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

Hi,

I'm new to this group and joined to learn other (hopefully cheaper)
methods of producing pcb's.

Many thanks indeed to everyone for the infomation available on this
group that has enabled me to at least start producing excellent
single sided pcb's using the TT method and laminator

I was using photoresist with pre-coated boards until recently but
this has become an expensive option these days.

I have a laminator (Fellowes Saturn A4) and HP laserjet 1200 printer.

The pcb I want to make measures 8.3" x 4.2" and also double sided.

Following the instructions found on the messages for the procedure, I
managed to produce a good single sided toner transfer pcb of the
above size using pages removed from an old Toolstation catalogue and
8 passes through the laminator. The pcb quality was as good as the
photoresist method, which is very pleasing.

The only difficulty I had was that the paper tended to crinkle during
the first couple of passes through the laminator rollers (earlier
attempts whilst locating a suitable paper for the TT method was
performed on much smaller boards and this problem didn't occur) The
answer seemed to be to place a sheet of plain copier type paper on
top of the TT paper for the first few passes until the TT paper stuck
solidly down.

Although the laminator accepts a pcb + the thin TT paper quite
happily, adding yet another, further, paper layer on top of the TT
paper is causing the machine the stress itself. This sort of rules
out any attempt to perform a simultaneous action on both pcb sides at
the same time.

Does anyone know a method to achieve double sided boards using
preprinted mag/cat paper to make double sided pcb's?

Regards,

Steve (GW4ZDU)