this weekend im on a arduino serial kick, I'm making a couple of single sided iv got Eagle files for.........but was considering just how difficult it would be to make the double sided Version 2.
First impressions are its going to be tricky but doable, but then there are though holes!
Can i not just connect the top and bottom pads with a bit of wire going vertically though the board?
yea you can just use a wire to create via's
I have done that once with photo resist on a dual sided copper board and wires through holes for vias. It worked surprisingly well when I did it but it was a simple board.
I can't think of many issues you could have with this. 
Mowcius
I can't think of many issues you could have with this.
;D don't say that so fast, I pride myself on being the totally inept one round here!
Ahh well I was a newbie at most arduino related stuff just under a year ago so I'm sure you will learn pretty quickly once you have hung around the forum for a bit.
Mowcius
Sigh diy boards look fun, I just wish I had a toner-based printer. I thought about going to the local copy shop and trying it, but then I remembered that they won't exactly let me put my own paper through their printers...
Sigh diy boards look fun, I just wish I had a toner-based printer. I thought about going to the local copy shop and trying it, but then I remembered that they won't exactly let me put my own paper through their printers...
Isn't there some college printer you can use or something. Surely someone you know has a tonor based printer...
Mowcius
Strip a long piece of wire and lace it through a bunch of the holes. It'll hold itself in place while soldering. Then clip everything flat.
That's a good tip.
I will have to try that next time I do something like this
Mowcius
Laser Printers are so much more efficient than Inkjet from an "expendables" point of view and you get the added bonus of being able to home brew PCB's. Sounds like it's something you could save up for.
If you DESIGN your own dual sided PCB's, by far the best approach is to design it basically as a single sided board with wire jumpers. While the single hole short wire vias are not so hard to put in initially, you may find that rework, or work NEAR the vias may cause them to fall out if you make the solder molten. That's way some people use a small RIVET method. See here: http://www.megauk.com/through_hole_rivets.php
its been a really really long time, since I did this, but kinkos would copy your stuff onto transfer paper, specificly made to be printed in a toner machine and ironed onto another surface
it was kind of expensive but ...
I personally dont like messing with them, yea they give products a finished touch but for 1 off boards its more hassle to fool around with the toner, making prints, transferring it, washing it, etching it, and now what do i do with this nasty etch stuff, washing it again, drilling holes, just to screw up rip a pad and start over
when I get something designed worth producing a pcb Ill be using those pre coated boards setup, least it takes some of the pain out of pcb's (well its going to have to be that way anyway, my laser printer had a nasty fall while moving last year, and I just havent gotten around to the thrift store to grab another 15$ beater)
Yeah I suppose with something like batch PCB, for a small setup cost you can have prototype boards done that will be worth your money for the time they will save.
Mowcius
The technique you describe works fine for vias, but you can have problems with the top-to-bottom connectivity that would be provided by the plating on component pads, since not all components allow access to the top of the board for soldering. Consider the socket used for the AVR, or the ICSP connector, for example. 
Also, the current crop of SSS Arduino's (SSS.3 and my 0.9x) have additional "enhancements" (bigger pads, fatter traces) designed to ease amateur fabrication. The v2.3 double-sided serial arduino would be harder to do in a home shop for reasons beyond just the plated through holes.
Isn't there some college printer you can use or something. Surely someone you know has a tonor based printer...
Actually, no. I've asked around, and nobody has a laser printer (or at least no one has one they'll let me use ;D).. Are inkjets cheaper to buy?
Sorry for taking this off topic :P. Back to DIY vias!
Are inkjets cheaper to buy?
yea theres a large inital cost difference, but a laser is cheaper to own in the long run
course the counter to that argument is you can buy basic model ink jets for about the same cost of the stupid ink, which, if nothing else keeps you current
do a google search for direct inkjet pcb printing, you can do it, but its a heck of a hack, and requires a more expensive (but off the shelf packaged) type of ink (polymer vs pigment, research to find out cause I cant remember), the advantage of all this is you print directly to the pcb
[edit]heres a hackaday link http://hackaday.com/2009/09/02/direct-to-pcb-inkjet-printing/[/edit]
I just read an interesting page on off-the-shelf printing PCBs. If anyone's interested, here it is:
Apparently any ink can be cured in an oven to be etch-resistant :O!
yea its a matter of pooling and sticking in the different inks
just cause it can be cured does not mean its a 100% path from point A to B
Just go buy a laser printer on eBay. I got an old HP Laserjet which works reliably and came with toner for just 10 EUR (approximately 14,35$ acoording to google).
People seem not to like sending Laser printers by mail very much, so in my case there were many "Pick up only" auctions which ended in a very low price.
For prototyping... the Toner Transfer process is really not that annoying. I have mine down to series of steps I can do as time permits. I have to say, I actually enjoy the process because I design my boards myself so I get the pleasure of turning my "electronic artwork on the screen" into something "tangible" that does a task I want done.
if you wish to do toner transfer PCB, then check the Homebrew_PCB group on yahoo - lots of good info there.
HP's P1006 is a good toner transfer printer and cost is usually less than $100. You might find something less used.
Good luck - making PCB's is fun... and double sided isn't "too" bad.
Ken H>
