Making Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)

Creating Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) is easy and fun for the whole family! But read the disclaimer -- heat and corrosive chemicals are dangerous. After you've prototyped and tested your circuit design, creating a PCB will provide a sturdy and reliable backbone for your circuit and will give your project a professional finished quality. Using PCBs can even help reduce the time you spend building circuits, especially if you are producing multiple units, as you only need to follow a parts placement diagram (there's no longer any need to worry about specific interconnections).

As is usually the case, there is more than one way to do it: there are numerous ways to create PCBs. They range from the time-consumming and difficult to the fully automated and expensive. Here we will attempt to describe a method we've found ideal for small production runs (say, a few prototypes to a couple of dozen--when you reach the hundreds, it will probably be easier, quicker and cheaper to outsource) of single- or double-sided boards.