Homebrew PCBs

Hi,

I gotta disagree with the last statement - I've tried several inkjet 
printers and two laser printers and the inkjets blow away the lasers 
for this application. The feed mechanism of the inkjet printers is 
extremely accurate - it needs to be in order to achieve uniform 
printing without banding. As such, my measurements have shown that a 
full page board can be produced where every trace is in exactly the 
right position.

On the other hand, a laser printer works with a heater and charged 
drum. The medium is thus prone to thermal size changes. 
Additionally, the feed can be very non-uniform for transparencies. I 
tried several experiments using both Sharp and HP laser printers and 
neither was appropriate for PC board printing.

In addition, the inkjet is far better at producing dense areas of 
black, like you'd get on a board with large ground planes. With a 
laser, you tend to get a washed out black that has pinholes - not so 
good.

-Ted

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Ned Seith <seiths@e...>" 
<seiths@e...> wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> I use "3M Transparency Film for Canon and Epson Ink Jet Printers"
> which is about 75 cents per sheet.
> 
> I use this film with an Epson Color Stylus 400 and have 
successfully
> produced fine pitch SMT circuit boards.
> 
> While this method works with careful trace width selection, a laser
> printer would be desirable.
> 
> Ned