Does anyone here make circuit boards?

[NogginBoink]

What's the best shop to get prototypes made at? And if you do it at home, is it worth it?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Hell yeah, I'm fabbin' 6 layer boards as I type

 

[shekondar]

I've done them at home - they're not hard to make, but if you're doing more than a couple I'd get them professionally made. You can do double-sided boards at home (if you're really careful).

I haven't tried the photo etch stuff - I knew somebody in school who tried that & had all kinds of problems with it. I use the laser printer/ink jet paper method (you can also buy that special blue film, but it's expensive and ink jet paper works just as well if not better).

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
What's the best shop to get prototypes made at? And if you do it at home, is it worth it?

If you need anything more complex than a single sided board using through hole (not surface mount) parts, take it to a PC board house. You'll get a better job. You'll also need a real shop if you want solder mask and/or silkscreened nomenclature.

I hope you're using a PC layout program. Any decent one will output Gerber photoplot files and an NCD for drilling and routing.