Homebrew PCBs

>trim<

> Getting back on track here, I thought, why not use toner transfer 
for
> silkscreens? So I gave it a shot, and it worked! You can see some 
photos at:
> http://thompson.homedns.org/PCB The toner didn't stick very well in 
a few
> places but I thought it was pretty good for a first attempt. I just 
cleaned
> the board with a green kitchen pad before ironing on the artwork. I 
probably
> should have roughed it up a bit to help the toner stick, I'll try 
that next
> time. BTW, the printer I am using is a dodgy old OKI 4w LED "laser" 
printer
> and magazine paper.
> 
> Also, thanks to Dal Wheeler for the great guide he has on his web 
page! It
> helped me out.
> 
> Thanks,
> Dean

That's pretty good results for a first time! 
Did you do anything special for the large copper area? As I mentioned 
in a recent post, when I print the large area, the toner isn't dark 
enough and I have to go over it with a pen- or I get etch through 
and 'pitting'.

I've been TT'ing component print layer for a while now. Somthng you 
might want to try is "Jet PRINT PHOTO Multi Project Paper Gloss 
Finish". Yes, it's made for inkjet printers. Yes, I run it through my 
laser with no problems. It's not as good for the etch resist layer 
because it tends to leave lots of pinholes in the toner. But it's 
great for the component outlines because it releases *very* easily, 
and doesn't leave all that fuzzy white paper bits. FWIW, this works 
great on front panels too.

Two problems I havent been able to overcome:
I can't get a good layout transfer to the copper side of the board-
including the component side of a DS board. Seems the paper won't 
conform to the uneven surface. 

While you can wash toner off copper many times and try again, when I 
tried that with the bare board it left toner impregnated ito the 
fiberglass. Not smearing like I've seen when using acetone or lacuer 
thinner (where the solvent attacks the board) but just a ghost of the 
first attempt. Since then I've adopted a "it better be right the 
first time" policy for the component print.

Good luck, and keep us posted.
-Denny