Homebrew PCBs

On Tuesday 27 April 2004 10:45 pm, Dave Mucha wrote:
> > > I think the number of posts on the topics on here reflect the
> > > background and experiance and direction of the list members.  90%
> > > want to know about or handle chemcicals.
> >
> > Some of us don't.  I for one have absolutely *no* interest in
> > chemical etching,  and plan to do it with CNC once I can get something put
> > together.

> > Is there a problem with that?

> let's try to steer this back to more PCB related questions.
>
> There is a problem with chemical,  getting rid of the fumes and
> chemicals.
>
> the bonus is you can do 100's of boards at the same time.

I can see where some people might end up doing that,  depending on what you 
were working on.  I see making boards at all as simply being a way to augment 
my hobby electronics stuff and make things a bit easier than the perfboard 
routine I've been using for years.

> The benifit of mechanical etching is no chemicals.
> the down side is the expensive cutters that wear out quickly.

I have the impression that this is more of a problem with some board materials 
than others,  is that the case?

> A dull cutter will raise a burr on the copper and dependong on your
> hold-down method, will or will not effect the rest of the board.

I haven't yet begun to explore the possibilities of various holddown methods. 
I can think of a few right off the top of my head,  those being simple 
clamps,  some kind of a T-slot table (more clamps),  or maybe a vacuum 
holddown setup.  What else is there?

> It will however require intervetion to be able to solder SMT parts.

That's someplace else I have no intention of going.  That stuff does provide 
some benefit,  to be sure,  in terms of component density and especially for 
manufacturing in large quantities,  but again,  I don't see me getting into 
any of that sort of thing.

> The other down side is how long it takes to make a board.  the
> mechanical engravers cut one section of a trace at a time so the
> entire time is longer than chemical etching.

True,  but it's not like I'd have to be sitting there doing it,  once I got a 
good setup going.

> Another plus for the CNC is drilled holes.

Yes,  that's a big plus in my opinion.  I'd *much* rather have the machine do 
that than have to do it myself...