need printer suggestions

[sss]

hello guys
i want to buy a new printer that will make better results with typing the pcb layout on transparancy paper ....
the one i got right now is not making it dense enough , so light still goes trough the ink ..

[Geek]

Lase printers are getting fair inexpensive now.

Samsung has a color laser that's probably as low as prices go - slightly more than a comparable inkjet!

[dnsey]

You can pick up a second-hand monochrome laser printer for next to nothing (exactly nothing, if you're lucky!). Make sure that there's plenty of toner left before parting with any money - it will cost more than the printer's worth to refill.

[sss]

money is not the problem ...
do u think that the laser printer can print on transparancies so the ink will be dense enough and the light wont go trough?

[jleaman]

Originally posted by sss
money is not the problem ...
do u think that the laser printer can print on transparancies so the ink will be dense enough and the light wont go trough?

Some can some can't you want to be careful with this. Why do you want to print on transparancies ? Why not get iron on transfer paper. ?

[sss]

Originally posted by jleaman



Some can some can't you want to be careful with this. Why do you want to print on transparancies ? Why not get iron on transfer paper. ?

did u try the transparancy method? its much more accurate

[jleaman]

Originally posted by sss

did u try the transparancy method? its much more accurate

yes i did thus why i said it was not that good. I tried. So i used press on peel off stuff and it works 100% better.

[Nordic]

Are any of the cheaper lazer printers able to print straight onto board or cards like many buble jets?

[Lyra]

My exeriences so far...just transfer done, no actual etching yet. No pictures of the result either...my digital camera is "somewhere else"...

I have allways done this the old way with photoresist in the past, but this is time consuming and boring.
I figured out that I should try the "toner transfer method".
I got hold of the paper that was referred to as the best in a danish site some time ago (the one with the PCM1730 DAC designed by Lars Nielsen...)

The first laser-printer I tried was HP LaserJet 1010 and this one does NOT!!! work. It was allmost impossible to get the toner off the photopaper. Some places it became rather OK, and other places no trac at all.

The next printer I tried was an "older" Lexmark E210. This one was perfect. The toner sticked to the board, and the paper slipped away after 3 seconds !!! in water.....JUST PRFECT !!!!

So, there are definitely BIG differences when it come to laser printers when it come to this kind of use.
Think I should try the paper sold in ordinary grocery stores here...meant for printing of pictures in "standard" (6" x 9" ?) small format. This could be just perfect as my free copy of Eagle can't print out bigger formats anyway...

Lyra

[mzzj]

do u think that the laser printer can print on transparancies so the ink will be dense enough and the light wont go trough?

Performance can vary a lot depending on toner cassette. Its more about getting right toner casette than right printer.

For example I have stone-age Canon LBP-8III and something like 5 toner cassettes. 4 of them prints out just like most lasers do, but one refilled&recycled puts out denser black than orginals.

If you want to get REAL black and real sharp masks, try some local newspaper or printhouse that has offset printing equipment.
They should have special negative film used in offset printing. I just send board files for them in PDF or PS and pick them up later. Beats any laser printout by a factor of 5.