Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

Hi, all.

I see Tony had the same problem I had with this paper when I first
tried it. Toner didn't stick well to the glossy surface and then
wouldn't release when that was needed.

So I tried making a mess with magazine stock (results were OK, but
certainly NOT what I was looking for) then tried the Office Max High
Gloss Photo paper again but printing on the WRONG side of the paper.
Worked exceptionally well. Even the board outlines (0.005" wide) are
solid except at the very edges of the board.

Summary of process (I'm making 15 boards, each about 1 inch square,
all on a sheet of 4"x6" double sided laminate.) Print paper on wrong
side, cut group of patterns to fit board, iron for 5 minutes between a
single sheet of blank bond paper and a magazine, drop in water with a
bit of liquid dish soap, peel glossy layer off, soak a little longer,
then while running water at the parting line, peel paper from circuit
board slowly. All the toner stayed on the board.

Iron was set halfway between "cotton" (6) and "linen" (7, the hottest
setting.) I leaned pretty well on the iron; probably 20 to 30 pounds
of force for most of the time.

Printer is an HP of some sort; when I get the real data from work,
I'll post it to the Database. Paper is at the office, too, so that'll
have to wait.

If you can't tell, I'm excited! The last time I made a circuit board,
it was using a photo process about 20 years ago. Times have changed!

Donald.