Are there any programs that can take a Gerber file and produce a negative image so that it can be printed out on a laser printer? I need to create a single sided PCB and I don't want the cost of sending out the board to a fab house.
gives you three 2.5" x 3.8" double sided boards for $59 shipped, lightning fast (but you have to use their software). And Olimex
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does 6.3" x 3.9" single sided with silk screen and solder mask for $26, plus another $9 or so for delivery to USA. Takes a couple weeks, but it always used to take longer than that for me to get around to ordering fresh chemicals and setting up the etching rig anyhow. And I sure can't hold a 10 mil line with the home rig, not to mention silk-screening, plated-through holes (for double-sided boards) and solder mask.
It's pretty hard to justify doing your own PCBs these days unless you need to do them on a very frequent basis and you need very fast turnaround.
offers several boards for under $100 with no tooling charges. How are you going to compete with that in your basement lab? Unless you just like the idea of messing around with Ferric Chloride and a bunch of other nasty toxic chemicals.
GBRVU, can do this. However I have to say that the economics of prototyping have shifted massively in the last few years. Many of the 'pooling' services, will produce standard boards, in small quantities, for less than you will end up paying for the board, photochemicals, drills etc.. Over the years, I have used four different techniques for making boards. Photographic production with a bubble tank, milling with an LPKF prototyping systm, prototype via a 'pooling' service, and 'proper' production. Over the last couple of years, I have completely dropped the first. The second is only used where a 'one off' prototype is needed in a hurry, and now the third is the favoured prototype route. The costs of this have plummeted compared to the normal production prototype service, with it typically being possible to get 3 off double sided PTH boards made, for about half what used to be charged for the photoplotting alone!...
They're right...trust me, I've done my share of screwing around with EVERY process out there and it isn't worth it.
I use PCBexpress.com
I usually combine a number of different prototype projects on one board and then shear myself.....el cheapo.
ie-- 2pcs of a 9X12 board are only 175.00
Think of how many different boards you can get on a single 9x12 board.
If you have to do it, get the positive acting process and print out on high quailty film at 1440 or higher on an inkjet......I've tried every laser film out there for negs AND NOTHING WILL WORK.
The only way I could get acceptable pin-holing, with laser transparencies, for even pretty wide traces (.02") was to make two transparencies and carefully stack them.
{1 sub abs} settransfer does it nicely in PostScript
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Many thanks,
Don Lancaster voice phone: (928)428-4073
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
rss: http://www.tinaja.com/whtnu.xml email: don@tinaja.com
Please visit my GURU\'s LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
If you van print it positive, you may do the same in negative. Install a good Postscript driver and produce a postscriptfile. There you have almost allways a option "negative" in the driver settings. If your Printer is not able to print postscript, use ghostview.
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