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

Hello,

After a few small transfer tests (without etching) I made the
first real board, quite good !
I used a glossy paper (not photo !) which is covered with a
layers of chalk on both sides (one side should be enough though). It
is a rather thick paper and it's quite cheap (about 20-30 cents in
small qty). It is used for hand drawings I think.
The printer is Canon LBP800, toner set on "Darkest".
Good points:
- the transfer was almost perfect - used iron on maximum with a thick
cloth between the paper and the iron, moved the iron around
constantly (2 minutes) and pre-heated the board for 1 min or so
- the paper gets removed quite easily after a few min in warm water
- I have a TSSOP20 pattern which turned out pretty nice

Bad points:
- it is very sensitive to pressure when ironing. First I used some
more pressure and the traces expanded a lot; second try I used very
little pressure (like about 2-3 times the force of leaning the hand
on the iron) and the result was OK. I think this is also related to
the fact that the paper is quite thick.
- the chalk from the paper was not so easily removed from the board -
I had to scrub a little with a toothpick here and there; Some tests
that I made some 2 months ago were much better in this respect, so I
assume it may be related to the paper "aging", maybe it absorbed some
water (?)

Best regards,

Mihai