Homebrew PCBs

This comes in a pack of 25 sheets for $13.99 at Staples - so far the
only place I've seen it. It's 'synthetic', so it's basically a
'plastic' paper. It's extremely thin, as well.

After a little testing I found the best way to transfer is to run it
through a laminator (I use a GBC Creative 9", the $50 one from Staples
that sometimes goes on sale for $30, since I etch brass sheet and not
PCBs) about 3 times. Then to remove the paper, you need to run it
through again and start peeling about 3" after the metal leaves the
laminator. Too hot, and the toner sticks mostly to the paper. The
distance would probably be different for PCBs due to the different
dissipation of heat from the core compared to solid metal sheeting.
Let it cool down just a little, and start to peel, and about 90% of
the toner transfers. I'm sure with practice I could get better results
(the second test I did came out quite well). I made copies on the
Xerox DocuColor 12 that many Staples stores seem to use. I'm hoping I
can encourage more people to test it on different brand printers. I
tried running it on Transparency mode to see if I could get more toner
to coat the paper but the copier just jammed.

http://www.fenrironline.com/test-transfer.tif

Left it as a TIFF to keep the quality as brass doesn't scan well. The
tranfer isn't as nice as it looks - there's a lot of pinholes going on
which I think is the nature of Laser technology and why you need to
use the green TRF film from Pulsar. It's not an issue for me as long
as it only causes pitting, as I use the other side of the brass for
most of the work I do but I know with PCBs that the coat needs to be
pretty solid. I wonder if there's anything else that can be used like
TRF film. I've heard exposure a slight amount of xylene fumes might
'melt' the toner enough to close the pinholes. Not sure if I want to
go that far. I'm going to test it with different color toners next to
see if that changes anything.