'William Chops" Westfield ' It depends. Couple bucks for blank copper clad. Couple bucks for > etchant. Significant bucks for the high-grade ink cartridge (for > direct to PCB printing) (which may or may not dry up between PCBs (I > hate inkjets!)) or a couple bucks for special transfer paper or > transparency paper. Couple bucks for drill bits. Couple bucks for > tool to cut the PCB material. Moderate amount for an inkjet printer > to modify, or for a laminator, or for an iron, or for a contact > exposure frame. Couple buck for other chemicals, sandpaper, etc. And not having plated holes, decent design rules like at least 8/8 mils needed for modern packages, no silkscreen, no soldermask. When you really add it up, you're probably paying yourself less than $10/hour to make your own boards. If you're really a hobbyist and claiming your time is worth little, then wh= y is fast turnaround so important? I do this professionally where time=3Dmon= ey, and 1 1/2 weeks to get the boards back is rarely a problem. That gives you just about the right time to put the BOM together, order parts without extr= a fast shipping, and have everything arrive at about the same time. Meanwhil= e you work on other projects. Surely you've got something else useful to do while you're waiting for the boards and parts to show up? If you're constantly finding yourself doing quick turns of PCBs internally, then you should examine your proceedures. The instant gratification of quick turn may feel good, but I strongly suspect it doesn't make business sense in most situations. A place that does that regularly probably has immature engineers that don't know how to get the most out of each prototyp= e or are a little OCD in that they want to spin the board the moment a cut or jumper is added to the existing one. I find we usually do 3 PCB versions, sometimes 2, for most project. The first is usually a bench test unit that ignores the final mechanicals. Parts are deliberately spaced out with extra test pads, LEDs, and the like added to aid debugging and possible modifications. Usually this includes the largest PIC of the subfamily. Most of the development is done with thi= s board. The second version is designed to be the shippable product. Now we get rid of extraneous LEDs, use the right size PIC which we know since the firmware is mostly working, add the inevitable little things to accomodate spec changes, etc. Often the customer will change some specs after this board because this is the first time others in the company get to see full mockup units. We let this settle out a bit and the third version is usuall= y the first production version. Respins are not that expensive if you manage the process properly and especially when you plan on them up front. ******************************************************************** Embed Inc, Littleton Massachusetts, http://www.embedinc.com/products (978) 742-9014. Gold level PIC consultants since 2000. --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .