Newsgroups: comp.robotics,sci.electronics
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!hookup!nic.hookup.net!xenitec!focsys!heinz
From: heinz@focus-systems.on.ca (Heinz Wolter)
Subject: Re: Double-sided board plating?
Message-ID: <Cz60MG.4D1@focus-systems.on.ca>
Organization: Focus Automation Systems Inc.
References: <529@yak.ca.boeing.com> <Cywquo.IrI@zoo.toronto.edu>
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 1994 17:30:15 GMT
Lines: 24
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.robotics:15283 sci.electronics:107916

In article <Cywquo.IrI@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <529@yak.ca.boeing.com> tpd6908@yak.ca.boeing.com (Tom Dickens) writes:
>>A question:  What possibilities are there for plating through
>>the holes on a double-sided circuit board, which can be done
>>in the basement (or garage)?
>
>Basically, it can't be done in your basement.  Not if you want reliable
>results that you can *use*, as opposed to a demo that more or less works
>sometimes.
>
>Convincing copper to stick to the insides of the holes is tricky.  Making
>it stick reliably and consistently requires fussy control of things like
>temperature and solution chemistry.  It's just not a basement process.

I agree, and wish it wasn't so... The old fashioned way - like DEC used
to do for flip-chips and such is to use very small rivets! An interesting 
approach but tedious. These day's I'd rather do a small circuit in SMT
chips and try to use through hole components for vias... For the amount
of work involved, it's really not worth it. If you've got 100-300$ there
are at least a dozen places that will fab proto qty ds boards - so it takes
2-3 weeks.

heinz

