Nick, I agree with the others that have answered you.
I have tried the laser printer toner transfer technique, and have not had good results. I never got the toner to adhere well enough to the copper. I have had the best luck with laser printing a negative of the artwork 1:1 on overhead transparency film, and using this to expose dry film pre-clad circuit board with a high intensity lamp. I used to use raw materials manufactured by a company called kepro, but they have since gone out of business; it looks like they have transfered their operations to a company called dalpro http://www.dalpro.net, but I have no experience with them.
I have seen some impressive boards generated by special milling machines which cut around each trace on copper-clad boards, but in my (highly biased) opinion the technique above generates better results.
None of the above techniques work with greater than 2 layer boards, and they also do not generate through-plated holes/vias, so connections between layers of the boards are somewhat more of a hassle.
Now that laser direct imaging has allowed art-less circuit board fabrication, the various prototyping shops are far more economical. The next PCB board I need for personal use will be made this way. Most of the vendors offer (without extra cost) through plated holes and vias.
All of the above being said many circuits can still be built with bread boards and point to point wiring. For the analog signal conditioning stuff and odd micro-controller circuit I have to build for work (and choose not to outsource to the electronics shop), this works just fine.
I have read that some people think that the hobbyist electronics golden age is gone with the 'death' of through hole components. I disagree. Look at www.digilent.us and think of using their products as the core of a plug-together prototyping system. Awesome.
I have yet to build something with bga components, but it seems possible. Look at http://www.madelltech.com/ for 'inexpensive' reflow stuff.
-John Nick LaForge wrote:
Hello, How far can a electronics hobbiest go before he hits manufacturing limitations? I recently read a few articles describing methods to etch a blank PCB by pouring acid over a laserjet printed toner layout that resists acid, creating a finished PCB. One could then add capacitors, resistors, and ICs... but how far can one go? I understand that making one's own PCB would yeild less precision and could thus never achieve the same density as commercial productions, but is it enough to build one's own computer hardware? For example, a PCI card? Forgive my ignorance, but doesn't the ability to make one's own PCBs only put ICs and microcontrollers out of our reach, which can all be bought individually? Thanks.
-- John R. Culp [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Open-graphics mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
