Q's about making PCBs

[Michael (Micksa) Slade]

BEGIN intro-blurb
I'm a computer programmer who's decided programming is kinda boring and so
I'm getting into electronics. I'm taking a uni course, buying loads
of parts and tools, and losing lots of sleep reading articles all over the
web and learning lots of stuff.

I live near Sydney, Australia.

I've been casually browsing this group for a while now, and I've decided
it's pretty pointless being shy about posting in here, since there are
plenty of posts here with surely less substance than I'm likely to produce
in my posts. So I'll try and be sociable in here, ask questions and start
discussions and see how it goes.

Please be gentle
END intro-blurb

Okay, so. PCB making stuff.

I've been researching the subject and I can't seem to find much useful
info on the following issues:

- Ferric Chloride or Ammonium Persulfate?
Apologies if this has been brought up a million times already, but I
couldn't figure out for sure:
- which is faster?
- can ammonium persulfate be kept and re-used?

- I'm planning on buying a dremel drill with a routing table and drill
press. This should suit all my PCB cutting/drilling needs. I understand
cutting a PCB with a router is kinda slow and messy but it's cheaper than
a ~$700 shear/guillotine.
So anyway, is this a good idea? I can get it all for AU$300-400 from
justtools.com.au.

- Has anyone tried any of the following at home or in a similarly
low-cost scenario?
- plated vias
- silk screens (the neato labels for the connectors, components etc they
have on some boards)
- solder masks
- gold plating (is that what they use for the contacts on PCI cards and
such?)
- multi-layer boards
and if so, how did you go about it and how successful were you?

FWIW, I'm going to go with the ECAD/laser printer/photoresist approach. I
rather like the idea of producing boards that look like they've come from
a professional manufacturer (hence some of the above questions)

Mick.

 

[Michael (Micksa) Slade]

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 10:53:30 +0000, Michael (Micksa) Slade wrote:

I've been casually browsing this group for a while now, and I've decided
it's pretty pointless being shy about posting in here, since there are
plenty of posts here with surely less substance than I'm likely to produce
in my posts.

Er, except for those last dozen or so rubbish posts that my newsreader
somehow decided to post when I clicked "send unsent message".

Sorry.

Mick.

--
My email address is "micksa@", not "micksa-news@".
VOTE [1] CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR SPAMMERS

 

[Al Borowski]

Okay, so. PCB making stuff.

Disclaimer: I don't do PCB making for a living - I only make small
boards for home projects.

I've been researching the subject and I can't seem to find much useful
info on the following issues:

- Ferric Chloride or Ammonium Persulfate?

I prefer Ammonium Persulfate. It's clear and you can buy it from Dick
Smith. You hve to keep it hot while it etches but thats not a major problem.

Apologies if this has been brought up a million times already, but I
couldn't figure out for sure:
- which is faster?

No idea. Not worth worry about IMO.

- can ammonium persulfate be kept and re-used?

I don't think so.

- I'm planning on buying a dremel drill with a routing table and drill
press. This should suit all my PCB cutting/drilling needs. I understand
cutting a PCB with a router is kinda slow and messy but it's cheaper than
a ~$700 shear/guillotine.

I use a bandsaw to cut boards. Quick and nasty, but it works.

FWIW, I'm going to go with the ECAD/laser printer/photoresist approach. I
rather like the idea of producing boards that look like they've come from
a professional manufacturer (hence some of the above questions)

After you get some experience, I've had very good results with blue
press'n'peel paper from jaycar.

Al

Mick.

 

[Leon Heller]

"Michael (Micksa) Slade" <micksa-news@knobbits.org> wrote in message
newsan.2004.04.30.10.50.10.169996@knobbits.org...

Okay, so. PCB making stuff.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs/

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller

 

[Patrick Timlin]

"Michael (Micksa) Slade" <micksa-news@knobbits.org> wrote ...

FWIW, I'm going to go with the ECAD/laser printer/photoresist approach. I
rather like the idea of producing boards that look like they've come from
a professional manufacturer (hence some of the above questions)

Have you looked into learning a PCB CAD program, like for example
Eagle (http://www.cadsoft.de) and having your boards manufactured from
one of the many board houses that do small quantity prototype runs? I
think you will find many of them are so cheap that it is often not
much more than the price of you just buying the bare copper clad
boards.

