Homebrew PCBs

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 20:47:58 +0100, Kev Pearce (kevp.com)  
<email.me@...> wrote:

>
> 1). Cutting boards
> Does anyone know of a suitable mini saw table/inverted router type setup  
> to accurately cut PCBs to size?
> I know Dremel do a few add-ons for their hand held drills, but are they  
> any good?
> Is there any other kind of hobby/craft mini-saw table that could do a  
> nice job of cutting PCBs?


Sheet metal shears/scissors. Either handheld or the bench variety, all  
works well.
Tile saws are said to work too, are cheap (30eur) and run in water bath  
(dust).
A small table saw with a carbide blade makes very nice cuts, but IMO is  
too loud and messy.
Strong paper cutters.

> 2). Drilling
> I can't really see any other way than a Dremel by hand...

CNC.

> 3). Silkscreen Top Component Layer
> Anyone know of any inkjet ink/paper/system that can be ironed on to the  
> top surface of a board to give component locations/orientations etc. Any  
> a nice
> cheap home solution? Does have to last forever just so the boards can be  
> assembled with less faults  I though about doing double sided boards and
> using the top copper side purely as a layout layer without any  
> connection tracks at all.

Why not simply toner transfer without any copper there?
I do it regularly and it looks very good. It also works to put legend over  
artwok, but it is tricky because the raised copper areas....

> 4). Solder Masks
> Like the silkscreen at no 3) any kind of inkjet ink/paper setup that  
> will iron on solder masks?

Only one i know is photoprocess laminate. seems expensive and i'm not  
gonna go back to photo any time soon. I don't need mask.

ST