Paper wise, staples photo seems to be the praised the most (although some people have used magazine paper, etc.), its $15 for 100 sheets.

so that’s what, $100 in startup costs, plus the tweaking until you get the process right.

or you spend that $100 on a cheap exposure unit (MG Chemicals do one for $55 or you can homebrew one out of MDF and a fluorescent light fitting and photoresist exposure fluoro’ lamp for about the same), a bottle of developer ($10 if that), and some PCBs (eurocard size precoated should be about $10 each, less if you’re buying in quantity). oh, and the acetates — office supply store, $20.

as far as i can see, cost-wise, they more or less match up.

it cost me £400 to start doing photo-etch, then £160 for my sheet-metal shear (it’s better than using a dremel to cut PCBs, far less dust), but admittedly I went a bit mad.

i don’t want to start a flamewar here, i’m just pointing out the facts as i see them. also, the prices are in USD as that’s what it seems most people around here are used to…

I gave up on this years ago anyways, I never need to make a PCB at 3am. I just export my Eagle file to expressPCB and get a perfect double sided board with solder mask in about a week or two for the same price as me screwing around for an hour to make a board, then etch, then drill, then do the nickle plating.

Each method has its strengths and weaknesses.

- Toner: cheap and easy setup, low per-board cost, can be time consuming and frustrating especially on small clearances (good equipment helps a lot).
- Photo-etch: better resolution without much practice, but setup cost and per-board cost are higher.
- Inkjet: fastest processing time by far (hit print, bake for 5mins, etch), quite high res., per-board cost is low if you buy ink in bulk. Initial setup however can be tricky (pcb alignment, timing issues, etc.)
- CNC: highest setup cost, very low per-board cost (depends how long your bits last), slow for complex/large boards, but can give you the most complete product (edges routed and holes drilled). Average resolution.

(these are generalizations from my experience with a low hobby budget)

I’ve heard the Staples Picture Paper works great from many people. Haven’t been to staples in a while.

Wonder if I could fab a board printer from an old paint jet.

I switched to photo-etch earlier this year (using a Mega Electronics 8-bulb double-sided exposure unit with a vacuum system built in) and I’ve gone from having a ~40% success rate on fine-pitch SMD to nearly a 100% success rate. I think it’s actually working out quicker (for me) to go from CAD to a photo-etch PCB, and it’s certainly less effort to do double-sided boards (a photographic lightbox is a BIG help here, as is a roll of B&Q foam tape to hold the transparencies in alignment).

FWIW, I’m using the Jetstar acetate, a Canon iP4600 printer, Mega’s own “Microtrak” laminate (but the CIF stuff also works OK) and the Seno roll-on developer (because it’s easier than setting up the developer tank for a 30 second dunk).

Put simply, it works for me…

(If you’re going to do this, it’s also worth getting a step gauge and setting the exposure properly…)