Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

I've used both, and switch back and forth occasionally. I use the
special TT paper, so the cost-per-board is about the same (special paper
costs about as much as the UV film). I've found the UV method more
reliable, but more steps are involved too, and you need a
temperature-controlled laminator (IMHO) to reliably put the film on the
PCB. Regular laminators run around 320F but that'll melt the film.
Mine can be set to 200F or 240F for wet or dry lamination, as well as
350F for toner transfer.

UV also needs special artwork film and printers to get a decent photo
master for the UV exposure, which adds to the cost and time (printing
takes far longer) but aligning DS boards is far easier (pre-drill some
holes, you can ∗see∗ through the artwork :)

As for cleaning the boards, I use a green scrubbie and some Dawn disk
soap, never had a problem. UV film sticks pretty reliably with the
laminator. I think my toner (HP) has a very narrow window between
"sticks" and "melts"

My "comfort zone" is 10/10 for TT and 6/6 for UV.

One other advantage of UV is you can use UV film to make
aluminum-foil-based solder paste stencils.