PT

 

[Michael (Micksa) Slade]

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 07:10:09 -0700, Patrick Timlin wrote:

"Michael (Micksa) Slade" <micksa-news@knobbits.org> wrote ...
FWIW, I'm going to go with the ECAD/laser printer/photoresist approach. I
rather like the idea of producing boards that look like they've come from
a professional manufacturer (hence some of the above questions)

Have you looked into learning a PCB CAD program, like for example
Eagle (http://www.cadsoft.de) and having your boards manufactured from
one of the many board houses that do small quantity prototype runs? I
think you will find many of them are so cheap that it is often not
much more than the price of you just buying the bare copper clad
boards.

I'm going to use a CAD program anyway. I don't know of any
(reasonably priced) prototype board makers in australia (if someone knows
one, please mention it). And also, I kinda want to make at least *some*
boards myself anyway. I want to do this for my own private enjoyment -
getting someone else to do half the work for me would take some of the fun
out of it IMHO

Mick.

--
My email address is "micksa@", not "micksa-news@".
VOTE [1] CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR SPAMMERS

 

[Patrick Timlin]

"Michael (Micksa) Slade" <micksa-news@knobbits.org> wrote ...

I'm going to use a CAD program anyway. I don't know of any
(reasonably priced) prototype board makers in australia (if someone
knows one, please mention it).

The board house doesn't have to be in Australia for you to use them.
For example, http://www.custompcb.com/ in Malaysia can make a couple
of single sided boards for $9 each and $7 shipping to Australia.

Olimex (http://www.olimex.com/) in Bulgaria is fairly popular with
people in these groups. They ship to Australia for $8 airmail. Prices
a bit more than CustomPCB above, but I have heard only good things
about this place.

Try Cadsoft's list of board houses for other places to look into. You
can find the listing at...
http://www.cadsoft.de/Boardhouses/

And also, I kinda want to make at least *some* boards myself anyway.
I want to do this for my own private enjoyment -
getting someone else to do half the work for me would take some of the fun
out of it IMHO

I know what you mean. I too do a lot of things that people try to tell
me I can buy for less, but what fun is that!

 

[Dan Charette]

Hi Mick...

I've been down the road that you are embarking upon. Years ago, I
starting making my own PCBs in house here for low runs on odd projects
and such. And it sounds to me you are on the right path. I'll give
you a few tips that I found out through trial and error that may be
helpful for you to look for while your going about the whole process.

Sodium persulfate is definately the way to go just because it isn't
nearly as messy and toxic as ferric chloride. Although, I did find
that the sodium persulfate has a shelf life. I bought mine in a
chrystalized form and even mixing it fresh from a bag, I noticed it's
cutting power deteriorated with each new batch I did from month to
month. And as a previous poster pointed out, it is necessary to heat
it to where it is somewhat steaming, but not boiling. The
manufacturer will have an exact temperature to use. Use an accurate
thermometer and a big glass baking dish on a small hot plate to get it
heated.

Another thing is agitation. You'll need to have a way to agitate the
etchant. One of the popular ways is using a fish tank aerator to get
bubbles into the etchant while your board is in. I just sort of shook
the pan from side to side while it was on the hot plate.

Now, aside from the etching process, it's the phototransfer and resist
that's a little more sensitive and tricky. Make sure that you read
directions on the process be it positive transfer or negative and also
the exposure times and type of light. I used an array of flourescent
black lights at a specified distance for an exact period of time that
I arrived at through experiment. I would recommend you purchase
pre-coated resist PCBs because the thickness of resist is very uniform
and much easier to deal with first time out than trying to apply the
stuff yourself. Be careful as these boards are extremely sensitive to
UV light. And, they can be ruined in just a few seconds in direct
sunlight. I've heard of some people actually timing sunlight right
and using that as your UV exposure light instead of black lights.

Now, as the board is etching, watch it carefully. You may be tempted
to wait until every little bit of copper is burned away. I got into
big troubles here because with a little trace that I could have just
scratched away, I waited like a half an hour for it to go and ended up
undercutting all the other good traces. The acid will cut underneath
the resist and eat away parts you don't want. So, keep that in mind
if your board etches away really fast all except for one little
section, most likely the resist didn't get all removed. And, it won't
no matter how long you leave it in. So, cut your losses and pull the
board out and manually cut out anything not wanted.

