From: "Tim Shoppa" on Tues,May 3 2005 10:22 am

Many years ago (like, 20) I bought many 24" x 24" sheets of
single-sided PCB that I've been using to homebrew dead-bug style and
for other activities like soldering together little shielded boxes.
Probably mail-order from Fair Radio.I'm sure I paid very little for
the
stuff at the time, probably a few bucks a sheet. Now my stash is
almost gone. Anyone care to recommend a good cheap supplier for
similar single-sided PCB? I'm not picky as to phenolic vs glass-epoxy
or whatever, I just need a good ground plane. Big pieces are good but
I can live with little pieces too.

Ebay might be good as someone else suggested. The best bet
for low CO$T material is to sweet-talk a PCB maker for left-
overs...if one is in your neighborhood. I've gotten fairly
good prices from www.circuitspecialists.com on double-sided
stock (comes in protective plastic envelope).

The stuff I got 20 years ago was, for some reason, pre-tinned. (Maybe
this is why it was so cheap?). That was nice because I don't have to
clean off my dirty fingerprints when coming back to a project after a
few weeks or a few years :-). Pre-tinned is a big plus.

Cleaning OLD PCB stock the "green" way -

Sprinkle any kind of table salt on the PCB stock, then take
half a lemon and rub it on the salt. Most of the blackened
oxide will disappear!

I tried that late last year on some 4" x 8" double-sided
phenolic substrate PCB stock after seeing all those "green"
site remarks that I didn't really believe. It WORKS! :-)
Those pieces had been sitting in the back of the workshop
for about 35 years.

I did "cheat" a bit. Have a year-round producing lemon
tree and my wife had some coarse salt left over from a
canning experiment. Zero cost trial...lemons at the
markets can run 50 cents each. The residue can easily
wash down the sink, don't need any gloves, nothing toxic.
Result is easily solderable although for best appearance,
some cleaning with a bleach-containing kitchen cleanser
will make it shiny and spotless.