[sdiy] drilling pcb boards...sore throat

[David G. Dixon]

The cost of making your own (one-off) boards is minimal, once you've "tooled
up".  This means having some kind of layout software (typically free over
the web, although I do my layouts by hand in Excel because it's more fun,
and forces me to get up close and personal with the circuits), some etching
chemicals (pool acid and household hydrogen peroxide in a glass dish covers
it), access to a small drill press with some tiny drill bits, a laserjet
printer and a household iron.  Once all that is taken care of, the blank
boards and the transfer paper each cost about $1 to $2 per project,
depending on how conservative you are with them.  Assuming you've already
got an iron and a laserjet printer, the drill press is paid for with about 4
handmade boards.

Of course, the professional boards are nicer, with printed jumpers,
plated-through holes, tinned vias, silkscreened layouts, etc.  However, the
big reason to do it yourself is because it's fun.  Isn't that the ultimate
goal of DIY?


David G. Dixon
Professor
Department of Materials Engineering
University of British Columbia
309-6350 Stores Road
Vancouver, B.C.  V6T 1Z4
Canada
 
Tel 1-604-822-3679
Fax 1-604-822-3619
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl] On Behalf Of
harrybissell at wowway.com
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 10:06 AM
To: xyzzy at sysabend.org; synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: [sdiy] drilling pcb boards...sore throat

Once you start worrying about exposing (ok press and peel...) etching,
drilling, and then TINNING your PCBs you should seriously consider BUYING
them from any of the excellent online board houses.  Buy four or five and
sell
the others on the DIY list... usually someone else is thrilled to get them.
A board might cost $20 after all is done... can you make your own for that
price ?  What is your time worth ?  You could be designing MORE boards...

Yes... I know that in the old days we used to dig the copper ore out of the
hills by hand and drwy it into wire with our teeth... but really...   :^P

H^) harry




On Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:36:36 -0700, Tom Arnold wrote
> On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 10:57:40AM +0000, Dan Snazelle wrote:
> > this morning my throat is a little bit sore and now i am getting
worried.
(i have heard horror stories about this stuff)
> > 
> > what kind of masks do you guys use? the one i used was a little white
disc
shaped one.
> 
> I usually dont use a mask.  I hook up a vac to suck the stuff away 
> from my face.  Noisy, but you should be wearing ear protection while 
> using the dremel anyway right?
> 
> -- 
>  -----------------------------------------------------------------
>  - Tom Arnold       -  Free Synth DIY webspace http://www.sdiy.org 
>  - SynthGeek        -
>  - BBD Fanatic      -  "...is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?" 
>  - echo evho wjxo   -    Juanita Shrugs. "What's the difference?" 
>  --------------------
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Harry Bissell & Nora Abdullah 4eva

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