Homebrew PCBs

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 00:41:30 +0200, lcdpublishing  
<lcdpublishing@...> wrote:

>
> In my very limitted experiences, I am really liking this white
> material but I suspect it is not the best material to use.
> So, if you all don't mind, can we discuss the merits of the various
> materials?
> Chris


It is a cheaper material, yes, but it is not going to give you any trouble.

FR4 is more mechanically stable and probably has better electrical  
characteristics as well, which you don't need to mind.
Also, you can only plate through holes on FR4, the paper does not produce  
acceptable holewalls. Not an issue for us.

FR1 and even phenolic boards are still widely used in industry, for  
"cheap" jobs like TV sets and other low-density stuff like that. Those are  
often done single-sided so the paper is no problem.


As others said, FR4 can often be bought very cheap as cutoffs, so it is  
for me cheaper than FR1. Because of that i use the FR1 i have only for  
prototypes, which will not see permament service, not because it is  
inferior but becasue i have to use FR4 for most stuff anyway so better use  
it where the harder work has some lasting effect.

ST