making pc boards

[trespasser_guy]

Ok, I used some kind of really waxy paper, printed it, ironed it, and soaked it in water until the paper fell off. I now have most of the transfer on the board... unfortunately, some things fell off.

Should I get a pack of dry transfers and fill in the missing places or should I use something like the RadioShack resist-ink pen to draw in the missing spots?

[uvodee]

I use a, in my eyes, simple method.

you take HQ photo paper (Kodak or similar)
then print the layout on to the paper by means of a real LAZERPRINTER (like the HP L5 lazerprinter) not a lazerjet.
te print quality should be highest to be sure that the ink is built up on the paper!

clean the pcb , by first lightly scrubbing it with a scotschbrite, after clean it with some acetone (nailpoishremover). Rinse and dry!

stick the printed paper on the pcb (printside against the copperside.
Iron for some 5 minutes not releasing the iron, constantly putting some pressure on it. NO STEAM please!!!

after that you peel the paper of, if it does not come off right away, happens a lot, just soak it off with some hot water .

I have made a few already and it seems to work just fine.

tha tricky part for me is the etching itself, i use the rocktype, after the powder burnt a hole in my cooler!

J-P

[Christer]

Originally posted by uvodee

you take HQ photo paper (Kodak or similar)
then print the layout on to the paper by means of a real LAZERPRINTER (like the HP L5 lazerprinter) not a lazerjet.
te print quality should be highest to be sure that the ink is built up on the paper!

This seems somewhat inconsistent. As I understand you
one should use a laserprinter, not an inkjet printer, in which
case it is not really ink at all on the paper, but carbon toner.
Is that correct?

Anyway, it sounds like an interesting method to try. Thanks
for the tip.

[jackinnj]

I'm going to try it. An laser printer fuses carbon black to the paper. The photo-paper has higher resolution capacity than regular old cellulose paper.
All the DIY processes have frustrated me when I try to thread a 10 mil trace between IC pins.

[trespasser_guy]

Some of my toner fell off on some parts, though with this method... do I use the dry transfers or resist-ink pen to fill them in? How can I repair it? There are holes in my traces too...

[uvodee]

Originally posted by Christer

one should use a laserprinter, not an inkjet printer, in which
case it is not really ink at all on the paper, but carbon toner.
Is that correct?

i could not believe how easy it was untill my first pcb with this

the link (with all the info) is as follows

www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/gooteepc.htm

i did not follow his advice on the photopaper, I use whatever I have in my cabinet, usually HP or Kodak

J-P

[Synapse]

uvodee-

a quote from your link

"Glossy, coated paper has been found to work very well, since the coating on the paper will separate from the paper, when soaked in water. "

=>this is the paper I use and it never fails, always able to transfer all the toner to the PCB. I iron it, let it sit and then put it in water to let paper dissolve. Then rubb gently with scotchbrite to leave a bit of paper on the toner. Finally eatch it...

Never failed, from PS PCB's to SMD PCB's

[uvodee]

yes, I said to soak in water didn't I?

but it also sometimes happens that the paper will loosen by itself. However, I soak with extremely hot water. no problems.

i have never used and micro designs, far too complicated for a simple guy like me, who is happy with a passlab amp!

J-P

[moe29]

i use Press-n-Peel

http://www.techniks.com/

just print your circuit on mirror image setting

put Press-n-Peel paper in a copyer or laser printer,
print it.

iron it on to your copper board

peel it off under running water

etch that bad boy... used it this last weekend
to etch my BOSOZ boards... like a charm!

not sure how well it holds up with very fine tracing...
but most AMP tracings are on the large side, at least
that i've seen.




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moe29
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[AuroraB]

For those of you that photocopies the drawing to the PCB, there is a product on the market , in Europe at least, called Laserstar, which does an excellent job for fine traces. Have used it quite extensively for SMD. Laserstar looks to me exactly like the slightly matte plastic drawing film we used for ink drawings back in the early 80-ies.....

Two laserprinted transparents atop of each other somehow does the job, but the film stuff gives better contrast and saturation in the blacks.......