A friend and I just made our first boards using the "Press-n-Peel
Blue" film. We got great results. We came up with two things that
seemed critical to success: 1) Don't "peek" at the board when it is
hot and 2) let the board cool slowly, when just warm, but not hot you
can put under cold water and remove the film.
If you pull back the plastic film to look at the traces when the
board is hot the toner is still soft and some will stick to the film
damaging those traces. And if you take the hot board and put under
water the film will contract and mess up traces.
As for drilling the holes, do that after you etch the board. Get a
set of carbide drills of assorted sizes. (On this board I used 0.80
for resistors and transistors, 1.00 for diodes, and 1.2 to 2.2 for
connectors with various sized pins.)
We used a dremel tool mounted in the small drill press accessory to
drill the holes. The secret to getting all the holes to line up
perfect is an OPTIVISOR. Just do a google search on "optivisor" and
you will find links to them. The one I use looks like the photo on
this page:
http://www.tri-esssciences.com/optivisor.htmGet a good light source near the drill, position the bit just a very
tiny amount over the board, perhaps 1/16 to 1/8 inch - the closer the
better. Wear a dust mask, put on the optivisor and get your nose
about 2 inches from the drill bit. This is tedious, but you can
really drill perfect holes this way.
As a heat source I picked up a plug in electric griddle at Target for
$15. I set this to 300 degrees. The board goes face down, then a
small piece of cardboard, small piece of wood, and then a lead brick
I happened to have from days working with radioactive stuff in a lab.
We let it sit for 3 minutes, then cool. Great results.
I have no connection with any company selling the optivisors, but
recommend these as the best thing ever invented. I use them for
drilling, soldering, and lots of other such close up work. (If you
are under 20 you might not fully appreciate this technology, but if
you are over 40 you most certainly will.)
As for the Sharpie pen, it works well with Ammonium Persulfate etch.
I suspect it will work equally well with the ferric cloride you are
using. But "dab" it on, and use multiple coats letting it dry just a
little between dabs. The solvent in those pens will dissolve the
toner somewhat if you just run it over the traces, at least that was
our expeience.