On Sat, Dec 07, 2002 at 03:59:27PM -0500, H. Carl Ott wrote:
> Hi Byron,
>   Well I've made more the a few homebrew PCBs.
>   (picture of what I'm working on this afternoon.
> http://users.rcn.com/carlott/at-tnc_smd.jpg )
>
>   So I'll throw in some comments.
>   Actually making the boards is not that bad using toner transfer.
>   You are right, the drilling is a bit of a pain. The soldering is not
> really that big of a deal for me unless we are dealing in production
> quantities.

I struggle with soldering. It's one of the reasons I've stuck with wirewrap
so far.

>
>   But I'm not sure predrilled copper clad is really going to help much.
>   That's interesting material at digikey. I used to make prototypes with a
> similar vector product 10 years  back. You use pad cutters /x-acto and a
> dremel to isolate copper.

They still sell that stuff. Called Verobard. But each strip is isolated from
the others so you have to populate a bunch of jumpers and use pad cutters.
I want to eliminate that task be etching....

>    But for me the main problem  is that .1" hole spacing. Too many parts
> are not on that spacing. It also seriously restricts your trace routing,
> and it does not help much with SMT or rf designs.

Neither which are on my design requirement. If SMT were the target then the
holes are unnecessary.

The only through hole parts I use that don't fit on a 0.1 grid are large
components like high power semiconductors and inductors. I can live with
that.

>
>    SMT seems to be the main motivation for the toaster oven interest. I
> used to use a lab hotplate for a similar purpose, but I found I could hand
> solder faster. BGA might force me back to a hotplate or toaster oven.

You could solder hundreds of pins in 10 minutes? Tell me more!

>
>   Solderpots are good for low density through hole designs with a
> soldermask (without the mask you get too many shorts). You populate the
> board, dip it in flux and the carefully dip it in the solderpot. Again,
> this won't help with SMT.

SMT isn't on my radar. With WW I've always used through hole components, so
I'm totally comfortable with them.

>
>   What I really want is a cheap user friendly cnc drill/engraver to enhance
> my home prototyping . Under $500.00. This might help with drilling, but I
> really want it to engrave panels and make clean cutouts in enclosures.  I
> could probably do it for $1000 to $1500 with a sherline and one of those
> stepper retrofits. Just a bit pricey for me at the moment.
>
>   BTW, I love any discussion on improving home prototyping methods.

Well I appreciate your document. It has inspired me to think about a setup...

BAJ

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