Homebrew PCBs

Using my Brother HL-2040 Laser printer and its high temperature toner,
I've had my best results using pages from the Harbor Freight catalog
mailers.  The glossier ones from the ones that come loose-leaf, rather
than stapled, and tend to stick to the PCBoard after ironing.

I'm checking my iron temperatures with a digital meter that I got for
$15 at a local high-end organic food market.  It has an armored cable
and long probe intended to measure the internal temperature of
whatever meat is in the oven.  I start ironing when the temperature of
the iron lying on the probe reaches about 335 degrees F.

I apply moderate pressure to the board while ironing (actually,
picking up and moving the iron from place to place, at first, to make
sure that the image is tacked down.  typically, on a 3 x 4 inch
EAGLE-size board, I iron for about a minute.  Then, I let it cool, and
then soak in water for a few minutes.  With the not-so-glossy
lithographed paper, sometimes the paper will readily peel off in one
piece, more or less.  With solid ground planes, not so easily.  I
concentrate on getting the fuzzy fibers out of the copper areas,
rolling them off with my finger, and don't bother with the toner
areas, except to touch up the traces with a Lumicolor red pen where
needed.

I'll be adding a couple of recent etched board photos to my folder
shortly.

Regards,
Ted

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "kilocycles" <kilocycles@...> 
wrote:
>
> Using my Brother HL-2040 Laser printer and its high temperature 
toner,
> I've had my best results using pages from the Harbor Freight catalog
> mailers.  The glossier ones from the ones that come loose-leaf, 
rather
> than stapled, and tend to stick to the PCBoard after ironing.
> 
> I'm checking my iron temperatures with a digital meter that I got 
for
> $15 at a local high-end organic food market.  It has an armored 
cable
> and long probe intended to measure the internal temperature of
> whatever meat is in the oven.  I start ironing when the temperature 
of
> the iron lying on the probe reaches about 335 degrees F.
> 
> I apply moderate pressure to the board while ironing (actually,
> picking up and moving the iron from place to place, at first, to 
make
> sure that the image is tacked down.  typically, on a 3 x 4 inch
> EAGLE-size board, I iron for about a minute.  Then, I let it cool, 
and
> then soak in water for a few minutes.  With the not-so-glossy
> lithographed paper, sometimes the paper will readily peel off in one
> piece, more or less.  With solid ground planes, not so easily.  I
> concentrate on getting the fuzzy fibers out of the copper areas,
> rolling them off with my finger, and don't bother with the toner
> areas, except to touch up the traces with a Lumicolor red pen where
> needed.
> 
> I'll be adding a couple of recent etched board photos to my folder
> shortly.
> 
> Regards,
> Ted
>

I have a  Brother HL-2040 as well, im still using the toner that came 
with the printer, is the toner you use the sample that came with it?

can you tell me what settings you use and what toner i should buy?

-Cheers

I'm still using the Brother toner, although I used up the
limited-supply cartridge awhile back.

One slight clarification on the Harbor Freight catalog page
paper...it's actually not non-glossy, in the sense that newsprint
would be, but it's not "slick glossy" like some magazine pages are. 
Harbor Freight must use two diffent printing companies for their
loose-page flyers, and their stapled catalogs.  I did try a truly
non-glossy ad from the newspaper (Sears, I think), and I acheived very
little toner transferred to the PC board.

The results from the Harbor freight stapled catalog pages are much
better than the Press N Peel work with the Brother laser printer. 
However, Press N Peel using a photocopier, even a small Canon copier,
produces the best overall transfers I've been able to make, with one
problem: wrinkling of the plastic media around the steam iron holes. 
I just bought a $5 iron at Goodwill that has very small holes,
compared to the one I had been using, which had trenches leading up to
the holes.  One of the guys in the group, either Myc or Stefan, I
think, went so far as to cut a piece of aluminum the shape of the iron
plate and used JB Weld to attach it to the plate.  No holes at all,
that way.

Cheers, Ted

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "loco_labs" <burning_you@...> wrote:
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "kilocycles" <kilocycles@> 
> wrote:
> >
> > Using my Brother HL-2040 Laser printer and its high temperature 
> toner,
> > I've had my best results using pages from the Harbor Freight catalog
> > mailers.  

---snip---

> 
> I have a  Brother HL-2040 as well, im still using the toner that came 
> with the printer, is the toner you use the sample that came with it?
> 
> can you tell me what settings you use and what toner i should buy?
> 
> -Cheers
>

--- kilocycles <kilocycles@...> wrote:
>... with one
> problem: wrinkling of the plastic media around the steam iron holes. 
> I just bought a $5 iron at Goodwill that has very small holes,

use a paper towel 'buffer' in between and move the iron...

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