Homebrew PCBs

On Sat, 2007-01-20 at 15:42 +0000, niponcio wrote:
> What I do is peel off the labels and then print on the shiny side of
> the sheet (where the labels were). 

I tried it just now, with a piece of board off-cut (not cleaned, only
sanded briefly and half-heartedly with 600 density wet'n'dry).

Result - after just 2 passes through laminator, I have a spotlessly
perfect transfer, and the paper just falls off. And the process takes
less than a tenth the time that I was spending with the old painful
print-onto-card, soak, rub, soak, peel-with-tape, soak, rub,
pray-I-don't-damage-toner process.

Niponcio, you're a genius.

(Now, if only I'd seen that post yesterday, before I put in all those
hours producing 24 boards.  *%$&%#! @#!@*!^&#)

I've put some comments below.

> I use an iron to make the transfer (a lot of guess work but
> managable).

Use a laminator - 2 passes and you're done.

> - The advantages are:
> No soaking or need to remove paper fibers after transfer.

Hell yes - that's the most painful step.

> - Tips: 
> 1.- DO NOT BUY full page labels , at least when I did the paper was
> cut in three big sections and it was useless, try other sizes (the
> bigger the better, less peeling ), the new labels I bought are 3 1/3"
> x 4", six labels per sheet, pres-a-ply 30604, AVERY 5164.

No problem here. Shop for a brand of labels where the full-page labels
come with the backing sheet in one piece. I'm using a local brand of
labels (Impact - www.labelnz.com/lc.html) where the full-page label has
no breaks in the backing paper.

> 1.- I would like to use this paper with a laminator, if anybody does
> please let me know how it went.

Brilliantly - 2 passes through laminator gives 100% perfect transfer.

> 2.- Try different label brands, the coating of my old labels works
> like a charm, with the new ones Im in the process (ironing trial and
> error) to get at least some temp and time specifications.

One last question - what made you think of trying this?
It's the mark of genius - so simple and effective. I'll be using it from
now on.

Thank you SOOOO much for such a wonderful pain-saving and time-saving
idea! And I'm sure I'm not alone in this sentiment!

David