There was recently an excellent discussion about PCB drilling and SMD soldering, where so many people contributed it really solved all the problems - at least in my head.
I'd like to know if anyone has managed to 10 mil trace width PCBs with similar trace to pad clearance. 10 mil is 0.254mm. I guess this depends on what process you use.
For me it's going to be print the gerber file copper pattern on an inkjet. Get that photocopied with settings to give high contrast and lots of toner, then iron that onto the copper clad and etch. This was suggested by someone else on the forum as I don't have a laser printer at home.
I'm looking at a print out of the copper pattern and I'm thinking that's going to need a pretty sophisticated process to get it to etch cleanly. I'm thinking if I gave my gerber file to a PCB shop, they would be able to do it no problem, but for my process, I'm thinking I'm going to have to up the trace width to about 20mil or 0.5mm to stand a chance.
What do you think?
I think a bigger problem than 10mil trace width is having 10mil trace to pad clearance. That's surely only something a commercial PCB shop can do?
I'd like to know if anyone has managed to 10 mil trace width PCBs with similar trace to pad clearance. 10 mil is 0.254mm. I guess this depends on what process you use.
For me it's going to be print the gerber file copper pattern on an inkjet. Get that photocopied with settings to give high contrast and lots of toner, then iron that onto the copper clad and etch. This was suggested by someone else on the forum as I don't have a laser printer at home.
I'm looking at a print out of the copper pattern and I'm thinking that's going to need a pretty sophisticated process to get it to etch cleanly. I'm thinking if I gave my gerber file to a PCB shop, they would be able to do it no problem, but for my process, I'm thinking I'm going to have to up the trace width to about 20mil or 0.5mm to stand a chance.
What do you think?
I think a bigger problem than 10mil trace width is having 10mil trace to pad clearance. That's surely only something a commercial PCB shop can do?