Homebrew PCBs

Hello,

Many thanks to Chilliismyweakness and Myc for your very helpful
replies. It's good to get confirmation that it's not just me that has
problems with the Brother toner. It's also good to hear that the HP
P1005 model works well.

As it should turn out, I opted to get a HP 1020 printer instead of the
newer P1005 model. I found some testimonials on this list and/or on
the web that the HP 1020 was good for toner transfer. Fortunately, a
nearby Dick Smith Electronics had a couple left in stock for $59 each.
The price was right, so I snapped one up.

Just as was the case for Chilliismyweakness, I enjoyed success on my
very first try with the HP 1020. What a relief that was after
countless tries with my Brother 2040 laser printer.

For what it's worth, I took the following steps:

1. I printed my PCB design (using the HP 1020 printer) onto a piece of
magazine paper. For the benefit of those reader's in NSW/ACT AU, I
used the Open Road (the NRMA's newsletter). This is quite thin, shiny,
smooth paper. I used sticky tape to affix the magazine paper to a
standard piece of A4 paper. Only one piece of tape was required, along
the leading edge of the magazine paper. I then printed on the A4
paper/magazine as if it was an ordinary piece of paper.

2. I cleaned my blank PCB very well using a scourer and some Jif.
After rinsing the board clean, I cleaned it with a soft cloth and
isopropyl alcohol. I then dried the board.

3. I heated up my unmodified GBC Creative Laminator (also available
from Dick Smith Electronics/F1424/$40). I then ran the blank PCB
through it (copper-side up) to make sure it was really dry and to warm
it up a bit (to help the toner 'take' quicker).

4. I then put the printed PCB paper face down on the PCB and ran the
board/paper copper-side up through the laminator. I repeated this 8
times. By the second pass through the laminator, the toner was
starting to fuse with the board (so the paper no longer moved or
slipped).

5. Finally, I put the board into lukewarm water. Very quickly the
paper began to disintegrate. After 10 minutes of soaking, I rubbed off
the paper with my fingers until the fused toner was visible.

The results were outstanding. The toner was really well fused to the
board - indeed, I was surprised by just how resilient it was.

A couple refinements to the process have come to mind. I plan to try
these out when I get the chance:

A. Experimenting with how many passes through the laminator are
enough. Eight passes gets a little tedious, and who knows, 4 might do
the trick. Determining the optimal number will require some trial and
error and some patience.  (I might also modify the laminator to slow
it down at some point, allowing the transfer to be done in a single
pass).

B. Using a little Kapton tape to hold the pattern (magazine paper) in
place on the blank PCB. This, in particular, would make feeding small
boards through the laminator a lot easier. The Kapton tape should
easily withstand the temperature of the laminator.

I hope this information proves helpful to someone, and many thanks
again to those who replied to my original post.

Best wishes,

Luc