There are trade-offs I will freely admit.  I use to etch boards back in the
1980's.  I did not set up my milling machine for doing boards, but it does
them and so I thought I would use it.

David

David V. Fansler
s/v Annabelle
dfansler@dv-fansler.com
www.dv-fansler.com


-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of
Vitaliy
Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 7:50 PM
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
Subject: Re: [EE] PCB etching experience

David V. Fansler wrote:
> Hi Peter - the board takes about 20 minutes to mill out.  You have to be
> careful how you draw the board in AutoCAD, because it will mill the board 
> in
> the same order.  I look for the longest continous line I can do first, 
> then
> the second, etc.

It's faster than chemical etching for a board of this size (I would budget 
~30 minutes for the entire process, from exposure to etched board). You 
don't need as much room, and you don't need a darkroom environment.

On the other hand, chemical etching allows one to use any program that you 
can print PCB files from, and the resolution is higher.

Vitaliy 

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