Not to throw cold water on your or your son's PCB ambitions, but might it be cheaper and less trouble to have the boards made by one of the low cost proto houses that exist now? You can get proto boards done for less than $100. By the time you set up an exposure lamp, buy the chemicals, film, pcb blanks, figure out how to dispose of the used etchant, and drill the holes, you could be over the $100 and "lots of work" mark.
Of course, if the idea is to explore the actual process of pcb manufacturing, equipment, materials and supplies procurement, and how to comply with all the environmental regulations of toxic waste disposal, then using a pcb fab house would be missing the point... I think it's great that your son has the curiosity about it though. I learned much about working with hand and power tools and auto repair from watching and helping my father when I was a kid. Although I ended up choosing a different branch of engineering than my father (I am electrical, my father is mechanical and nuclear), I attribute my interest in analysis, problem solving, and handyman's skills to the role model that is my father. Even though it's the day after Father's Day, I am still saying "Thanks, Dad!". Best regards, Ivan Baggett Bagotronix Inc. website: www.bagotronix.com ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2003 2:56 PM Subject: [PEDA] Direct printing of artwork > My son wants to build a board to learn how it's done. We've got schematic and > PCB files ready to roll. I've got some old Kepro-clad kits (pre-sensitized > copperclad); now all we need is a way to get the artwork onto a negative. I've > done it before using viewgraph transparencies, but don't now have a handy way > to turn the printout into a negative. I recall doing it eons ago by using > Postscript output to a file, then directly monkeying with the Postscript header to > invert the colors. Does anybody have a more modern way to invert black and > white? I can print to a PDF, but that doesn't seem helpful. Neither was anything > I could find in tinkering with the colors within Protel. Surely somebody else > out there has already done this? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. > > Steve Hednrix * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
