Hi Robin,
If you can spend US$50-60, you might be able to get a used laser
printer on eBay. I picked up several Lexmark Optra E+ for around
US$50 each (including shipping/handling) and consider them a prudent
purchase.
I do almost all of my printing in B&W these days and the cost of
toner refills is much, much lower than ink refills. A toner refill
costs me about US$10 and is rated at 5000 sheets (at 5% coverage).
I've refilled my cartridge twice and don't even think twice about
printing board layouts for review.
I still use an inkjet for color printing, but now refill much less
frequently.
I haven't found any significant difference between OEM toner and the
refills I got from a place in Canada (they sell on eBay). I use
inkjet transparencies instead of paper and have had very good
results with 8 mil traces and 8 mil spaces; though I usually use
wider traces and spaces to make the boards easier to make and less
susceptible to mild pitting. I size my traces so pitting is only a
cosmetic issue.
I've found that, as with paper, not all inkjet transparencies work
well. I'm using an HP brand. I tried another members idea of using
a heat gun to "fuse" the toner after transferring and found that it
works well. I did it on one of my "goof" boards and it turned out
okay; more pitting than usual, but I didn't spend much time touching
up (only traces that transferred very poorly).
If you can't spend $50, finding a place to make laser copies on your
paper would be one method. But with the cost of gas being what it
is, a laser printer would quickly pay for itself if you also used it
for general B&W printing...
Regards,
Dennis
--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Robin" <skeeterb_2002@...>
wrote:
>
> I don't have a laser printer and I don't have the funds to invest
in a
> laser printer right now, but I still want to create my own PCBs.
All I
> have access to right now are 2 Inkjet printers. One is a Lexmark
Z12
> inkjet and the other is a HP OfficeJet 5610 All-In-One
> Printer/Scanner/Fax. How would I go about creating a PCB without
> access to laser printer and only inkjet printers?
>