-------------------------------------------------- From: "Olin Lathrop" Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2010 12:34 PM To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." Subject: Re: [OT] Cheap place to get copper clad/circuit board material > V G wrote: >> I've been going crazy with the posts lately, but that's because I'm >> working on a project for my university and I want to get it right. > > Which university? > >> I am going to etch my own circuit boards, > > That makes no sense. That's for penny pinching hobbyists that value thei= r > time at next to nothing. You are doing this for a real job where your=20 > hours > cost your employer real money. For $109 you can 100 square inches of > finished PCB from Gold Phoenix, with silkscreen on top, solder mask top=20 > and > bottom, plated thru vias, electrically tested, and delivered. Unless you > work for the University of Outer Bizzarristan and get paid a bowl of rice > and three yak dung paddies a day, you are doing your employer a disservic= e > by costing more to make a inferior product. > > Also keep in mind that your employer's cost to keep you around is more=20 > than > you get paid. For example, how many yak dung paddies does it take to kee= p > your office heated, what do they have to pay the yak hearder for the > paddies, etc? > > Then consider the extra labor cost putting in jumpers because you don't=20 > have > plated thru holes, fixing the human errors that a good silkscreen would=20 > have > prevented, the solder bridges the solder mask would have prevented, etc. > There is also the initial cost in materials and time to set everything up= , > the chemical disposal issues, space to store and maintain the equipment, > etc. It doesn't add up. All reasonable points. However, one big plus for etching your own boards ca= n=20 be time whilst prototyping - it takes an hour to etch a board as opposed to= =20 waiting a few days for one from a PCB house. IMHO occasionally this can mak= e=20 sense to do, hobbyist or not.=20 --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .