Homebrew PCBs

Yes, braking fluid does the same.
I was only able to do a single test with propylene glycol so far but it  
seems to work even better (needs confirming).
You can also get a similar effect if you smear around the old ink from a  
failed attempt instead of cleaning it off completely.

But still i need to use the highest ink density setting, while Volkan  
seems to need much less.

ST


On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:06:12 +0200, jam5411 <mardock@...> wrote:

> Back to the PC boards and the inkjet process - I have struggled for
> two days trying to produce another PC board but to no avail until
> about an hour ago.
> A little history if what transpired first. I seems that everytime I
> fed a cleaned PC board into the inkjet I would get very small pools of
> ink - the ink was not dispersing on the PC board. (I remember
> distinctly not seeing that on the sample resolution board I had made,
> photographed and uploaded.) Upon etching the resultant board would,
> with magnification, have runs that looked like a childs connect the
> dots puzzle. In other words were ever there was one of these small
> pools there was enough ink that when cured would be a fine resist. But
> adjacent to these pools there was not enough ink remaining to form a
> resist. What had I done differently on that test board? I went back
> through the process over and over in my mind, yes old minds work a bit
> more slowly... I found the wipe that I had used in the trash, it had
> the consistancy of a lint free paper towel that I used as a final wipe
> (after dipping in iso alcohol) but seemed different. Well what I had
> done was grab a dried out "Simple Green All Purpose Wipe" that had
> been laying on the bench from who knows what. Quickly I prepared
> another test board and as a final wipe before inking the board used a
> new Simple Green wipe. Viola the deposited ink laid absolutely smooth
> on the PC bd stock. Cured it, etched and CNC'd, ready to stuff now. I
> can remember thinking at the time I was getting the small pools that
> some kind of surfactant was needed but what to use. I am not a chemist
> , so cannot explain why this works, just glad it does! I am also sure
> that this is not the best answer either but it sure a step in the
> right direction. Perhaps some of you that are more in the know can
> come up with a better solution?
> If any one wants pics let me know and I will take some and upload.
> John