Fred

@@jpnorair What do you mean by "machine etching"? Do you mean isolation routing on a CNC mill or something else?

Nice to see others who think it's more fun to make your own rather than send off for boards (even though I'm sure it makes sense that way). I've been trying to get my first surface mount etched board done over the last few weeks but just don't seem to find the time once my son's in bed. I've CNC milled some through-hole boards before, but have just started playing around with photo-resist boards and ferric chloride as this combo seems the easiest way to etch.

Hi from a fellow Brit.

That's about the only think I might use one for. Not sure I'd go for a 24 but a 28 might be worth it. Also got the following update:

I know. First ArmHQ, then Stellarisiti, soon to be .... ;-)

The title should obviously be ZIF not ZIP. However, I don't seem to be able to edit it. Nevermind - you can if you use the "full editor".

Just had this via email from TI. I'm sure they'd be happy for me to pass it on. The big question is - what comes in TSSOP24 (apart from the AFE2xx mentioned)? I've mostly seen 20 or 28. I'm sure somebody will point out loads so I'm off to search now...

Make sure you post a picture of your final result. I'd be interested to see how it turns out. If you're looking to get some professional looking results I can thoroughly recommend adding your own solder mask - http://www.instructables.com/id/Dry-Film-Solder-Mask/ . I've only used it on a couple of CNC-milled through-hole boards but was very pleased how it turned out. I spent a couple of weeks in Chile snowboarding a few years ago and thought it was great.

It's definitely the cost. I was making a quiz show buzzer for my brother and had breadboarded all the discrete components. When it came to the soldering I just couldn't be bothered so coded a MSP430 instead. Then I realised that if I left it on the Launchpad I got USB connectivity to a PC for a nice UI. So cheap and easy it seemed daft not to. For anything serious or in quantity it would definitely be just the microcontroller though.

I did something almost identical recently - not the generation of pulses but the tacho part. My project is to count pulses from a water flow sensor to ensure water is flowing. I was actually trying out Grace to see if that was any good and it had 90% of the configuration done with a few clicks. (I'm not sure I'm a Grace convert yet though. It didn't help much with ADC and that's the bit that always causes me pain.) It's about as simple a tacho as you can get and I'll explain it from the basics. I'm not sure where you are on this, so ignore me if you're already past this stage. I declared

Most people (kennylin0309 in particular) understand the effort that goes into this site and running the store. It's a shame that there's the odd idiot that doesn't. Raising a PayPal dispute without checking is totally unreasonable. I think everyone is happy for you to do what makes your life easier. I'd agree that it's probably easiest to go with the international Fedex option so that anyone who really does want something can get it. Maybe alongside a "contact me if you would like an untracked international order" if someone is happy to agree that things can go missing. Would it help if so

I won an Up printer a while ago but must admit I haven't used it as much as I'd like and haven't had time to get used to 3D modelling packages. I've played around with 123D and that seems reasonable for free software. I found that OpenScad very useful for what I wanted to do - but that's the complete opposite end of the spectrum. It lets you script rather than design your models. As far as software for the machine goes I can't help. The Up is very much closed source so has it's own slicing and control software.

The ST dev kits always get me for minimum order fillers. I think I've got at least one of each (apart from the L1 that they just emailed me about). The M24LR Discovery is interesting if you want to pay around with NFC - it's kit for an EEPROM that can be accessed via NFC or I2C. Perhaps a little bit over filler price though.

I couldn't see any in the UK at first but noticed that Rapid stock them so I've now ordered one. (To answer the original question they're: 83.5 x 54.5 x 8.5mm).

The drilling is the easy bit as far as I'm concerned. I've previously CNC milled some small boards so that can go straight into drilling and the cutting out any shape I like afterwards with perfect alignment. The problem is that it's difficult to get a consistent shallow cut depth. That makes SMD tricky and the solder mask too thin over the tracks where it flows into the milled channels. There are ways I could improve my milling (height probing, etc.) but thought I'd give etching a try. I've seen the PCB thread and I'm sure I'll give one a try at some point, but I just like the challen

I'm glad you like it, and I hope you approve of the tweaks to your design to fit round the corner pieces.

I'm tempted too but I have too many boxes of things "just in case".

I'd be very impressed if you could build one. In fact I'll bet you as much gold as it can lift that it won't get off the ground!

Once they're gone - meaning probably around 2018. I'm not knocking the Chronos - it's a nice and fairly original dev kit / toy. It's just that they obviously have loads of stock. Why not just stick it at $25 and leave it there?

I'm sure many of you maye have got the same email, but in case you didn't...

If you need a close up photo of the booster board then let me know.

I may be stating the obvious, but have you looked at the Capacitive Touch Booster pack to see how that was done and if it gives any clues? What are you making? I'm at work so can't view the brd file at the moment.

I have seen a few recommendations for H2O2+HCl - and a few who say FeCl3 is better. I may give it a try later but I'll stick to one etchant and get that right for now. I only tried the Sodium Persulfate as it was included in a kit I bought.

As usual I'm inspired to crack the problem rather than put off by poor results. I'm going to order some citric acid, some better photoresist developer (sodium metasilicate pentahydrate rather than sodium hydroxide), some quality photoresist boards and some sodium bicarbonate to neutralise the ferric chloride before disposal. I'll definitely try your ziplock bag technique too.

Thanks for the tips. I did take a look at the pcbfx stuff a while ago. I don't have a laser printer and didn't really want to get one just for PCBs. It's not the cost because I'm sure you can get a cheap one on eBay but the space. I've already got an inkjet, transparencies and UV light for doing soldermask following this - www.instructables.com/id/Dry-Film-Solder-Mask/ The soldermask worked well so thought I'd use the same principle for the traces. I had heard that photoresist was generally better than toner transfer too. After I posted earlier I tried a different brand of sensitized board