Homebrew PCBs

On 27/01/2010 13:38, Dylan Smith wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 01:05:00PM +0000, Leon Heller wrote:
>> Laser-cut Kapton stencils are quite cheap and will work a lot better:
>
> Have you used their service? How long can I expect a Kapton stencil to last? I have a few
> (possibly few tens) of the same board to make and it'll save me a colossal amount of time
> if I can use a stencil (and at $25 for the stencil it'd be mad not to).
>
> How about for 0.4mm pitch LQFP?

They are really intended for prototypes and short runs, I'd ask him 
about durability for your application and whether they are suitable for 
that chip. I haven't used them myself, but I've seen some favourable 
reports from people who have. One of my PCB suppliers (PCB Pool) 
provides a free stainless steel stencil with each order.

Leon