Homebrew PCBs

Jennynj1975@... writes:
> So what's everyone's backgrounds and interest in making PCBs?  

Hmmm... I've beem making boards at home on and off since, um, the
early 80's?  I was in high school at the time, maybe younger.  Back
then I used the press-on decals and pen, now I use toner transfer.

I make my own boards when I want it quickly and/or quality doesn't
matter enough to warrant sending it out, or when I feel like it
(making the boards is part of the fun!).  Usually, it's for test
circuits, adapters, or anything so simple that it can be done without
too many vias.  The last set I made each just held a couple of
pushbutton switches at the right spots behind moving bits.  I.e. the
PCB was more mechanical than electrical.

I've also done many smt to breadboard adapters, for parts I want to
experiment with that don't come in breadboard-compatible packages.

And for reference, the most complex board I've ever designed and had
fabbed was a 386SX PC/AT motherboard.  Yes, it worked :-) I worked at
Data General back then, designing motherboards and writing BIOS code.
Now I work at Red Hat, writing embedded development tools, so I get to
play with hardware a bit still.

The simplest was a SOT-23 adapter for my breadboard.