On Sun, 20 Jul 2014 21:45:12 -0400, you wrote:
>If you are only looking to develop one design, your design skills are
>solid, and your time is precious, you are ∗much∗ better off just paying the
>extra $$ to have them made at a local fab with quick turn-around.
>
>Although it is quite easy to make boards at home with modern techniques, it
>takes a fair bit of work to achieve anything close to what even
>lowest-grade commercial producer is capable of. Unless you are going to
>put a ∗lot∗ of time and effort into your homebrew techniques, you are going
>to wind up using different board layouts for those produced at home vs.
>those produced professionally anyway.
Let me amplify this a little for those who have not considered the
problem.
1) hand soldered boards with through holes generally want bigger pads
2) depending on your techniques, you may find that 10mil traces are as
thin as you want to go, commercial can use 8 easily.
3) you're not likely to do plated through holes (you can, and some do,
but not casually). That means that the vias are out from under chips
and are separate, with no plated through holes on through hole
components such as IDC strips and the like. A commercial layout would
eliminate some of these suddenly redundant vias. On the other hand,
if their process fails anywhere, it's likely to be a via, and if the
project works without vias under parts, you can easily fix the vias.
4) solder mask and silk screen, not always found in home projects.
5) you're likely to do double sided boards at best at home, you can do
more with a commercial house.
6) you can cut corners (and put things close to edges) where a
commercial house may not.
Harvey
>
>-p.
>
>On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 6:11 PM, palciatore@... [Homebrew_PCBs] <
>Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> I have lurked here for a while and perhaps made one or two posts. But now
>is the time for action.
>>
>>
>> I go back a way and have made PC boards at home before, using high
>contrast negatives from artwork that I created. But just try to get such a
>negative today and even if you can, using two of them to make a double
>sided board is not the easiest thing. So, I must use more modern methods.
>>
>>
>>
>> I am designing a board for a project and will ultimately be ordering
>between 50 and 350 of them in an initial order. This represents a
>significant expense for me and I do not want to place such an order until I
>am real sure that the foil is 100% OK. I can accept minor silk screen
>errors so that is not as important. So I need to make one or a few
>prototypes FROM THE VERY ARTWORK printed from the PC design program I
>choose. I haven't chosen it yet but am leaning toward a system called
>Design Spark. I haven't played with it yet, but it looks a lot like the
>software used by Advanced Circuits.
>>
>>
>>
>> I know I can order several boards for about $65 with shipping but if
>there is a mistake, then I have to do it a second time and heaven forbid, a
>third. So am looking for a low cost method to do this at home. My time is
>precious, but I can spend some on this if it lowers the cost. I am looking
>for suggestions with specifics (like the model number of any equipment
>suggested) for doing this. I count expendables as project cost and
>equipment as capital expenses. So the equipment is easier to justify in my
>eyes. Sorry if I sound like a bean counter, but the equipment can be used
>on future projects while the expendables are gone with this one.
>>