Through hole vias? Well, that's a little more tricky. I'd say
experiment with single sided boards first and then go for the double
sided once you have the experience. Alignment with your masks can be
a real chore if you aren't up to snuff with the photo sensitizing
process real good. My first double sided boards were plagued with a
funny problem of not being aligned correctly because my laser printer
wasn't printing perfectly square imagery. It had a tendancy to pull
just a tiny bit to one corner. So, when I'd go to align the two
masks, I'd have to sort of split the difference in offsets that both
masks had. So, on corner of the board would be aligned good and then
the opposite diagonally would be off just a bit. For a board bigger
than a few inches square, this posed a really bad problem. I
compensated by using larger pads and my vias were as large as the
other pads on the board. As far as plating them, that's another
chemical process that takes some mastering.

Read up as much as you can and then just go for it. Be prepared to
screw up some boards. We all have done it and in the learning
process, you're prone to do it as well.

Have fun!


On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 10:53:30 GMT, "Michael (Micksa) Slade"
<micksa-news@knobbits.org> wrote:

BEGIN intro-blurb
I'm a computer programmer who's decided programming is kinda boring and so
I'm getting into electronics. I'm taking a uni course, buying loads
of parts and tools, and losing lots of sleep reading articles all over the
web and learning lots of stuff.

I live near Sydney, Australia.

I've been casually browsing this group for a while now, and I've decided
it's pretty pointless being shy about posting in here, since there are
plenty of posts here with surely less substance than I'm likely to produce
in my posts. So I'll try and be sociable in here, ask questions and start
discussions and see how it goes.

Please be gentle
END intro-blurb

Okay, so. PCB making stuff.

I've been researching the subject and I can't seem to find much useful
info on the following issues:

- Ferric Chloride or Ammonium Persulfate?
Apologies if this has been brought up a million times already, but I
couldn't figure out for sure:
- which is faster?
- can ammonium persulfate be kept and re-used?

- I'm planning on buying a dremel drill with a routing table and drill
press. This should suit all my PCB cutting/drilling needs. I understand
cutting a PCB with a router is kinda slow and messy but it's cheaper than
a ~$700 shear/guillotine.
So anyway, is this a good idea? I can get it all for AU$300-400 from
justtools.com.au.

- Has anyone tried any of the following at home or in a similarly
low-cost scenario?
- plated vias
- silk screens (the neato labels for the connectors, components etc they
have on some boards)
- solder masks
- gold plating (is that what they use for the contacts on PCI cards and
such?)
- multi-layer boards
and if so, how did you go about it and how successful were you?

FWIW, I'm going to go with the ECAD/laser printer/photoresist approach. I
rather like the idea of producing boards that look like they've come from
a professional manufacturer (hence some of the above questions)

Mick.

Dan Charette {dan_at_thesonicfrogFUZZ-dot-com}
Remove the "FUZZ" and replace the underscores and
such from my e-mail address to contact me.

"I may not always be right, but I'm never wrong."

 

[Bob Stephens]

On 30 Apr 2004 11:12:32 -0700, Patrick Timlin wrote:

"Michael (Micksa) Slade" <micksa-news@knobbits.org> wrote ...
I'm going to use a CAD program anyway. I don't know of any
(reasonably priced) prototype board makers in australia (if someone
knows one, please mention it).

The board house doesn't have to be in Australia for you to use them.
For example, http://www.custompcb.com/ in Malaysia can make a couple
of single sided boards for $9 each and $7 shipping to Australia.

Olimex (http://www.olimex.com/) in Bulgaria is fairly popular with
people in these groups. They ship to Australia for $8 airmail. Prices
a bit more than CustomPCB above, but I have heard only good things
about this place.

Try Cadsoft's list of board houses for other places to look into. You
can find the listing at...
http://www.cadsoft.de/Boardhouses/


And also, I kinda want to make at least *some* boards myself anyway.
I want to do this for my own private enjoyment -
getting someone else to do half the work for me would take some of the fun
out of it IMHO

I know what you mean. I too do a lot of things that people try to tell
me I can buy for less, but what fun is that!

Also, depending on the complexity of your board, it is often prudent to
bring it up in sections - power supplies, clock oscillators, micro,
communications, analog ... etc.


