I can help with some of your questions. All my opinion only, of
course:
I started out with a Sears-brand "dremel-like" tool that was only
one speed. It had a fair amount of play in the chuck that with the
high speed vibration, made the bit wobble, causing my holes to be
wollowed out, etc. I bought a Dremel with multiple speeds and it is
very stable and works well. I run it at full or near full speed,
because from what I have heard, the carbide bits are made to run at
even higher speeds than the Dremel can run.
I also have the small drill press. The one I had was from Sears,
bought with the first tool. It is really great. I can't imagine
working without it.
The toner transfer will be black. You will have a black "silk
screen" layer. I have just completed a board in which I used the
toner for the "silk screen". I have made a lot of boards with toner
transfer, but never tried the silk screen until I read the poster
here who talked about it. It turned out great and really makes the
board look great.
I have always used transparency paper rather than glossy photo
paper. It has worked well. I used glossy photo paper this last time
and got good results also. I think the transparency may be a little
easier to use. One thing that seems to be a key to me is cooling
down the board/paper combo in cold tap water before pealing off.
Before I learned to do this, I tried to peal off while still hot.
Much of the toner stuck to the paper rather than the board. Running
water over it all first works great.
I am still using an iron. I am really interested in trying a
lamenating machine as I read about in this group. I may try to buy
one soon.
I am an Eagle 4.16 user. I have used Eagle for several years after a
few years with SuperCAD and SuperPCB (I had a lot of trouble with
them, after paying a lot of money for them. They may have improved
over the years, however). Eagle has been super to use.
When you create a schematic, the parts you placed have a package (or
more than one) within them. To create the PCB, you click on
the "Board" icon or "File-Switch to Board". There is too much detail
to write here. Have you gone through the tutorial that is available
in the download section (under Documentation, maybe?). There are a
lot of good documents there. You should also read up on creating
library parts. It is a little tedious but necessary if the part you
need isn't in the libraries.
I plan to put some pictures and comments together on the latest
board I built for some friends. I would normally email to them but I
could post on a website if their is interest. I don't claim to be an
expert at this but have had some good success. It's quite satisfying.
You have chosen a really good program in Eagle in my opinion.
Good luck!
--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "alan00463" <alan00463@y...>
wrote:
>
> Hi.
> I am getting ready to learn how to make a PCB. I ordered the
> carbide drill bits. I need to get a dremel tool for drilling.
> What kind should I get?
>
> I am going to make a simple through-hole board for the first
> time. I have to learn how to create the artwork using Eagle
> 4.16. I already put the schematic in it. I just have to figure
out
> how to make footprints that fit my components.
>
> By the time I get that figured out, I should have the chemicals to
> do the copper-etched artwork.
>
> I would also like to figure out how to create the silkscreen
> layer--you know, the white or yellow outlines of the components
with
> polarity markings for the diodes, etc. The non-etched image. I
read a
> poster say that you could print this silkscreen art onto some kind
of
> transfer paper using a laser printer.
>
> I'm confused. A laser printer prints in black on white. How do
you
> transfer the image to white on transparent?
> I have only gone through part of the old messages here, so I will
keep
> looking. Maybe somebody explained this already.
>
> I realize I'm trying to learn two things at the same time here--the
> copper-etched artwork and the non-etched artwork. I'm trying to
> learn these procedures ASAP. I am going to use the toner transfer
> method (rather than ultraviolet lithography, if that's the right
> term) using special paper.
>
> Does anybody else use Eagle 4.16 ? I am new to it.
>
> Alan
>