Homebrew PCBs

Andrew wrote:

>>Alan wrote:
>><snip>
>>Why drill anyway?
>>    
>>
>
>Even if I am doing a board with only SM
>components I often have too drill many
>holes (vias).  As soon as things get
>much more complex than some kind of
>oscillator flashing some leds - you
>need (or should) go 2 sided.
>
>  
>

  Jumpers, components over traces, taking wires out to the edge of the 
board and soldering a wire around, take several  to a single area and 
drill a larger hole and wrap wires around,. etc etc.  There's a ton of 
ways to not use a lot of little holes.  Once you get to the point that 
you start having to have a bunch of holes, you're almost out of the 
range of being effective vs having a prototype board made..  While it 
can be done, with the huge amount of time needed most would be better 
off simply buying that occasional board from a cheap prototype maker..

  While it is worth looking at or could be decent if you make a lot of 
boards, for most people's quick turn prototyping you can really get buy 
with almost no holes once you adapt your board design skills to the idea..

Alan