Bob
--
"Just machines that make big decisions
programmed by fellas with compassion and vision."
-D. Fagen
(remove yomama)

 

[Mike Harrison]

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 10:53:30 GMT, "Michael (Micksa) Slade" <micksa-news@knobbits.org> wrote:

BEGIN intro-blurb
I'm a computer programmer who's decided programming is kinda boring and so
I'm getting into electronics. I'm taking a uni course, buying loads
of parts and tools, and losing lots of sleep reading articles all over the
web and learning lots of stuff.

I live near Sydney, Australia.

I've been casually browsing this group for a while now, and I've decided
it's pretty pointless being shy about posting in here, since there are
plenty of posts here with surely less substance than I'm likely to produce
in my posts. So I'll try and be sociable in here, ask questions and start
discussions and see how it goes.

Please be gentle
END intro-blurb

Okay, so. PCB making stuff.

See www.electricstuff.co.uk/pcbs.html for tons of info


..

- I'm planning on buying a dremel drill with a routing table and drill
press. This should suit all my PCB cutting/drilling needs. I understand
cutting a PCB with a router is kinda slow and messy but it's cheaper than
a ~$700 shear/guillotine.
So anyway, is this a good idea? I can get it all for AU$300-400 from
justtools.com.au.

I wouldn't bother with the router - a Dremel won't cope with the axial load anyway. If you can't
afford a shear, a hacksaw is adequate. For small cuts, heavy duty scissors/tinsnips can be used.

- Has anyone tried any of the following at home or in a similarly
low-cost scenario?
- plated vias

Not 'real' plating, but rivets and systems like Multicore Copperset are practical for small numbers.

- silk screens (the neato labels for the connectors, components etc they
have on some boards)
- solder masks

Not worth the hassle - the stuff the pros use isn't really viable for home use.

- gold plating (is that what they use for the contacts on PCI cards and
such?)

Probably do-able - there are DIY gold plating kits for jewellery etc, but I'm not sure you could get
enough durability with a DIY process

- multi-layer boards
Not practical.

 

[Wayne]

Okay, so. PCB making stuff.
- Ferric Chloride or Ammonium Persulfate?

Ammonium Persulfate is a pain, use what the manufacturers use - FC. I got
some from my board manufacturer - not too sure where to get small amounts
locally - I live in Sydney.

- I'm planning on buying a dremel drill with a routing table and drill
press. This should suit all my PCB cutting/drilling needs.

Going a bit overboard here I feel. I just use a cordless drill and insert a
small chuck to suit the very small drill bits.

I understand
cutting a PCB with a router is kinda slow and messy but it's cheaper than
a ~$700 shear/guillotine.

I use a fine bladed hacksaw and a fine flat file to smooth off - pretty
easy.

So anyway, is this a good idea? I can get it all for AU$300-400 from
justtools.com.au.

- Has anyone tried any of the following at home or in a similarly
low-cost scenario?
- plated vias

- silk screens (the neato labels for the connectors, components etc they
have on some boards)
- solder masks
- gold plating (is that what they use for the contacts on PCI cards and
such?)
- multi-layer boards
and if so, how did you go about it and how successful were you?

no to all the above - if you need any of that go to a PCB manufacturer

FWIW, I'm going to go with the ECAD/laser printer/photoresist approach. I
rather like the idea of producing boards that look like they've come from
a professional manufacturer (hence some of the above questions)

Mick.

The advantage of making the boards yourself is that you can see if your
layout works. Sometimes adjustments are needed. After you're happy with the
board then go to a manufacturer for that professional look. I've had s/s,
screen printed, solder masked, drilled boards made here in Sydney for
$3.50AU (in quantity).

Wayne.

 

[maxfoo]

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 14:28:06 GMT, "Michael (Micksa) Slade"
<micksa-news@knobbits.org> wrote:

I'm going to use a CAD program anyway. I don't know of any
(reasonably priced) prototype board makers in australia (if someone knows
one, please mention it). And also, I kinda want to make at least *some*
boards myself anyway. I want to do this for my own private enjoyment -
getting someone else to do half the work for me would take some of the fun
out of it IMHO

Mick.

After a while it gets boring, Its better to dedicate your time to the design
process and leave the grunt work to the pcb specialists.







Remove "HeadFromButt", before replying by email.

 

[JeffM]

plated vias
Michael (Micksa) Slade

Mike Harrison's PCB page
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:iiE5D2h-NyYJ:www.electricstuff.co.uk/pcbs.html+mike-harrison+copperset

Leon's suggestion about the Yahoo group is good too.

