Nice rundown Bradley-
I will only add that some shirt-tail related hobby or enthusiast sites
have worked well to "seed" my problem solving. The experience of like
minded people can open unexpected options. A recent example for me is
the use of optical grade substrate cleaners for other
lamination/coating applications.
I found references on an amateur astronomy site calling for the use of
a substrate cleaner, designed for chip manufacture, to clean mirrors
and lenses. The same needs are present for a clean, residue free,
substrate but the "solutions" are not. It may be a blind alley but it
is at least an option I had not considered before now.
For me, a private blog can become too mired in meandering opinion and self examination; but a public themed web "community" helps focus the conversation and attract similar participants. Whole blogs are full of ways to make this work...
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. - Albert Einstein (trad.)
Star_E