Homebrew PCBs

Herby,

The only potential flaw I see with that process is the substrate you 
will transfer to. It must be able to tolerate the heat during the 
transfer process.  Color lasers work fine for toner transfer, I have 
done it several times here for PCBs and other things.  For 
durability, you will need to spray a clear coat on as you were 
thinking about.  Sorry, can't recommend anything in particular there 
but do some testing first.  I suspect some of the clears might 
disolve the toner and cause it to bleed.  Probably one of the most 
promising is a water based polyurethane - very durable and as water 
is it's solvent, shouldn't cause any bleeding etc.

I will be doing some experiments this weekend for something similar, 
but the substrate I have in mind is very questionable so I am not 
expecting things to go good for me.

Chris



--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "herby1620" <herby1620@...> 
wrote:
>
> While not strictly a "PCB" topic, it does relate to something used 
for
> making PCBs.  I was thinking (dangerous, you know) about making a
> front panel for another project.  Given that I desire "nice" 
artwork,
> and have access to a laser printer, I was wondering about using 
laser
> transfer methods (print to laser transfer "paper", iron on front
> panel) to make a nicely designed front panel.
> 
> A couple of questions:
> 1)  How well do the laser transfer methods work?  I'm assuming that
> one takes the transfer and makes it work on a PC board with an iron
> (or some heat source with pressure).
> 2)  If I can get a color laser printer, would I get color 
transfered
> as well?
> 3)  Quality?  Would it look "reasonable" for the task?
> 4)  Durability?  I was thinking of coating the whole thing with 
some
> clear spray to make it last.
> 5)  Am I making any sense?  Is this idea a whole waste of time and 
I
> should look to something else?
> 
> It seems to me that the transfer method would make for the ability 
to
> have nice artwork/legends on my finished "box".  While I am not 
going
> to dunk the "box" in some resist, the transfer method should be
> similar, thus the questions.
> 
> Thanks for any feedback.
>