fast turn, low qty houses which are accessible online.

Drawing with a pen means etching and drilling at home, which will
undoubtedly leave you with exposed copper traces or at best an ultra thin
coat of tin splash.  And once you've filled your lungs with the mellifluous
(not) aroma of heated ferric chloride you'll probably think twice before
putting yourself through that ordeal again.  I certainly did. Add to that
you're going to have a much harder time finding a PCB house willing to deal
with film any longer than will have finding  a competitive digital fab
house.  

Then there's a question of double sided.  I've tried making double sided
boards at home.  Recollecting the experience now, I'd rather have me
eyebrows seared off with a blow torch.  So your only remaining option is
single sided - which will probably mean scads of jumpers and traces going
willy nilly all over the damn place in order to find a clear shot from point
A to point B, with all the noise and signal dirt that comes with them.

- P


Aaron Lanterman wrote:

> 
> These are marked for spot repairs, but I was wondering if you could
> actually just draw your own board with them:
> 
> http://www.wassco.com/chemcirworpe.html
> 
> http://www.cir.com/parts/circbord/circbord.htm
> 
> http://www.contacteast.com/product/group.asp?parent_id=6662
> 
> - Aaron
> 
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