MG chemicals sells pre-sensitized circuit board material.  Artwork can be generated by transparency on laser printers, but you usually get better results with ink jets.  You can also use the "toner transfer" technique on non-pre-sensitized laminate (google that and you should get some nice pix).  Resolution will be limited to approximately 10mil line and space.

Aligning one side of the artwork with the other can be challenging too.  You'd like to drill the holes first so you can align the artwork to the holes, but then you can't use pre-sensitized material.  When I used boards made this way, I etched a tiny hole in each of the vias which gave me a visual drill target for use on a small drill press(like a dremel tool drill press).

Ferric Chloride is the preferred etchant for hobbyist use.  Stains everything in the area!

Forget about plated vias.  You can use eyelets.  Hand setting them is a pain, though, and you should solder them in anyway for the best performance, so replacing them with a small piece of wire works too, and can be done on tighter geometries.  You can get away with almost anything for soldermask.  I've used spraycans of Rustoleum.

Don't bother with "liquid tin".  It makes the results look a bit nicer, but the consensus is that it doesn't solder significantly better than corroded copper.

The results will be very crude but useable.  Note that getting a simple board like this done at a pcb house set up for prototypes will only be a couple of hundred dollars and about 2 days, so if your time is worth much you won't be saving anything by rolling your own!

Wayne Thayer

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Toby Carrier
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 1:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Hobbyist PCB Fab Equipment

Hello all,

I want to start making PCB's at home for prototyping small to medium
projects, but I have a few questions about materials, kits and equipment:

1. What is the best kit to buy?
2. What equipment do I need?
3. Where is the best place to get the equipment and/or kits?
4. What safety hazards do I need to worry about?

I will be dealing with through-hole and surface mount parts.

Thanks for the help.

Toby Carrier

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