I've been looking at ways to use a router to make circuit boards.
The Eagle Package has a tool that creates a router path around
each trace. That should work very nicely with scratch and etch.
Now, if I could just get the footprint tool to put the pads on
grid, I'd be a happy camper.
If someone can suggest a scratchable resist that's been verified
to work, I'll give it a try. Just to be clear, I don't want
suggestions of things to try that "might work". I want to hear
about something that's been verified to withstand FeCl by the person
making the suggestion. I really don't care that your cousin's baby
sitter's father thinks that asphalt would be good to try... ;-)
Life is too short.
Thinking out loud...
Laser toner would be a good thing to try if
I could figure out how to get a thin, uniform layer.
mike
--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "James Newton"
<jamesmichaelnewton@y...> wrote:
>
> Haveing just taken a shot at John for being condecending to a new
> idea, I should admit that I also think his Scratch and Etch idea is
> totally brilliant.
>
> Has anyone ever just gone and tried this? I have done it with a
> simple plotter, a scribe in place of a pen, and a sheet of glass
> painted black. It works like a dream. My goal was to make a digital
> sun dial, not to etch PCBs, but I can't see why it wouldn't produce
> finer results than any other method.
>
> The only trick is finding a paint that drys quickly to a hard (not
> brittle or tacky) finish so that it is completely and cleanly
> removed by the scribe. Also, the plotter may need to be a nice big
> one like my tough old HP (God rest its soul) because the scribe is
> going to drag more than a pen... probably.