I did it!!!, but...

[cobainlives_05]

I just etched my first pc board and it turned out great!!!  But, now what size drill bit do I use to drill the holes, the smallest I have is an 11/16 and it is twice the size of a lead, is this bad?  And also, at Radio shack they don't have 1/4 stereo inputs, so could i just solder the two negatives to the one pole in this picture?

http://www.geocities.com/j4_student/electra2.gif
(on the bottom left of the picture)

Its like that so that when a plug is inserting it is turned on and off when removed, would it just work to use a mono input like i stated???

Thanks!!!

[Peter Snowberg]

  Congratulations!

You can use a larger drill as long as you still have some copper pad left to solder to. Drilling was always my least favorite part of making PCBs, so I just started making everything surface mount instead and stopped drilling. If you do that, just remember that you will have to flip some component directions. This is only a problem when you use chips. Transistor circuits are much easier to deal with.

You can use a mono jack (soldering the black wires together), but you will also need a power switch or you'll have to disconnect the battery when not in use. RadioShack jacks die quickly so I would suggest only using them for prototyping and then changing to a Switchcraft #12B for the input and a Switchcraft #11 for the output as soon as you can.

Take care,
-Peter

[Bill_F]

I would definitely get some smaller drill bits. On a lot of PCB transfers the pads are so small that you would wipe them out with and 11/16.
I use 0.8mm for pads and 1.0mm for wires and sometimes sockets (depending upon what kind I have, the legs are thicker on some brands). I'm not sure how that converts to sizes that aren't metric. So I guess I'm not sure if I have helped.
One other thing. If you can, get some spare bits. They seem to break regularly. Steve at SmallBear sells 10 at a good price.

[Gringo]

I use a 1mm drill bit for everything, attached to an old scavenged electric motor from an open reel tape recorder, with a momentary switch to turn it on.

Oh boy, am i having fun or what!!