I'm just reiterating what others have said, but my reasons are:
1 - I can get a 1-off board in under an hour. I'm not quite as far as NZ, but it's still a long enough wait here in au.
2 - yes, they are one offs
3 - it's a mile cheaper in those quantities
4 - it is fun. If I was doing it every day: Shenzhen!
5 - I don't drill no holes.... SMD baby
PG
On 14/02/2011, at 6:03 PM, Tony Smith wrote:
> > I can make a PCB at home in under 30 minutes, excluding drilling, with
> > 8/8 mil tracks. The only cost is the film I use for printing the artwork
> > and the presensitized copper laminate. It will cost under $3 for an 8.4
> > sq. in. board.
> >
> > Why should I pay a lot more to a company like Dorkbot and wait for 10
> days?
>
> And if it's SMD, you can skip most of the drilling which tends to be the
> hard part (time wise anyway). Make it single-sided and you might be able to
> skip all of the drilling.
>
> SMD has actually made homebrew a bit more viable, so long as you stick to
> the bigger parts.
>
> Tony
>
>