Homebrew PCBs

Hello,

   Since encountering this group a month or so ago, I have refined my 
toner transfer process to the point that I am able to reliably do 15-
mil traces.  Maybe smaller.  Hope so.

   I'm doing a home project and have settled on PIC24F 
microcontrollers.  The latest version needs USB, and all the PICs 
that support USB are surface mount.  So I have been dragged kicking 
and screaming into the 21st century.

   I bought an Aoyue 968 hot-air SMD rework station and some fine 
tweezers and have been  having a good time scrounging parts off some 
defunct computer boards - just to get used to the tool.  I'm going to 
need a microscope - half of these parts just look like bits of dirt!

   One part I scrounged is the same package as the 24FJ256GB106 
processor I'm planning to use - a 64-pin TQFP.  Good LORD those pins 
are small.  Can Toner Transfer make boards this tight? According to 
the spec sheet, the pin pitch is .5mm, or about 20 thousandths of an 
inch.  So the traces need to be 10 thousandths of an inch, and will 
only have 10 thousandths of separation.  Ouch.

                               - Jerry Kaidor