Homebrew PCBs

My toner is for a Brother multifunction laser printer. It is a third 
party cartridge. I think the issue is similar to the one with the hot 
methods, in that the process needs to be optimized for the particular 
toner.  I tried various combinations of acetone and denatured alcohol 
just on some printed patterns, to see what would make the toner run. It 
took the 1:1 mix to really make it work. I just got a cartridge from a 
different third party, and I have yet to try it. I suspect that some 
experimentation will be in order.


On 10/5/2016 8:56 AM, Rob roomberg@... [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:
>
> Acetone... ONE to ONE?
>
> Wow.
> when I increased my acetone to anything more than the 16 drops 
> aclcohol to 6 drops of acetone I had
> drastic resutls real quick where the toner just instantly disolved and 
> washed away.
>
> WHAT IS YOUR TONER from ? Mine is HP laserjet
> IS YOUR TONER FROM a BROTHER laser printer?
>
>
>
> On 10/05/2016 12:56 AM, Harvey Altstadter hrconsult@... 
> [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:
>>
>> Alan,
>>
>> I use a mixture of 1:1 Acetone and Denatured Alcohol.  Both from Home 
>> Depot. Both are inexpensive. Skip the grain alcohol, except for 
>> celebrating your results. I run a film of the mixture onto the board, 
>> and then put the artwork down onto the wet film. I let it sit for 
>> about 20 seconds and then press down. While I am waiting the 20 
>> seconds, I flood the top of the artwork with more of the mixture. At 
>> that point I run a brayer over the board in the x and y directions 
>> for about a minute. By that time, the board is usually pretty dry. 
>> When it is completely dry, I drop it into the sink with some water, 
>> and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. I peel off what ever peels 
>> off, and then rub the rest off with my fingers. The paper I use is 
>> the shiny, but not coated brochure paper. I tried to use some form 
>> the Viking River cruises catalogs we get once a week, but the paper 
>> was too thin for my printer.  The purpose of the brayer is to improve 
>> adhesion, especially at the edges of the pattern. I bought a 6 inch 
>> one on ebay for a few dollars. I was floored that first time I tried 
>> it this way. I had had success without the brayer, but always had 
>> issues at the edges of the artwork.
>>
>> Harvey
>> On 10/4/2016 4:46 PM, alan00463@... [Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:
>>>
>>>  Tried the "cold toner transfer" process today using what I had
>>> at home, acetone and 80-proof vodka (40% alcohol by volume) for my 
>>> solvent.
>>> Printed the PCB artwork on standard, white, office paper using my HP 
>>> Laserjet. Using the 8:3 mix and didn't get any transfer to the copper.
>>>
>>> So I dabbed the solvent onto the other toner patterns on the paper
>>> and let it set half an hour before I tried rubbing it off again.   
>>> Still wouldn't lift off the paper.   D'OH!   I forgot to print it  
>>> onto something slippery.   So I printed four patterns on Oracal 651 
>>> vinyl for another go at it.
>>>
>>> Did everything according to the video, but the part where the paper 
>>> and plastic are supposed to peel off the board, leaving the toner 
>>> still sticking, failed miserably.
>>>
>>> So I added another capful of acetone to the bottle, put the cap back 
>>> on and shook it up, and tried again.  No results.
>>>
>>> I repeated the above two sentences about three more times.   Still 
>>> the toner did not detach from the Oracal.  So I let put a few drops 
>>> of solvent onto a different piece of Oracal with a toner pattern 
>>> printed on it, and let it sit about half an hour.
>>> Then I could rub the toner off with my thumb, but it took a good bit 
>>> of pressure to lift the toner from the plastic.
>>>
>>> This was my first try to use the  "heatless" toner transfer.   I think
>>> I'll buy some 100% ethanol (grain alcohol) and try again later in the
>>> week, unless somebody has a better idea.
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>