I used to do my own boards; got a specially-modified laminator to do the
"press-and-peel" iron-on toner resist stuff, even.  Got a process down,
and could make decent boards.

But.

For 2-sided, getting the registration right on is a pain.  I only made
one small 2-sided board, ever, and the underside was 90% ground fill,
and not traces and vias everywhere.  Worked fine but I knew anything
complex was going to be a big hassle.

Which is the next point ... 2-sided w/o vias is a real drag.  I got a
via kit, you punch these little metal cylinders into the board and
solder, but ... what a drag, and you can't put a chip above the via, at
least not the high pin count ones that really need to sit flush to the
board.  Wound up never using the kit.

Ug, all this.

I use barebonespcb.com, basically its 2-sided plated-thru, tin finish
(not a very good finish but functional and solderable), shipped
next-day.  No restriction on drill sizes, I panelize from
Eagle-generated gerbers with gerbmerge and send them a bunch of designs
at once.  Excellent results and good customer service (I gave them the
wrong zipcode once and another time changed shipping from 2-day to 1-day
UPS, no problem).

I only wish they had a similar 4-layer capability.

Best -
J


Gustaf J. Barkstrom wrote:
>>I'm about to order a couple of PCBs from Olimex, this is the first time
>>ever I've done this, and just wondered what the common mistakes maybe?
>
>
> A couple of boards, as in two? I have been following this thread, but as
> I've gotten
> back into electronics in the last couple months, I've rounded up items
> to make my own PCBs.  Is the project sufficiently complext that you can't
> make the boards yourself?  If you are only making a couple of boards, I
> would
> invest in some small supplies to do it yourself.  Of course, there are two
> factors that have allowed me to not need PCB services yet: 1) I have lots
> of extra time, no wife, no children, etc.; 2) I don't have any really
> complex
> board designs (yet).  And of course, my boards are only 1 or 2 sided, no
> silkscreen,
> and so forth.
>
> Gustaf
>
> <snip>
>
>>Ed
>>
>>--
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>
>
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