Homebrew PCBs

> BUT...  And here's the HUGE benefit with silk screen, you are laready
> set up to add a COMPONENT silk screen layer !  And that is way ahead
> of the rest of us !
>

Just put it in the plotter and plot the component layout.
you can choose whatever color you like, even white if you fill a pen with 
white
acrylic laquer.
the "ohp pen" method will work just fine, because line with is not such a 
problem.
the "carbide tip pen" metod will work fine too, because layer thickness is 
no problem.
even the cheap felt tip plotter ohp pen would work just perfect.

do it before drilling to avoid wear of the pen when it bumps into a hole.
or stop the lines just short of the holes.

the component layout is a very low demand task (compared to the copper 
layout).
it can be done with any method you prefer (and this is the reason why it 
is done with
silk screen - which is not exactly the best you get in terms of 
resolution).


I personally do not have any intentions to use silkscreen, i think it 
complicates things a lot.
if you really need more resolution than TT offers (and 8 mil is ok for me) 
then go to photoresist.
this is WAY easier to do, faster and more precise than silk screen.

the really only advantage of silkscreen i can see until now is that is may 
be used for solder resist
laquer - which i do not need. But there too is "developable" laquer - 
which makes things easier.


I know that silkscreen has all problems (and more) of photoresist (like 
never dark enough film)
and (imho) not a single advantage (maybe you can get it cheaper which i 
strongly doubt).


Just to add my opinion here...

ST