 

[Al Borowski]

Wayne wrote:

Okay, so. PCB making stuff.
- Ferric Chloride or Ammonium Persulfate?



Ammonium Persulfate is a pain, use what the manufacturers use - FC. I got
some from my board manufacturer - not too sure where to get small amounts
locally - I live in Sydney.

Whats wrong with Ammonium Persulfate? Its clear, so its easy to see the
board as its being etched.

Al

 

[Michael (Micksa) Slade]

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 13:20:17 -0500, Dan Charette wrote:

Now, aside from the etching process, it's the phototransfer and resist
that's a little more sensitive and tricky. Make sure that you read
directions on the process be it positive transfer or negative and also
the exposure times and type of light. I used an array of flourescent
black lights at a specified distance for an exact period of time that
I arrived at through experiment. I would recommend you purchase
pre-coated resist PCBs because the thickness of resist is very uniform
and much easier to deal with first time out than trying to apply the
stuff yourself. Be careful as these boards are extremely sensitive to
UV light. And, they can be ruined in just a few seconds in direct
sunlight. I've heard of some people actually timing sunlight right
and using that as your UV exposure light instead of black lights.

Yes! I've thought of that myself. I'm thinking, a device designed to
"count" UV light (ie amount of light * time) could determine exposure time
accurately enough so that you could use ordinary sunglight (or, hell,
anything) instead of a UV box. Anybody tried this? What kind of exposure
times? (I don't have a backyard so I'd have to keep my eye on the thing)

Thanks for the info

Mick.

--
My email address is "micksa@", not "micksa-news@".
VOTE [1] CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR SPAMMERS

 

[Michael (Micksa) Slade]

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 16:20:23 -0700, JeffM wrote:

plated vias
Michael (Micksa) Slade

Mike Harrison's PCB page
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:iiE5D2h-NyYJ:www.electricstuff.co.uk/pcbs.html+mike-harrison+copperset

Leon's suggestion about the Yahoo group is good too.

I've seen that page, but thanks anyway

Okay, I had a bit more of a read about plating vias, and essentially it
sounds like too much of a pain.

I've read old posts of people saying they'd solder bits of wire into each
hole on both sides, or weave a big long bit of wire through all of them
and solder it in one go. Sounds tedious and would probably look crappy
too.

What I wouldn't mind is some way of getting a blob of solder in the holes
and sticking to the via pad on each side. I think this is what they used
to do a couple of decades ago (I vaguely recall seeing boards like this).
Anyone tried this? Is there a clever way to go about it? I'll give the
copperset thing a closer look too.

Mick.

--
My email address is "micksa@", not "micksa-news@".
VOTE [1] CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR SPAMMERS

 

[Michael (Micksa) Slade]

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 20:19:10 +0000, Wayne wrote:

Okay, so. PCB making stuff.
- Ferric Chloride or Ammonium Persulfate?


Ammonium Persulfate is a pain, use what the manufacturers use - FC. I got
some from my board manufacturer - not too sure where to get small amounts
locally - I live in Sydney.

I've skimmed over stuff about all sorts of intereting etching cocktails
using HCl etc. I'll just stick to FC and AP myself

Shit, I can buy a batch of each and see how I go with each. I plan on
making a few dummy boards before I get to the real thing.

- I'm planning on buying a dremel drill with a routing table and drill
press. This should suit all my PCB cutting/drilling needs.

Going a bit overboard here I feel. I just use a cordless drill and
insert a small chuck to suit the very small drill bits.

I hope it's a small cordless drill

Mick.
--
My email address is "micksa@", not "micksa-news@".
VOTE [1] CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR SPAMMERS

 

[Michael (Micksa) Slade]

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 21:08:56 +0100, Mike Harrison wrote:

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 10:53:30 GMT, "Michael (Micksa) Slade" <micksa-news@knobbits.org> wrote:

BEGIN intro-blurb
I'm a computer programmer who's decided programming is kinda boring and so
I'm getting into electronics. I'm taking a uni course, buying loads
of parts and tools, and losing lots of sleep reading articles all over the
web and learning lots of stuff.

I live near Sydney, Australia.

I've been casually browsing this group for a while now, and I've decided
it's pretty pointless being shy about posting in here, since there are
plenty of posts here with surely less substance than I'm likely to produce
in my posts. So I'll try and be sociable in here, ask questions and start
discussions and see how it goes.

