[sdiy] Making PCBs [Was: rising cost of PCB's?]

[Olav Martin Kvern]

For whatever it's worth, I've always found the photo process much easier and
more reliable than press-and-peel. Presensitized boards from Circuit
Specialists are as cheap as bare copper, and I have no problem getting them
exposed, developed, and into a bubbling bath of ammonium persulphate. I'll
admit that my ancient background as a typesetter, copy camera monkey, and
graphics geek plays a part in my success with this method.

The above said, I finally broke down and bought a small CNC machine for
making boards, front panels, and other stuff. The process of getting it
calibrated was agonizing, but it's working well now with PCB
patterns from Eagle and PCBGCode (a free Eagle add-on). At this point, I've
said goodbye to all of the nasty chemicals and drilling component holes by
hand. Dealing with the dust is a different problem, but that's what the shop
vac is for.

Just saying--there's more than one way to skin a board.

Thanks,

Ole