Recently, I laid out and etched a printed-circuit board for a project I'm working on. When I got to drilling holes for the components, however, some of the pads peeled off the laminate.
Which got me to wondering if it would be beneficial to drill small pilot holes for the components *before* I etch the board, and widen them after etching.
I'd be interested in hearing your opinions on the matter - do you drill before you etch, or after? If after, how do you keep the traces from de-laminating?