good schematic / PCB design software

[Structo]

Are you saying a router removed the copper cladding on the board?
Things sure have changed since I used to draw circuits on boards by hand and then etch them in Tupperware containers.

[VacuumVoodoo]

As I understand it the router cut out a contour around each trace and excess copper foil was then peeled off.

[vibratoking]

I have routed copper boards with a manual milling machine in the past. I made quite a few custom GPS antennas this way. The geometry was much simpler than a typical circuit and I would never attempt to do a board with any significant number of components and traces. I had troubles with the poor flatness of the copper clad material. It made it a very manual process, but it can be done.

[husky]

I have routed copper boards with a manual milling machine in the past. I made quite a few custom GPS antennas this way. The geometry was much simpler than a typical circuit and I would never attempt to do a board with any significant number of components and traces. I had troubles with the poor flatness of the copper clad material. It made it a very manual process, but it can be done.

You used the wrong machine then, it works like a charm. I make tons of boards this way. The key is the right cutter a V bit and a machine that has a floating head that rides on the PCB face, that way the board variations are no issue and board is held down only with 3 pieces of tape. In fact they make a machine specifically designed to handle antenna work but I needed something much larger. This is the way the MITS works. Board thickness can fluctuate and is no problem this way. We even do surface mount prototypes all the time.
Here is a Marshall "mod" I just cut double sided 1oz copper, took about 40 minutes while I was working on something else. You heat the board with a heat gun and can peel the unwanted copper off, this does take some skill but only takes about 15 minutes for both sides once you get the hang of it. All wires are connected to eyelets and you can buy the board with a solder flow coat as I used here. I also use it to drill/cut eyelet and turret boards, great time saver and very accurate

Here is the ultra precise unit which can give you a .002" or trace or gap and has a floating air head so nothing touches the PCB, mine has ball bearing feet but it isnt an issue for my work.
http://www.mitspcb.com/edoc/fp21t_p.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpYhEEpfjQU