Re: TI-H: PCB


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Re: TI-H: PCB




>Just trust me, the markers smudge when you try to layer over them, and they
>just are not worth even considering to me, and I DO heat my etchant! I also
>agitate it. It's not like I've just started PCB etching. I've been doing this
>since 1991! I've made EXCELENT boards, and the best were with dry transfer,
>second were with toner transfer sheets, paint came in next, Fingernail polish
>came next, and then there was this massive gap of quality, and then, in very
>last place, comes the markers. THEY SUCK!!!

Uhh, well, then something's gone wrong because I've made between 50
and 100 boards that way, always perfect :P...  I *never* get bad
traces.  Doesn't that say something about how you're making them :)?
And I've made them using just about every other method, too (dry
transfer, laser transparency, etc.).  The best method BY FAR is the
positive photoresist method though.  There's just no comparison.

And in any case, dry transfer is just TOO DAMN SLOW.  You get a
reasonably complex board and want to use dry transfers, kiss your day
goodbye :).  Markers can be 10x faster (photoresist can be 100x
faster).  And if you have to mass produce boards, then dry transfers
are just about impossible unless you have no life.

>My recomendation, is spend $2-3 for some dry transfers from Rat Shack. they
>work wonders! a small bottle of acrylic black paint and a fine tipped paint
>brushis also usefull, and remember, that paint is great to touch up or to
>cover a wide area (such as the ground or screw holes) I have used my x-acto
>knife to apply paint and can get lines as thin as 1 or 2 pixels on an average
>Monitor. Try that with your markers!!!

Uhh, I can make boards that easily accomidate SOIC pin spacing with
markers...  You'd never need thinner than that on a hand-made PCB,
unless you were a moron trying to do a QFP or something without the
positive method :).

-Mel


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