Please be gentle
END intro-blurb

Okay, so. PCB making stuff.

See www.electricstuff.co.uk/pcbs.html for tons of info


.
- I'm planning on buying a dremel drill with a routing table and drill
press. This should suit all my PCB cutting/drilling needs. I understand
cutting a PCB with a router is kinda slow and messy but it's cheaper than
a ~$700 shear/guillotine.
So anyway, is this a good idea? I can get it all for AU$300-400 from
justtools.com.au.

I wouldn't bother with the router - a Dremel won't cope with the axial load anyway. If you can't
afford a shear, a hacksaw is adequate. For small cuts, heavy duty scissors/tinsnips can be used.

What are the router bits for then?

What kind of axial load can a dremel cope with? How do you prevent from
damaging it by loading it too much? I have an old high speed drill here
that I've ruined by pushing sideways too hard with it

- gold plating (is that what they use for the contacts on PCI cards and
such?)

Probably do-able - there are DIY gold plating kits for jewellery etc,
but I'm not sure you could get enough durability with a DIY process

- multi-layer boards
Not practical.

You can get 0.4mm and 0.6mm thick boards. I'm thinking you could etch a
single-sided 0.6mm, a double-sided 0.6mm and a single-sided 0.4mm and
somehow stick them together to make a 4-layer 1.6mm board. Is this
feasible?

Okay, maybe I'm cutting ahead of myself a bit here since I HAVEN'T MADE A
SINGLE BOARD YET, but I'm still curious.

--
My email address is "micksa@", not "micksa-news@".
VOTE [1] CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR SPAMMERS

 

[Michael (Micksa) Slade]

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:20:56 +0000, Bob Stephens wrote:

Also, depending on the complexity of your board, it is often prudent to
bring it up in sections - power supplies, clock oscillators, micro,
communications, analog ... etc.

I've got that covered. A mate once worked at a design shop that
apparently went under because management were making too many technical
decisions. One of the decisions that I heard about was a project that was
put on one big board, roughly 14"x10" I think. The first thing that
occured to me when I heard that way "hey, that would be easier to
design/debug if it was broken up into smaller boards".

It rocks that many of the things I've learned as a programmer can be
translated to electronics.

Mick.
--
My email address is "micksa@", not "micksa-news@".
VOTE [1] CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR SPAMMERS

 

[Active8]

On Sat, 01 May 2004 12:40:15 GMT, Michael (Micksa) Slade wrote:

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:20:56 +0000, Bob Stephens wrote:

Also, depending on the complexity of your board, it is often prudent to
bring it up in sections - power supplies, clock oscillators, micro,
communications, analog ... etc.

I've got that covered. A mate once worked at a design shop that
apparently went under because management were making too many technical
decisions. One of the decisions that I heard about was a project that was
put on one big board, roughly 14"x10" I think. The first thing that
occured to me when I heard that way "hey, that would be easier to
design/debug if it was broken up into smaller boards".

It rocks that many of the things I've learned as a programmer can be
translated to electronics.

But you didn't indent your BEGIN...END block

Mick.

To expound on that, it's not that you *must* break your project into
smaller *boards*, but "bring it up" in steps. Granted, at times it
may be necessary to design and test systems as modules, but
eventually you may put several modules on one board. Even with a
single module on one board it is easiest to solder all the low
profile components firts other wise the high profile parts may get
in the way especially if surfave mount and throuh hole parts are
mounted on the same side. Start with the resistors. Stuff them in
the board and flip it over to solder. They're all the same height,
so the board will lay flay - I still like a board holder, BTW, but
this works. Next do the next tallest parts, say the disk caps. You
could do the ICs, being lower profile, butt...

No sense installing semi conductors if you haven't run up the power
supply and bias circuitry. So I'll get all the resistors and at
least the filter caps soldered, then any supply ICs and fire up the
power supply. If the supply was previously tested, I'll ohm the
board for problems and fire it up. Then I check the bias voltages
and IC supply voltages. Install the semis. I'll sometimes leave
components out between stages so I can put a load on on stage and
check it before going on to the next. Saves the hassle of lifting a
lead later.

HTH prevent frustrating problems later. And your right. Programming
*is* a bore. The results are nice though.
--
Best Regards,
Mike