--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, windswaytoo@... wrote:
> So, my question is why would I want to make my own boards with all the attendant fuss and mess and then etch and drill them or CNC them? Do you get a better board? A faster turnaround? There is no product to order or store. Is it cheaper to roll your own? I guess I just don't get it. Is it a hobby thing?
>
> I expect this post will cause some consternation and there will be quite a few replies. Then again, I may be quietly ignored.
>
> Vic
>
> Vic Fraenckel
> KC2GUI
> windswaytoo ATSIGN gmail DOT com
>
I do boards myself for several reasons:
1) Like others my main reason is cost - I make so few of them, and usually never repeat any design that it would not be worth it to pay for a service from a professional company. (Especially not if you live in New Zealand as well!)
Sure you do have an initial cost of things like a laser printer and laminator but these can be purchased quite cheap if you look around.
I got a Lexmark T522 printer from TradeMe for about $35 and a laminator for around the same from TradeMe also. My drill (Proxxon FBS 240) did cost more but as below, it can be used for other things.
The great thing about both of these items is you can use them for other things too, so it's not as if you're buying them solely for something you hardly ever use them for ;)
Materials cost (Blank PCB and etchant, etc) aren't high either really, when you span the use out over multiple boards.
2) The speed at which I can have a completed board on my table is far far faster than any board house. Even if they could make and ship my PCB so it arrived the same day (no small miracle since it would probably have to come from another country) I'm sure costs would be astronomical!
3) Quality - my boards are certainly not better than professional ones, but with a laminator I get very nice results, so there is no reason on that front to go with a professional service anyway - and I don't really care about silk-screening etc. I have the design on my computer, so I know where everything needs to go.
4) Last but not least, as someone else said, you gain some good experience and learning from making them yourself.
Also there's a nice feeling of accomplishment when you get it done!
In saying all that though, if I did want to turn out 100 boards the same I'm pretty sure I would have to get them done somewhere else - after doing prototypes myself, of course ;)