[sdiy] Chip prices today and what about tomorrow?

[JH.]

I etched my _first_ board when I was 15.
The only problem was, I had no idea about etching, but at school I had
learned that
you need nitric acid to dissolve copper. I tried it, and I was smart enough
at least
to do it outside, but all in all it was a big desaster. (Copper etched: yes.
Ugly toxic fumes: as expected. Also party dissolved: the Pertinax material.)

Later I've learned to do it right, with the right chemicals, and made my own
boards for many years. Sometimes, when my then-girlfriend, now-wife came
to visit, I had to keep her from the kitchen because the sink was used
otherwise, and not exactly compatible to preparing a meal.

Now I'm a family man, and I have left etching far behind me. (Some day
my son will come up with some similarly nasty hobby, no doubt.)

Veroboard is it for me. It's quick, when you want to see results soon
(no waiting several days between ordering from a pcb shop and
arrival of the board), and if you can put in your own time for fun.

Last time I had a pcb manufactured was when I built the PS-3200 clone.
Only reason was I didn't want to solder the same circuit 50 times
with the veroboard method. First time fun, second time boring.
50 times, no way.

I still built the single stuff (common for all voices) of the 3200
on Veroboards.

There is one other advantage using printed circuits instead of
Veroboard: It's easier to replace components on a (single
sided) PCB. So ironically the Veroboard is better if there
will be *no* experiments, and a PCB is more comfortable
if you know the topology of the circuit, but want to optimise
the component values a lot. But in the age of PSpice, most of this
happens before I really start soldering.

As for professional work: Where time is money, and when
you're working on different projects in queues (as opposed
to anxiously waiting for your ordered PCB to arrive),
designing a board with a CAD tool and having it
manufactured off-house is certainly most efficient. No
wonder it's done like that everywhere.

JH.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Daugard" <daugard at sprintmail.com>
To: <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 4:48 PM
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Chip prices today and what about tomorrow?


> From: "Ian Fritz" <ijfritz at earthlink.net>
>
> > At 08:34 PM 9/29/05, Paul Schreiber wrote:
> > >There is no dishonor in soldering to a nice pc board rather
> than perf
>
> > No dishonor, of course, but for one-off I say it's still not
> worth the
> > extra effort.
>
> I agree, I hate spending all the time laying out PC boards when
> it's much quicker (and easier to correct mistakes) with PtP
> wiring on a perfboard.
>
> >    Ian  (last board etched 1985)
>
> I learn slow, I think I etched at least one in the late 90's.
>
> Tim Daugard
> AG4GZ 30.4078N 86.6227W Alt: 12 feet above MSL
> http://home.sprintmail.com/~daugard/synth.htm
>
> BTW - no responces to the 1802 question. Doesn't anyone have an
> 1802 uP chip they don't want?
>
>