Hello Sir Ted,
I do believe that you will have to find your 'own way'
in getting good results. And I further believe that
your new printer will work out fine...it's just that
you will finally come out with your own 'style' in
getting that toner to come out right on the PCB.
Here is my story and that way I came up with my own
style...
I read a lot of post here, and finally decided to buy
a laser jet. I also bought a pack of laser
transparencies, being that others had tried that
method. But I did not buy inkjet transparencies, as I
was told. I just didn't want to mess up my new printer
with putting things in it, that could possibly stop it
from working.
So...I worked on that all night long...and the best I
got it...was partial toner on the board and partial
toner still clinging to the bottom of the
transparency. Well, after 6 hours or so, patience was
starting to leave...and I was getting tired.
Right before I decided to go to bed (being around
4:30AM!), I realized I still had some HP Inkjet Photo
Paper left in my drawer. I took a gamble, since it was
not recommended for laser printers.
And would you believe, on the very first try...it came
out unbelievably well! If I did step out on a little
faith, it would never have happened.
My advice to you, is to go through the whole gambit,
and use all the advice here on the board, together
with your own 'good medicine'...and never let your
patience leave you. It will happen, it's just a matter
of time.
I strongly believe that your new printer is just
'waiting' for you to give it the right medicine it
needs! That's all...
Here is the medicine I came up that my printer
needs...
I found out on my printer controls that a real dark
setting can be achieved...so I put it on that. Then
when I got through making my PCB layout in my Paint
Program, I made eight copies of it, in the program.
That way, my sheet of HP paper will have eight designs
on it...being that I could experiment eight times with
my iron...on a single sheet of HP paper. I used
sizzors to cut each one out.
When the HP paper finally came out of the printer, I
noticed that the first few designs were not fully
printed out. I am trying to say that, the toner was
not fully saturating middle areas of my routing
design. So I actually used the 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and
eight copy of the design. Number 1 and 2 and 3 seemed
not to have enough toner in the middle areas of the
design. That is just the way my printer wants to work.
I had to see that for myself. So using the 4 copy, I
proceeded.
I put a few piece of paper under the PCB and one on
top. I used my iron for around 30 seconds. I then went
to the kitchen with the the PCB. Waiting in the
kitchin, was a pot of boiling water on the stove. I
took my needle-nose pliers and grap a portion of the
PCB, and dipped the rest of the PCB in the boiling
water. I took the first layer off by hand, and also
the second layer. But the third and final layer was
scrubbed off with those green scroubing pads. I found
out that keeping the PCB in boiling hot water, will
keep that third layer loose, and it will come off easy
in boiling water. Very easy...
I tried many a times to use all different chemical
took take off that third layer, but none worked. That
took some time...
I finally realised and decided to use boiling water.
And amazingly that worked!
So, now I have a PCB that I can truly say, without the
help of the great people here, and putting my own head
into the game...it would never have happened.
I have no doubt...that if you stay with it, and do
everything that you can think off...you will 'skin'
the cat. It's just a matter of time, Sir Tim.
....all the best and do let me know how things
are coming along. Dad always said two heads are better
then one...and being a lot of other heads know what's
going on with you...you simply can't lose!
...your friend, Patrick
--- kilocycles <
kilocycles@...> wrote:
> Now you've just made me mad, Patrick! I bought a
> new laser printer
> specifically to do PCBs, and I chose the Brother
> HL-2040 over the same
> HP at the same price because of the cost of toner
> cartridges, 2400
> dpi-interpolated resolution, and I'm not happy about
> it! You're
> getting good-quality PCB transfers, and I'm not!
>
> I've got one more method to try; I'm getting a
> couple of inkjet
> transparencies to try with it. Also, something
> someone said regarding
> using a cloth or paper towel over between the iron
> and the
> transparency is something I'm going to try with the
> Press and Peel
> Blue sheets that I still have. I'm thinking that
> the pinholes (a LOT
> of them in foil-filled areas) may partially be due
> to uneven contact
> between the PCB and the bottom ot the iron due to
> slight ridges around
> the edges of the board from cutting it with my long
> tin shears. I get
> some areas of very good transfer, and some with
> serious problems.
>
> I may need to revisit my board prep procedures as
> well, following the
> ideas that have been posted here. Basically, I've
> been using a
> "greenie" fibre cleaner, and an acetone wipe, and
> that's it.
>
> I'm glad your boards are working out well, Patrick.
>
> Cheers,
> Ted
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Patrick Cambre
> <braincambre500@...> wrote:
> >
> > Hello Pete,
> >
> > I just bought (Friday) an HP 1020 Laser Printer
> from
> > Office Depot.
> >
> > The results are amazing. I am using the toner
> transfer
> > method with HP Inkjet Photo Paper
> > (C1846A/Glossy/8.5mil/175g/m2 47lb/25 sheets).
> >
> > I run it through the laser printer one time, then
> I
> > use my iron for one minute on the highest setting.
> In
> > between the PCB and iron is a single sheet of
> paper.
> > Underneatht the PCB is about 5 sheets of paper, to
> > keep my table to getting too hot!
> >
> > Yes, no pin-holes, no bleeding, no
> nothing...except a
> > very, hard to get off, toner attached to the PCB!
> >
> > a friend, Patrick
> ---snip---
>
>
>
>
>
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