Homebrew PCBs

Hi,

With the (thermal toner transfer) boards I've done so far, I've drilled
after etching.

Even though I'm using a good drill press, the drilling played havoc with
the fine pads, and left me with having to either:

 1. buy a conductive pen ($35 here - ouch!) and hand-repair the
    pads/traces, or
 2. use soldering technique and (in some cases) thin wires to bridge the
    damaged connections

So this time, I tried drilling before etching. Worked much better - in
cases where the holes and pads acquired imperfections, these were easily
corrected by dabbing the etch-resist pen gently into and around the
(0.8mm) holes.

I'm quite happy with the result, and would recommend drilling before
etching as an option which can reduce time/pain.

Comments anyone?

-- 
Cheers
David