Homebrew PCBs

I can help with some of your questions. All my opinion only, of 
course:

I started out with a Sears-brand "dremel-like" tool that was only 
one speed. It had a fair amount of play in the chuck that with the 
high speed vibration, made the bit wobble, causing my holes to be 
wollowed out, etc. I bought a Dremel with multiple speeds and it is 
very stable and works well. I run it at full or near full speed, 
because from what I have heard, the carbide bits are made to run at 
even higher speeds than the Dremel can run.

I also have the small drill press. The one I had was from Sears, 
bought with the first tool. It is really great. I can't imagine 
working without it.

The toner transfer will be black. You will have a black "silk 
screen" layer. I have just completed a board in which I used the 
toner for the "silk screen". I have made a lot of boards with toner 
transfer, but never tried the silk screen until I read the poster 
here who talked about it. It turned out great and really makes the 
board look great.

I have always used transparency paper rather than glossy photo 
paper. It has worked well. I used glossy photo paper this last time 
and got good results also. I think the transparency may be a little 
easier to use. One thing that seems to be a key to me is cooling 
down the board/paper combo in cold tap water before pealing off. 
Before I learned to do this, I tried to peal off while still hot. 
Much of the toner stuck to the paper rather than the board. Running 
water over it all first works great.

I am still using an iron. I am really interested in trying a 
lamenating machine as I read about in this group. I may try to buy 
one soon.

I am an Eagle 4.16 user. I have used Eagle for several years after a 
few years with SuperCAD and SuperPCB (I had a lot of trouble with 
them, after paying a lot of money for them. They may have improved 
over the years, however). Eagle has been super to use.

When you create a schematic, the parts you placed have a package (or 
more than one) within them. To create the PCB, you click on 
the "Board" icon or "File-Switch to Board". There is too much detail 
to write here. Have you gone through the tutorial that is available 
in the download section (under Documentation, maybe?). There are a 
lot of good documents there. You should also read up on creating 
library parts. It is a little tedious but necessary if the part you 
need isn't in the libraries.

I plan to put some pictures and comments together on the latest 
board I built for some friends. I would normally email to them but I 
could post on a website if their is interest. I don't claim to be an 
expert at this but have had some good success. It's quite satisfying.


You have chosen a really good program in Eagle in my opinion.


Good luck!


--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "alan00463" <alan00463@y...> 
wrote:
>
> Hi.
> I am getting ready to learn how to make a PCB.   I ordered the
> carbide drill bits.   I need to get a dremel tool for drilling.
> What kind should I get?
> 
> I am going to make a simple through-hole board for the first
> time.  I have to learn how to create the artwork using Eagle
> 4.16.  I already put the schematic in it.   I just have to figure 
out
> how to make footprints that fit my components.    
> 
> By the time I get that figured out, I should have the chemicals to
> do the copper-etched artwork.
> 
> I would also like to figure out how to create the silkscreen
> layer--you know, the white or yellow outlines of the components 
with
> polarity markings for the diodes, etc. The non-etched image.  I 
read a
> poster say that you could print this silkscreen art onto some kind 
of
> transfer paper using a laser printer.
> 
> I'm confused.   A laser printer prints in black on white.   How do 
you
> transfer the image to white on transparent?    
> I have only gone through part of the old messages here, so I will 
keep
> looking.   Maybe somebody explained this already.
> 
> I realize I'm trying to learn two things at the same time here--the
> copper-etched artwork and the non-etched artwork.     I'm trying to
> learn these procedures ASAP.   I am going to use the toner transfer
> method (rather than ultraviolet lithography,  if that's the right
> term)  using special paper.
> 
> Does anybody else use Eagle 4.16 ?    I am new to it.
> 
> Alan
>