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

It looks like I've nailed down a reasonably reliable process for
making boards with the Pulsar paper after not too much trial and
error. I have learned a few lessons that I'll pass along in case they
help someone else:

∗ totally forget about using an iron - you need a laminator

∗ the GBC H210 laminator CAN NOT handle 1/16" board (1/32" works)

∗ the Green TRF film makes a huge difference in trace quality

∗ 1:2 muriatic/hydrogen peroxide rocks as an etchant!

∗ you have to run whole sheets of Pulsar paper through - no "cutouts"

Let me expound a little on #2 and #5... #2 - Maybe some people can
get 1/16" (0.062") PC board to run through their "TIA Laminator" (aka
GBC H210), but I certainly couldn't. 0.032" board (1/16") is a bit too
flexible to use for SMT designs but it is totally adequate for
prototyping designs before sending them off to a board house.

#5 - Earlier in this thread I complained about how the toner wouldn't
transfer evenly, leading to spotty/broken traces. Once I ran full
sheets of the Pulsar paper through, instead of cutting out pieces just
big enough to contain the board image, I got great results. Of course
this means that a lot of paper gets wasted. Still, at a $1.50 a page
it's a lot cheaper, and faster, than sending Gerber files to the board
house.