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I can't speak for this specific solution, but veroboard drives me (personally) bonkers and it's not enough of a hobby for me to justify investing in photochemic

by Osmium 12y ago

I can't speak for this specific solution, but veroboard drives me (personally) bonkers and it's not enough of a hobby for me to justify investing in photochemical etchers. Being able to design a project on a computer, and get a PCB for a few dollars, would be great. I'd definitely play around with electronics projects a lot more if I could do more prototyping on a computer. The other thing that would be great is something like a Shapeways for PCBs. People could upload their own projects, then they print the PCB for you (and even ship you a bag of components), for you to build yourself.

jdietrich 12y ago
>The other thing that would be great is something like a Shapeways for PCBs. The service already exists. Numerous companies will produce small quantities (>5) of a PCB design from a Gerber file at a reasonable price and many will also do assembly. Prices vary depending on quantity and lead time; Amongst the cheapest are Itead, who offer ten 5x5cm PCBs (two-layer, with soldermask and silkscreen) for $14 shipped. The main reason to etch your own boards is lead time, as it can take a week or two (plus shipping from China). European and American PCB houses can turn around boards in as little as 24 hours, but at much greater cost. http://imall.iteadstudio.com/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html http://imall.iteadstudio.com/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html