One reason I don't do alot of photoboard etching anymore is before those things are so damned expensive. Can anyone recommend any suppliers in the U.S. that sell these for cheap ($5 and under would help).
I use www.circuitspecialists.com and get very good results with the presensitized board stock they supply. In this case, your criteria of $5 or less is going to depend on the board material (phenolic or epoxy/glass), single or double-side copper and physical dimensions (length x width). They do have various combinations of sizes & materials which come in at under 5 bucks per board.
As for the quality, I recently used F15T-BL blacklight tubes (or as they call it "an exposure unit") at six inches and 90 seconds exposure time with artwork on transparency film from a photographer. I left the developer cool from the storage cabinet so it wouldn't develop too fast and overdo it. Then I etched it in [warmed] ferric chloride solution. It produced some of the best boards I can ever remember making.
JB
Okay, I'll have to bookmark that. I've been getting mine at Fry's Electronics, but after taxes and whatnot, it's closer to $8 or $9. I guess that's not much to worry about, but it seems a little jacked up for a little bit of copper.