[sdiy] PCB making: how to get a transparent foil with real black lines?

[Czech Martin]

I'm considering to buy an etching machine as well as UV light source.
It's a bundle, some saving.
I remember that 20 years ago, when I made my first PCBs,
the transparent foil was the issue. Or really: the black
areas on it. Because I couldn't manage to make them really 
black, so there was some light comming through and this made the photo
process very instable.

Now, 20 years later there are things like ink-jet printers,
or laser printers, but my experiment showed that at least the HP870
ink-jet couldn't make really black lines. So much for that.


Is there someone out there how can propose a better method
to get a layout on film?


You may ask "why not using a comercial service?".
Well, I think they take EUR 40 - 50 for a single sided,
160x100 mm^2 PCB, that's about 4 times what the materials
cost! The PCBs would in this case determine system cost.

m.c.