[HomeBrew] Simple PC board layout method?

[hwhall at compuserve.com]

Does anyone know of a very simple means of laying out a PC board, perhaps something like a library of parts footprints that can be pasted into a drawing program (e.g. Photoshop, Paint)? I know there are a lot of layout editor programs but the reviews say some have fairly steep learning curves. I just need something really basic that can output an image that will work with a system like the Press-N-Peel method by Techniks. That's the process that transfers laser printer toner onto the PCB copper using heat from an iron or oven. The toner acts as the etch resist.


The circuit I'm working on is a one-sided board and all through-hole components. Five CMOS chips and a dozen or so passive components. Eventually, I'll probably end up making a couple dozen boards but not all at once. The circuit is simple enough that I figured if there was an image library of true-scale copy & paste DIP, transistor, etc., pads that any drawing or image editing cabable program could complete a lands & traces image (e.g., Paint, Photoshop, Powerpoint).

I may end up trying Pcbexpress's freeware or Diptrace, but if there's a more basic approach, I'd like to find it.

Thanks & 73, 

Wayne WB4OGM