What is considered the best laser printer that can print the darkest, most precise printing for developing PCBs with photo resist?
My current printer is "okay" for this but not great. Looking for top of the line or close to it.
My current printer is "okay" for this but not great. Looking for top of the line or close to it.
Casey's Laser Film
Most of my printing is for boards with SMD parts with as small as .65mm pitch. I use an old HP4100 that had the daylights beaten out of it for years in our office. It has taken a well-earned retirement in my den. I set the resolution at the highest, 1200 dpi ProRes, and the toner density at 5, also the highest. (The Resolution Enhancement setting is irrelevant in ProRes). Set up this way I could not obtain acceptable, consistent results. My frustration led to the interweb where I found Casey's Laser Film. The film is expensive at $.41/sheet, but I think it is worth it. I use it with Casey's Ultra Black, an aerosol spray applied to the toner side of the print after it comes out of the printer. The difference between printing with and without the Ultra Black is remarkable and it alone may solve your issue. Both are available at Homepage of Caseys' Page Mill -- Home of Caseys' Translucency . If you have more questions, let me know.
Regards,
George
Most of my printing is for boards with SMD parts with as small as .65mm pitch. I use an old HP4100 that had the daylights beaten out of it for years in our office. It has taken a well-earned retirement in my den. I set the resolution at the highest, 1200 dpi ProRes, and the toner density at 5, also the highest. (The Resolution Enhancement setting is irrelevant in ProRes). Set up this way I could not obtain acceptable, consistent results. My frustration led to the interweb where I found Casey's Laser Film. The film is expensive at $.41/sheet, but I think it is worth it. I use it with Casey's Ultra Black, an aerosol spray applied to the toner side of the print after it comes out of the printer. The difference between printing with and without the Ultra Black is remarkable and it alone may solve your issue. Both are available at Homepage of Caseys' Page Mill -- Home of Caseys' Translucency . If you have more questions, let me know.
Regards,
George
Sorry, I meant the actual printer, not the transparency film, but i'm open to recommendations on that too.
Casey's Ultra Black
Ultra Black works for me, makes an amazing difference. Down side is that it contains just about every carcinogen known to man. 😱 This makes shipping expensive.
Thimios, a frequent poster on this board, has shared his process several times. He uses "white Spirits" to spray on the film. My understanding is that white spirits and mineral spirits are supposed to be similar, but mineral spirits from "home depot" does not work. 😕
As for printers, I use a Canon "image class LBP6670dn" with good results (when used with Casey's Ultra Black).
Bill
Ultra Black works for me, makes an amazing difference. Down side is that it contains just about every carcinogen known to man. 😱 This makes shipping expensive.
Thimios, a frequent poster on this board, has shared his process several times. He uses "white Spirits" to spray on the film. My understanding is that white spirits and mineral spirits are supposed to be similar, but mineral spirits from "home depot" does not work. 😕
As for printers, I use a Canon "image class LBP6670dn" with good results (when used with Casey's Ultra Black).
Bill
I just ordered the ultra black + their transparency films. I'm going to give that a try first, if the results aren't as good as i'd like I'll also look into replacing my printer.
I don't know about "best" but a lot of folks have been pretty happy with the ancient old HP LaserJets, like a 4P.
mlloyd1
mlloyd1
Update:
Yes that transparency film and spray made a HUGE difference. I am getting perfect prints and transfers now. Definitely recommend to any serious PCB designer. Thanks!
Yes that transparency film and spray made a HUGE difference. I am getting perfect prints and transfers now. Definitely recommend to any serious PCB designer. Thanks!
You have alternative way to take a high contrast image.
Open the pdf file.
Save this as jpeg.
Open the jpeg in the "word publisher" or other software)
Slide the contrast button at the maximum position.
Save this as pdf again.
Go to a "copy shop"
An A4 "mat polyester trunsperant" is my choice for film material.
A photocopy by a good color machine (in black&white) is the final step.
No other chemicals then.Tested!
REMEMBER folks, the Ultra Black spray should really be applied out-of-doors. Doesn't matter how nice of a ventilation system you have … just walk outside, downwind of your abode, and spray away.
Although it is hard for “ordinary mortals” to purchase, (well, its not: I see there are a dozen or more offerings on EBay for under $15/l) ethyl acetate is an excellent solvent that has the 'trifecta' of qualities that would do a good job for blackening-up one's laser prints.
[1] melts/dissolves plastics
[2] relatively high boiling point
[3] not particularly mobile
Because of #1, ethyl acetate finds ubiquitous use in women's fingernail polish formulations and just as ubiquitously in the automobile/vehicle custom paint arena. Makes for "paints" that are tough solutions of plastics and pigments, instead of emulsions of watery solvents and globules of resins.
Because of #2, the solvent doesn't evaporate very fast. Also helpful… meaning that it sticks around long enough for #1 to happen with the lighter-density plastics.
Because of #3 (which is related to viscosity, too), the stuff doesn't tend to run, or rapidly expand from where it might be sprayed on. Stays put. In this way, it is like spirits-of-turpentine, which has very similar properties: stays put, modestly high boiling point, dissolves a wide variety of obscure organic compounds.
Even though the stinky-stuff police have been trying to outlaw good ol' Spirits of Turpentine for ages, it is still quite available at most hardware stores. As is this wonderful concoction known variously as 'varnish thinner' or 'epoxy thinner'. It has a veritable soup of multisyllabic constituents that couples all the solution-of-plastics theory to the cost-effective and tolerably-toxic limit. Xylene, toluene, ethyl acetate, naphtha, amyl alcohol, diisopropyl succinate, and more.
