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Re: gEDA-user: postscript board fab artwork



Dan,

I estimate a 3 inch by 5 inch board costs me $5.00 to make in the garage and $25.00 via
online board shops. The home brew is of poorer quality and in particular lacks plated thru
holes.

On the plus side. It takes me about 3 hours to print, etch, drill & solder said board. As I am
a software engineer (anything analog is magic) I find it takes me 2 or 3 iterations to get
the circuit correct. Then its gets sent out for a production board. As a side note, I designed
my own PIC programmer using this method and the original homebrew is still in use while
the purchased boards are still blank.

Using the gEDA tools has greatly enhanced my ability to deliver prototype boards to
customers as well as one of a kind home project boards.

George

On Wed, 2006-07-26 at 08:14 -0400, Dan McMahill wrote:
George M. Gallant, Jr. wrote:
> I do homebrew image transfer boards with gschem and pcb.  15 mil trace 
> expands to
> about 20 mil under heat and pressure. 1/4 oz boards are great for etch 
> time but the
> underlying glass fabric causes visible waves in the transfered toner.
> 
> George
> 

I am curious as to how this really compares in terms of cost to a place 
like APCircuits.  I've used them a number of times for small 2 layer 
boards and they're fast, cheap, and easy to deal with.  Its been quite 
some time since I priced just getting some copperclad, a bottle of 
etchant and some of that blue heat transfer "paper" but I could easily 
see it getting somewhat close or maybe close enough to where the time 
spent etching your own covers the rest of the cost of having the board 
made by a real board house.

-Dan



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