Quote Originally Posted by Kitwn View Post

I've been successfully using the toner transfer method for PCBs for some years. I prefer surface mount components myself (easier than drilling all those exactly spaced holes) where the spacing between tracks can be only 0.6mm for SOIC chips. Have you any experience of cutting PCBs for SMD components? I'd be interested to see how the two methods compare.

Kit
I enjoy NOT having to deal with chemicals any more. In my opinion, it is just as fast to mill than to etch, if you take all the parameters into account. I have done a few surface mount PCB but prefer hole mounted parts. It's simply easier to handle and also to read the values and correct mistakes in design.

Drilling is really a non-issue, that's done accurately by the CNC, so it really doesn't matter. What is important is that the job can be restarted and repeated from the start because it does happen that the dill snaps and some times I don't see that before the job is done. This is especially the case with 0.6mm drills, I find them very easy to snap.

Anyway, SOIC is just fine but you need a good CNC with high enough accuracy and repeatability.