"Tony Vandiver" wrote:
>> That's a waste of money unless you're absolutely sure that's the final 
>> product
>> you want and are not in the prototyping stage. If you're still in the
>> prototyping stage like I am, it's not worth it to get a PCB made. What
>> if there are errors in my design? There goes $50
>
> That's not completely true.  For your $50, you get a lesson - a very
> good one usually.  Do you think your first try is going to work for
> boards that you etch yourself - if not, consider all the time and effort
> involved in redesigning/rebuilding/reetching/redrilling/resoldering?  Do
> you think that the design that you have etched (and designed accordingly
> to make etching feasible) will be compatible with real manufacturing
> processes?  I buy boards all the time that I think are "close enough"
> and don't worry about what's not right.  The best way to get a board
> right is to kludge an almost right prototype to make it work, esp
> compared to building one from scratch.  Lot's of people disagree with my
> approach, but I contend that it's fastest and let them work on their
> designs/layouts for days while I'm working with my real prototype and
> sending it to the customer for evaluation with a few jumpers on it.
> Let's say you have to cut and patch two or three traces - compare how
> this board with a few jumper wires goes together with how a homebuild
> goes together.

This is exactly the same conclusion I eventually came to. And I personally 
etched and drilled hundreds of PCBs -- in hindsight, a total waste of time 
and effort.


> How much money you have or don't have is irrelevant.  The question is
> what's the best value, and if I could save $25 for my business by doing
> something different like building boards in house, I'd do it and
> likewise most companies would do it, but it just doesn't make economic
> sense because time /is/ worth money.  Yes, this means that you're
> probably going to have to buy barebones prototypes twice (or in some
> cases 10 times), but when you're done, you have a repeatable design
> that's ready for manufacturing.  That being said, manufacturing is
> typically my goal, but it may not be yours, and if that's the case, your
> priorities can/may be different.

I've seen too many final year projects where the circuit worked the night 
before, but then a wire came loose the day of the presentation, and many 
months of effort went down the drain. A professionally made PCB will cost 
you less than the soda you drink throughout the duration of your project.

IMO, there are only two valid reasons for making your own PCB: if you have a 
very short deadline, or if you enjoy making PCBs yourself.

Vitaliy 

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