Homebrew PCBs

I ran out of Staples Basic Photo Paper and purchased another box.  I got home, printed my circuit, and proceeded to iron on the circuit.  The back started to melt and it was a mess.  When I tried to peel the paper off of the board, most of it stuck on.  Now I found out that Staples has changed it's paper.  The old paper was item number 666176, 53lb, 9mm.  The new paper is 648181m 56 lb, 8.2mm.  The old paper worked very well, printed nice and peed off very easily.  The new paper sucks.  Guess it's either label paper or go to magazine paper.

Bill,

As has been mentioned in the Forum, Hp Presentation Paper seems to work well. The designation is:

Laser, Glossy, 34lb, Q2546A

I purchased mine at Staples and as I recall it was reasonably cheap for 300 sheets. This my my paper of choice.

My technique is:

	1. Tape the artwork firmly to the board so that the toner
	   is in tight intimate contact with the copper.

	2. Heat the assembly with a heat gun. Get it pretty hot.

	3. Pass through the laminator at highest heat setting.

	4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 four times.

	5. Soak board with warm water to which dishwashing liquid has
	   ben added.

The paper releases quite rapidly and with a little thumb rubbing you get a nice clean board. However, the paper seems to leave a grey haze on the traces. A stiff brush will take most of it away. I then use Pulsar  green foil to seal the traces before etching. My success rate is about 90%.

Baxter