Circuit Board Printing

[AbbaRue]

Does anyone know of a cheap place to get circuit boards made up.
I need double sided boards about 6" x 6" made up with few parts.
A price estimate would be nice.
Thanks.

[magpie]

Hi AbbaRue,

You can buy cheap copper clad board on Ebay, and can make your own circuit boards quite easily using a laser printer (Brother printers will not work! they are too efficient for this). I made several PCBs lately using the laser printer method and it works great, look it up on Youtube.
Basically, you make sure your circuit diagram is the right size and then print it on glossy or lustre paper on the highest resolution possible and on a heavyweight paper setting (I use the cardstock setting), you then cut out the printout and place it onto the copper board. Then, you put heavy pressure on it for about 30 to 60 seconds with an iron on its highest setting (mine goes to 200 celcius and works well).
Next, you soak it in water for a while until the paper rubs off easily without pulling of the printed toner.
I use a very thin luster paper that works okay, though it could be better, the problem with heavy glossy papers is that they contain a lot of plastic whch can stick to the iron, pulling off all your work when you try to remove the iron.
Anyway, after the paper is removed and if the board looks good, you can do any necesarry touch-ups with an etch resistant sharpie or marker (the etch-resistant sharpie seems to be just like a normal one),
and then you etch it. I have used ferric chloride but I don't like it as it is slow and nasty, a faster option that is gaining popularity is to mix muriatic(hydrochloric) acid with hydrogen peroxide, this apparently etches very quickly and can be used many times. When the etching is finished, wipe of the toner with acetone or another good solvent and drill the holes, I use a Dremel with a 1/64 bit.

[AbbaRue]

@magpie
Thanks for that info.  I never heard about using a laser printer before.
A laser printer is what I use for my computer. 
Don't link ink printers because the print head tends to dry up if not in use for a long time. 
Hydrochloric Acid is easy to get at hardware stores and I have the hydrogen peroxide.

[llewgnal]

Does anyone know of a cheap place to get circuit boards made up.
I need double sided boards about 6" x 6" made up with few parts.
A price estimate would be nice.
Thanks.

I make my own dbl sided 6x9 that I get from Mcmaster, they are pre sensitized like film, just use printer to print circut on transparencies, using pcb artist program, one transparencies for each side with reference targets on outside of each, UV black lite bulbs, I use 6 little ones, 3 ballasts, 5 min exposure each side, then develop in potassium hydroxide solution of 1 tsp to 1 litre cold water, then etch in hydrochloric acid and house hold peroxide, solution of 1 part hydrochloric acid to 3 peroxide, ACID into WATER slowly...,ready to etch, takes about 15 to 20 min to etch, don't get discoraged if u lose a few pcb's the first time,I hit the right mix the second time.
  Good Luck
P.S. pcb artist program gives u the option of having them make the boards for you if you like,transmit over internet,they help you correct things also.
If you would like to try check out my youtube "llewgnal" channel , check out etching videos.