PCB Prototyping (was Design Review Volunteers Needed)

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Original poster: "Matthew Smith by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <matt-at-kbc-dot-net.au>

Hi All

>But at the relatively low cost for prototyping a PC board, sometimes, 
>going from schematic to board without a breadboard is the way to go. You 
>might spend more time fooling with a breadboard (which will have different 
>HF and noise characteristics) than you would starting with a PC 
>board.  Especially for designs with a fair number of parts (>2 dozen, 
>say), it's easier to cut traces and put in jumpers to fix errors in a 
>basically sound design on a PC board than it is to wire it up "dead bug" 
>or on perfboard or a protoboard.

I agree with Jim most wholeheartedly on this point; since I've moved to 
"nicer" chemicals (sodium metasilicate developer, ammonium persulphate 
etchant), I can go from schematic (using Eagle) to completed board in a 
couple of hours.  Nothing is going to simulate a circuit on a PCB like, er, 
having a circuit on a PCB ;-)

As I'm only making small boards, my Ferrero Rocher box tanks use very 
little chemical, so the process is quite inexpensive.

If your prototype works first time, all you need do is give it a decent 
squirt of conformal coating and off you go!  You will also have the 
transparency which will allow you to create any number of 'clones', should 
you require them.

People (the unconverted, that is), try it if you haven't already done so; 
it's quick, easy, cheap - especially if you build your own equipment from 
readily-available parts.

Cheers

Matthew Smith

PCB Fabrication Equipment:
* UV Exposure box (home-made - use blacklight 'B' tubes)
* 12" metal shear (guillotine) - essential for clean cuts
* photographic dishes or equivalent
* PC
* Eagle software (free)
* Decent inkjet printer
* Inkjet OHP trasparencies
* Chemicals