printing PCB art from expressPCB Q?

[nightingale]

i am having trouble printing PCB art (express PCB)that could be used with PNP blue!
all of my prints have the "grid" and "yellow outline" on them. which would ruin the transfer.  
is there a way to print out a useful PCB ready for transfer? or should i use photoshop instead?
thanks,
~ryanS

[bwanasonic]

It doesn't seem like it will let you turn these off for printing, but one workaround is to drag all the corners of the yellow outline onto the upper left corner, "collapsing" the rectangle into that one spot. Then in options, set the grid spacing to 1 (1").  That's all I could come with, but hopefully someone here knows the *right* way to do it  :wink:

Kerry M

[nightingale]

thanks~
that took care of the "outline". but the dots/grid still print in the small size, even when the 1inch is selected.
i just tried messing with the colors e.g. making the grid/border white, but the dots are still all over, and still black...  :evil:
i guess thats the gig. you have to send your design to them.
i'll keep trying tho,
~ryanS

[Ed Rembold]

Check out my post- ExpressPCB into Paint,
(next page or so)
There, Charlie gave me tips on getting the layout into MS Paint, where you should be able to do what you want with it.
Personally, I'm happy to have ExpressPCB make my boards, as they are beautiful.
hope this helps,
Ed R.

[BILLYL]

CHECK OUT THIS SITE - COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO DO IT.


http://www.robotroom.com/PCB.html




HOPE IT HELPS

BILLYL

[nightingale]

wow~
good results! thank you very much! saved me a few hours, i had just begun making component footprints in photoshop.
best,
~ryanS

[bwanasonic]

Personally, I'm happy to have ExpressPCB make my boards, as they are beautiful.

Is this feasible for very small quantities (like 1) ? I have a few projects in mind that push the upper limits of what I want to do with perf. What could I expect to pay for something about the complexity of a TS808?

Kerry M

[Ed Rembold]

IMHO, it is not cost effective for 1 opamp circuts.
and there is a minimum of 2 boards per order.
check out their website for more details. I believe that their mini-board service is 3 boards for $63.00.
As boards get more complex,  and your quantity goes up- they get
cheaper.
There is no way I'm gonna etch and drill, a 20 IC board.
Ed R.

[Peter Snowberg]

I've used ExpressPCBs miniboard and production serives. I have been very happy with both. When you take the cost, time, and toxic waste hastles away and add the fact you can get plated through holes, SMD pads, exact spaceing, tin plating over plated copper, excellent registration, clean drilling, and 100% success rate.... using a proto service can be very economical.

If you tile multiple designs onto one of their 3.8 x 2.5 protoboards, the cost per design can get pretty cheap. You can score the boards with a carpet knife and snap them apart. Edges clean up easily with a belt sander and fine grit paper.

You can always try selling a set of the boards to recoup some of cost.... then again you might want to build a design multiple times, or with multiple component changes.

The real savings at ExpressPCB comes at 50 units.

I've never used http://www.futurlec.com/PCBService.shtml before, but they are even cheaper.

I'm sure ExpressPCB makes the dots mandatory to stop people from using p'n'p DIY products.

-Peter