____
MYSELF… I use an old (but tireless) HP–3600dn (color) printer. I've found that with careful-but-light-handed placement of a sheet in the external tray (Tray #1), I can easily and repeatably overprint a sheet a few times with very low registration problems. That, and I hand-select the "Extra-Heavy" paper option for the tray. This slows down the paper-path mechanism to about ⅓ speed, and it turns up the power on the fusor (hot rollers that fuse the little bits of toner plastic together).
Instead of its brilliant 17 ppm, the printer slows down to 5 pages per minute. Who cares? Its not like the PCB art is being printed by the hundred-sheet!
This technique is also good when using the now-accepted-and-commonplace hack of double or triple printing onto those very crâppy but common weekly coupon magazines that are free-delivered to everyone. Save, save, save! Using a paper cutter to carefully cut out 8.5 × 11 sheets, the double or triple-printed art then can be transferred to the PCB with an old clothing iron. 30 seconds of heat, on freshly scrubbed naked copper. The cheap paper (made from recycled newsprint, so the fibers are really weak and small) then just washes away with warm water and a bit of rubbing with one's thumb. Great PCBûllsnot can be made in minutes. No photoresist, no developer.
But again - in my experience - one does need to overprint the art a couple of times. 3 is even better, tho' the chances of getting the registration spot-on declines. I've been able to do 0.5 mm pitch rules however! 2 passes of the printer. Maybe only 1 in 3 sheets works … and who cares? Its not like I'm trying to save the paper, or the toner.
PS: if you attempt to do the hot-iron-transfer method, take a look at YOUTUBE for videos. They're pretty good. And show how its done. And don't forget to have a really-fine "sharpie" pen to fix up the little gaps that somehow creep into the adhered toner print. (You can also fix 'em with wire-and-solder, but … its harder, and why?)
GoatGuy
Although it is hard for “ordinary mortals” to purchase, (well, its not: I see there are a dozen or more offerings on EBay for under $15/l) ethyl acetate is an excellent solvent that has the 'trifecta' of qualities that would do a good job for blackening-up one's laser prints.
[1] melts/dissolves plastics
[2] relatively high boiling point
[3] not particularly mobile
Because of #1, ethyl acetate finds ubiquitous use in women's fingernail polish formulations and just as ubiquitously in the automobile/vehicle custom paint arena. Makes for "paints" that are tough solutions of plastics and pigments, instead of emulsions of watery solvents and globules of resins.
Because of #2, the solvent doesn't evaporate very fast. Also helpful… meaning that it sticks around long enough for #1 to happen with the lighter-density plastics.
Because of #3 (which is related to viscosity, too), the stuff doesn't tend to run, or rapidly expand from where it might be sprayed on. Stays put. In this way, it is like spirits-of-turpentine, which has very similar properties: stays put, modestly high boiling point, dissolves a wide variety of obscure organic compounds.
Even though the stinky-stuff police have been trying to outlaw good ol' Spirits of Turpentine for ages, it is still quite available at most hardware stores. As is this wonderful concoction known variously as 'varnish thinner' or 'epoxy thinner'. It has a veritable soup of multisyllabic constituents that couples all the solution-of-plastics theory to the cost-effective and tolerably-toxic limit. Xylene, toluene, ethyl acetate, naphtha, amyl alcohol, diisopropyl succinate, and more.
____
MYSELF… I use an old (but tireless) HP–3600dn (color) printer. I've found that with careful-but-light-handed placement of a sheet in the external tray (Tray #1), I can easily and repeatably overprint a sheet a few times with very low registration problems. That, and I hand-select the "Extra-Heavy" paper option for the tray. This slows down the paper-path mechanism to about ⅓ speed, and it turns up the power on the fusor (hot rollers that fuse the little bits of toner plastic together).
Instead of its brilliant 17 ppm, the printer slows down to 5 pages per minute. Who cares? Its not like the PCB art is being printed by the hundred-sheet!
This technique is also good when using the now-accepted-and-commonplace hack of double or triple printing onto those very crâppy but common weekly coupon magazines that are free-delivered to everyone. Save, save, save! Using a paper cutter to carefully cut out 8.5 × 11 sheets, the double or triple-printed art then can be transferred to the PCB with an old clothing iron. 30 seconds of heat, on freshly scrubbed naked copper. The cheap paper (made from recycled newsprint, so the fibers are really weak and small) then just washes away with warm water and a bit of rubbing with one's thumb. Great PCBûllsnot can be made in minutes. No photoresist, no developer.
But again - in my experience - one does need to overprint the art a couple of times. 3 is even better, tho' the chances of getting the registration spot-on declines. I've been able to do 0.5 mm pitch rules however! 2 passes of the printer. Maybe only 1 in 3 sheets works … and who cares? Its not like I'm trying to save the paper, or the toner.
PS: if you attempt to do the hot-iron-transfer method, take a look at YOUTUBE for videos. They're pretty good. And show how its done. And don't forget to have a really-fine "sharpie" pen to fix up the little gaps that somehow creep into the adhered toner print. (You can also fix 'em with wire-and-solder, but … its harder, and why?)
GoatGuy
I know this is a relatively old post, but wanted to comment on the Casey's product.
The first two places online i found it were selling for $13/can + $13 s/h.
I found one place selling for $9/can + like $8 s/h:
https://www.atlasscreensupply.com/ultra_black_fixative.htm
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