best way to make pcb?

[roofingboom]

im about to make my first pcb and i was wondering if everyone could put some input down about best,cheapest,easiest methods of making pcbs

[jcx]

the best quality, best use of your time and best for the environment is to use one of the really cheap, fast prototyping services

alternatively learn good prototyping practice, i build most stuff up handwired on clearance hole ground plane perf board, add a little imagnative exacto work on the ground plane and kapton + Cu tape and even good power distribution is possible

and could a moderator move this to electonics&parts - solid state amplifiers seems to be collecting too many off topic threads lately

[EC8010]

Well, I agree the thread doesn't sit firmly in solid state, but it's hard to use silicon on anything other than a PCB, and none of the other sections seems more appropriate.

As to the original question, best and cheapest don't often go together. You can make you own boards very cheaply by painting them with enamel paint and etching them in a plastic tray. The prettiness of the results depend on your painting ability. They're dead cheap, though. Commercial manufacturers produce far neater results, but you pay the set-up costs of a process that is intended for mass-production.

[audiofan]

You may use nail polish and nail polish remover instead of enamel, it will work.

If you have computer desing set up you may get a POSITIVE mask with a laser printer on a plastic film ( make shure you have plastic film for laser printer it must resist to high temperature of the toner cure )then you can use MGCHEMICALS products, this too will work.i made a lot with this technique.

[JonMarsh]

I'm with JCX on this, for quality of results, and to avoid handling and disposing of environmnetally dangerous chemicals.

For a lot of projects, I used Advanced Circuits standard processes; they're at

Advanced Circuits


They have a "cheapo" process for quick turn-around protos, no solder mas, no silk screen, tin plate over 1 oz copper, but it's expensive and fast -

Barebones PCB

When I'm in less of a hurry, and want more quality, I use a European house, Beta Layout/PCB-Pool, who even offers a free budge layout program, and has lots of links for technical info for those new to PCB layout and fabrication. They're in Ireland and Germany.



PCB-Pool


This is a PCB they ran a couple of years ago for me.





I've done the totally homebrew thing, including optical expsoure, and so forth- believe me, it's worth getting it done right.

Regards,

Jon