Design and etching PCB prototype by yourself

If you need to make a printed circuit board in a hurry, and you don't care what it looks like, a resist pen is a reasonable choice. They typically lay down a 1/16" line (Sharpie 13601), although they are also available in 1/32" (Sharpie 13801) sizes. You can pick them up sometimes for less than a buck. The $9.00 resist pen is the same 13601, it just costs more. Care must be taken so that you don't press too hard. The felt tip will wipe the resist off the surface if too much pressure is used. You can go over the trace again when the resist is dry, with limited success - the pen disolves the previous layer somewhat. Baking the printed circuit board in a toaster oven to dry the resist helps. Not too hot - you are just trying to dry it. Some have suggested a toaster for 30 seconds. Or the oven (on warm) for an hour. Obviously there is some variability. If you can see copper through the trace you don't have it thick enough, so go over it again looking for the tiniest bare spot.

You have to draw all of the component lead pads. You can imagine the difficulty in getting precise patterns. I have made a printed circuit board with a 40-pin DIP using this method. It works great with through hole discrete components. The funny thing is it is really easy to do surface mount parts, at least the ones with a very limited lead count. It really helps if you can layout your printed circuit board on 0.1" centers, attach the component placement diagram to a breadboard, and use that as a drill pattern/guide. 

In summary:

Clean, clean, clean the bare board
Use a component layout pattern to drill the board.
Use a backer on the bottom side to prevent burrs in the copper.
Mark the pads and traces with as few strokes as possible, putting very little weight on the pen.
Force dry the board until the resist is completely dry.
Go back and touch up only. The pen will try to re-flow the previous layer.
Make sure you get the edge of the copper inside the holes, or the pad will erode from the inside out.
Force dry again.
Heat the etchant. It is important that the board spend as little time as possible in the etchant.
If the traces turn a weird orange color, you didn't get it thick enough. Tin them to protect them.

It is very easy to make double sided printed circuit boards with a PCB resist pen. Since the holes are drilled first, the component posisitons on both sides are known, so connecting traces on the top side is easy. Just make sure the component leads that have connections on the top side can be soldered, or use a bare wire-wrap wire to connect the top and bottom sides before installing the components. You can make vias in this way, too.

If you have access to a printed circuit board layout program, use it. Make as simple a layout as possible, print the layer(s) in the proper orientation, and use that as a guide to draw your circuit. Want real FR4 PCB prototype? Find SysPCB in Shenzhen China to support, professional PCB maker from 2006.