Enabling option for 2 (two) PCB orders. Prototyping waste management.

PCBs are easy enough to make, in one-offs, when fine pitch breakouts aren't necessary.

Typical construction methods:
- Get a stack of two sided copper clad, preferably 1 or 2oz.  Cheap on eBay or etc.
- Cut to size with tin snips or a metal shear, or saw with a hacksaw, rotary tool or saw (there are specific blades/discs for fiberglass material, but carbide toothed blades work in a pinch; steel teeth work, but wear rather quickly).
- Optionally, sand the edges with wet-or-dry (bonded SiC) sandpaper.  Sand the face(s) with Scotchbrite, or steel wool or sandpaper or etc.
- Mark out the basic layout with pencil, or diagram it on paper or CAD, etc.
- With a utility blade or rotary tool, cut out the traces/pads/islands as needed.
    + Bonus: use a CNC engraver to do it straight from the CAM file.  Difficulty is getting it mounted flat enough for good results, may take some dialing in.
Optional: with the help of paste flux, tin the whole board.  Tinning makes it easier to solder subsequently, and it won't tarnish.  Downside: the surface is more uneven.
- Alternately, cut up a bunch of chits, and glue or solder them onto a (blank) copper-clad base board.  Also known as "Manhattan style" as multilayer structures can be built up like skyscrapers.

Both methods (cut out or stack-up) are useful for THT and SMT parts.  THTs, you'll be SMT-ing anyway; use the opportunity to form leads into useful directions.  Use axial resistors as jumpers (or their cut-off leads).  No need for a super tight layout (I mean, assuming the design doesn't require such in the first place), you have plenty of space to route jumpers above and around everything.

I find the construction process takes less time than doing a full EDA project, for most one-offs.  But, going from just qty 1 to 2, the economy drops off...rather quickly.  Or for larger projects (100s of components).  The chance of simply getting something wrong, or simply taking up a ton of space, goes up quickly with component count.  Plus you're probably needing thousands of connections, and fine pitch components, and screw wiring up all that noise by hand.

Here's a typical example, a discrete gate driver circuit.  Input on the right, a few transistors form a differential comparator, then level shifting, then buffering and driving to the left:



I've also drilled a few vias, which are filled in with solid wire bits and blobbed with solder on both sides.  So, they aren't too easy to see...  (For Manhattan style, vias aren't too useful as you always have an unbroken ground plane at the bottom!)


And, if all this sounds like way too much effort -- that's fine too, the cost of protos is basically nonexistent.  You sink way more time into drawing up CAD, than spend on buying it.  Even if you discount your labor nearly to zero.  Wasteful perhaps, but it's cheap material, not like we're running out of it any time soon.  Or, hey, welcome to capitalist consumerism, right?...

Tim

Easy: don't!PCBs are easy enough to make, in one-offs, when fine pitch breakouts aren't necessary.Typical construction methods:- Get a stack of two sided copper clad, preferably 1 or 2oz. Cheap on eBay or etc.- Cut to size with tin snips or a metal shear, or saw with a hacksaw, rotary tool or saw (there are specific blades/discs for fiberglass material, but carbide toothed blades work in a pinch; steel teeth work, but wear rather quickly).- Optionally, sand the edges with wet-or-dry (bonded SiC) sandpaper. Sand the face(s) with Scotchbrite, or steel wool or sandpaper or etc.- Mark out the basic layout with pencil, or diagram it on paper or CAD, etc.- With a utility blade or rotary tool, cut out the traces/pads/islands as needed.+ Bonus: use a CNC engraver to do it straight from the CAM file. Difficulty is getting it mounted flat enough for good results, may take some dialing in.Optional: with the help of paste flux, tin the whole board. Tinning makes it easier to solder subsequently, and it won't tarnish. Downside: the surface is more uneven.- Alternately, cut up a bunch of chits, and glue or solder them onto a (blank) copper-clad base board. Also known as "Manhattan style" as multilayer structures can be built up like skyscrapers.Both methods (cut out or stack-up) are useful for THT and SMT parts. THTs, you'll be SMT-ing anyway; use the opportunity to form leads into useful directions. Use axial resistors as jumpers (or their cut-off leads). No need for a super tight layout (I mean, assuming the design doesn't require such in the first place), you have plenty of space to route jumpers above and around everything.I find the construction process takes less time than doing a full EDA project, for most one-offs. But, going from just qty 1 to 2, the economy drops off...rather quickly. Or for larger projects (100s of components). The chance of simply getting something wrong, or simply taking up a ton of space, goes up quickly with component count. Plus you're probably needing thousands of connections, and fine pitch components, and screw wiring up all that noise by hand.Here's a typical example, a discrete gate driver circuit. Input on the right, a few transistors form a differential comparator, then level shifting, then buffering and driving to the left:I've also drilled a few vias, which are filled in with solid wire bits and blobbed with solder on both sides. So, they aren't too easy to see... (For Manhattan style, vias aren't too useful as you always have an unbroken ground plane at the bottom!)And, if all this sounds like way too much effort -- that's fine too, the cost of protos is basically nonexistent. You sink way more time into drawing up CAD, than spend on buying it. Even if you discount your labor nearly to zero. Wasteful perhaps, but it's cheap material, not like we're running out of it any time soon. Or, hey, welcome to capitalist consumerism, right?...Tim