1/32 Moebius Cylon Raider Part 10

Just got the board back today. This was the fastest job they have ever done. But because of my design, a lot of tracks were still un-etched. Which, I suspect that they used tracing paper instead of positive film. In order to do a positive film you have to take the image in negative and then turn it into a positive image. A process which takes a lot of time and costs more money. On the other hand, using a tracing paper is fast and cheap.

There is also a reason why they did not use FR4 boards (fibreglass). In fact, there are several reasons:

1. FR4 boards are very hard to cut to size.
2. You need expensive 0.8mm tungsten drill bits as FR4 boards can blunt a normal drill bit after drilling one and a half hole.
3. Tungsten drill bits needs hi-speed drills.
4. They are also fragile and if you are not careful when it snaps (usually unexpectedly), it becomes a flying splinter.

Unfortunately, out of the two boards, only one came out well. The other had many underdeveloped and broken tracks. But the one that is 'OK' needs worktoo as some of its tracks are also underdeveloped. I could get them done professionally but it costsRM54.00 each. For 1 inch x 0.5 inch, I don't think so.

Compared with the earlier revision, both of them are of the same size. What I did was to redesign the board to accept the bigger SOIC chip. I don't like it either but
I've had it with the SSOP chips and the stupid adaptor.