You can make good boards, it all depends on the feature size you require. I have done a few toner transfer with mixed results, my Borther laser printer is not very good for the TT process. With a very hot iron I can make it work for very simple boards.
Years back I did lots of double sided boards using Shipley's AZ111 positive photo resist. In those days before low cost CAD software things were hand taped up with rubylith at 2X, then photo reduced to make working negatives and contact positives. The blank boards were cleaned, spun coated with the AZ111, baked, exposed in a UV light box,developed and then etched in hot ammonium persulfate. Got nice chrisp lines but traces were limited to about .015" just due to the rubylity hand tape up.
Craig
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "gandolfreefer" <synchronousmosfet@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Guys,
>
> I started trying to make my own PCB's three years ago, and joined this group a while back.
>
> I am wondering if any of you feel 100% confident about any particular method. I've tried 'em all - I've got a stack of laminators, chemicals, photo-exposers, rub-on stuff, special papers, twenty $IR#@!! software programs, the fancy bubbler etcher, enough bottles of every type of etchant ever invented to kill half of Philadelphia if I poured them in the water supply, even the fancy stuff that tin-plates the copper after etching, and - oh, yeah - three printers....
>
> and I gotta tell ya, at the risk of sounding like a complete incompetent, I cannot for the life of me get a decent quality PCB no matter what I do, no matter what website I go to, no matter who's kit I buy.
>
> I'm just about to give up and just order the d∗'d things from Sunstone and be done with it, but i thought I'd give this onnnnnnnnnnnnne last try............
>
> Is there ONE method for DIY'ing PCB boards that WORKS?? Or are all of them still "tweaky" random-chance methods, depending upon the phase of the moon, the humidity, what type of local mold spores are blowing in the air off the surrounding desert, whether your girlfriend is having her period, etc......for the %(^$#!!! method to actually work?
>
> Honestly, I'm a perfectly good DIY'er who has made stuff on lathes, mills, by hand, in metal, wood, plastic, I mean just about everything under the sun, and some of the stuff I've made would knock your eyes out...but I can't seem to get a DIY PCB method I can depend on.
>
> Anybody out there with a proven method and equipment that You'd bet your life on?
>
> Best, Charlie
>