Homebrew PCBs

First, some here have much more experience but out of all the years and all the methods I've tried, positive/Photo is my favorite.  Nice, quick, easy, and accurate.

I've tried several brands, but my favorite was always MG Chemical boards.  They are more expensive and getting a little harder to find, but I had no problems with very fine traces.  I use their developer when possible and never had any throw aways.  I can't say that for some of the other brands I used.  I'm open to opinions though.

My Frame is nothing more than a small stool like table, with an upright on it for my lamp to hold it centered over the table.  It has a smooth bottom and I position my board,  layon the transparency  (HP LaserJet) and set a section of 1/8" thick glass on it.

To expose, I use a 250 watt, reflector Infared heat lamp, spaced at 11" from the board, for 70 seconds and they come out perfect EVERY TIME.

I tried the toner transfer and had absolutey no success.  I tried the expensive transfer paper with mixed results.  I tried some of the cheaper no name positive boards with "OK" results, but none compared to the MG.

Etching Tank, mine is 12" vertical, 12" wide, and about 1-1/2" thick.  I use an aquarium heater and an Aquaruim air pump and it does good.  I think I bought it somewhere like Jameco for 40 or 50 bucks.

CAD software, well, I'm not successful with that yet.  I got real good with Windraft and WinBoard from Ivex but they went out of business.  I know have to learn Eagle, but their constraints on PCB Size is a joke.  


You should get a lot of responses with many different and plausable ideas.

Have fun,
RIchard



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