Homebrew PCBs

thanks for that..

will try tomorrow.
too late today, do you set printer to darkest?


st

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 16:52:35 -0400, Alan King <alan@...> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Just joined the group, mainly to share this for the moment.  If you've 
> tried the laser toner transfer and didn't get near perfect results, you 
> should really try it again with fusing it 3 times as below. It seems like 
> this would make the toner stay in the paper and be harder to transfer, 
> but it really makes the toner and outer paper surface become one, 
> transfer heat to the toner better, and then the outer surface tears at 
> the edge of the toner when removing the paper far better.  Also seems to 
> dry out or 'burn' the rest of the paper coating that doesn't have toner, 
> making it much less likely to stick to the board from ironing.  Nearly 
> perfect results and in the etch tank within 5 minutes of printing, I'm 
> now doing SO and TSOP surface mount boards with ease.
>
> First, take a look here in the PCB folder.  Might want to check in my 
> stepper and light folders too while you're there.  I have my own 
> intelligent 3 stepper controller and a few hundred stepper motors on hand 
> as well.  Also have a homemade CNC driller that reads the excellon files 
> from Eagle to drill boards.
>
> http://photos.yahoo.com/alantak69
>
> Fuzziness is from the camera not doing close focus very well.  Note that 
> the toner held the paper to it, the coating seperated at the trace edges. 
> No paper in the holes etc, and an excellent pattern in the trash paper as 
> well from the coating left on the paper.  Far better results than I'd 
> ever gotten with this method before.  All because I printed a couple 
> extra TSOP patterns by running through the printer again.  Didn't care if 
> the main board didn't come out, and it ended up working ten times better 
> than it ever did before.  This is using the JetPrint Photo paper and my 
> HP Laserjet 6l.
>
>
> No doubt most of you are familiar with this page:
>
> http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/gooteepc.htm
>
> I could make a useable board following this, but it was a lot of work 
> removing the extra paper etc and touching up the board.  Now it is simply 
> a matter of a few minutes ironing, then some hot water, then some cold 
> water, then peel.  Etching within 5 minutes or so.  My results are now 
> super and easy, where before it was a lot of work to get a useable board. 
> It's now so good that I had to share for anyone else not getting terrific 
> results..
>
> Rest of the message is cut and paste from a couple I sent to Tom with 
> more complete details:
>
>
> Hi Tom,
>
> Might want to try what I've described below, much improved results over 
> just fusing once.  Previously I'd assumed that having the toner fused as 
> little to the paper as possible would be best, but now I realize that the 
> extra fusing makes the rest of the paper much less likely to stick.  The 
> below method work about ten times better than it ever did before with 
> just a normal print, at least on my HP Laserjet 6l. Results are now as 
> good as any of the films, and no soaking just iron then wet then peel.  
> Actually I'll attach a pic or two, they're small. Fuzziness is from too 
> close with a normal camera, the traces are sharp. Note the white fuzz on 
> the toner, not only did the toner stay stuck it kept the paper with it, 
> almost no lifting at all.  May want to add it into your instructions so 
> people don't start off doing too much work..
>
> Alan
>
> Tom,
>
> No problem.  I had always assumed that sticking the toner more to the 
> paper would be a bad thing, but I happened to have a small test board 
> printed that I didn't care if it wasn't perfect when made.  I also wanted 
> to make a small test spider pattern for a 8 pin TSOP part, so to double 
> up I printed two on unused areas of the same paper.  Also didn't care if 
> it peeled a bit, so didn't wait and just peeled after putting under 
> water.  Lo and behold it worked much better than ever before, and after 
> the fact it wasn't hard to think of a reason or two why that might be the 
> case.  Made another board or two now, and trace edges are razor sharp now 
> too.  Still get some minor mashing etc if ironed too hard, but looks as 
> good as the commercial films, and even they have you soaking longer than 
> what I'm doing now.  I hardly even give it time to get wet and cool off a 
> bit before I start peeling.  It's quite good at TSOP level now, my 
> original boards a year ago could barely even do 16 mil traces ok with the 
> same printer and paper.  Just had lots of peeling traces and having to 
> pick at the stuck paper surface.  No more toothbrush hole cleaning!
> Also not even bothering to iron nearly so completely now, just iron a few 
> minutes pressing here and there to change the holes around and it works.  
> Only had a tiny little peel or two on the last board, and I really was 
> pushing it and didn't iron but a couple minutes or so, nowhere near a 
> thorough job.
> I am abolutely positive the commercial paper people already hate me 
> though, I have posted this to several places already, just finally 
> getting back to your page.   It was useable before but now it is hard to 
> see anyone ever buying a more expensive paper.
>
> Alan
>
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