Tonerless PCB Etch Resist (Direct to PCB Method)

So, here's a test board I did using vinyl, chilipeppr and my 1watt laser at 400mm/sec... TQFP32 ATMega328P...

The vinyl etch resist before etching.....

And after etching... I could probably do better with the etching, but I was in a hurry.. =)

I'm pretty happy.. I'll do more documenting on how I achieved these results soon...

Ok.. so I have been spending a LOT of time getting this process hammered out... and tweaking my shapeoko2 to do it, etc.. Not to mention I just bought the shapeoko and had to build it and get it working.. lol.. Maybe I'll make a writeup for the special case I made for the power supplies and everything.. I tricked it out pretty well, with a TFT display and a microcontroller just for handling everything including the laser/spindle pwm, etc...

Anyway... Here's where I'm at mostly...in pictures...

A board that was exported to gcode from eagle with pcb2gcode.... loading into chilipeppr.com...

closer...

A pcb in the shapeoko2 with the laser going to town on it... (don't do this at home... vinyl produces nasty chemicals while being cut... you might get sick or worse.. it's not my fault if you do this in a non ventilated area and so on..)

The board after the laser has made its cut..

The board after you've peeled back the parts you don't want...

closer....

The same board after being etched.... (I'm not good at this yet... haha... and I want to switch from ferric chloride to h2o2 and muriatic acid soon)

The same board again but plated...

closer....

And now being reflowed with the LEDs on it.... (This is just a test board... )

And a closeup after being reflowed... :)

And.... powered up connect to a micro....!

Works great..! =D