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

Hi all
someone from the group suggested I join and tell you all about my
Lexmark 25 hack. I read the epsom hack somwhere on the net but didn't
want to have to go find another printer since I had 2 junked ones on
hand. So I took the lexmark 25 got rid of all the plastic covers and
just screwed it down on a peice of plexi glass with a few washers and
standoffs, then made a simple feed in tray out of plexi by glueing it
all together with super glue. I removed to 2 center rollers that were
held in place with springs and can print between the 2 outer rollers
by tapeing the blank pcb down on a piece of card stock.

problem, the ink beads up on the copper. I wipe a film of ordinary
soapy water on the copper (soap is a wetting agent) heat the board a
little to dry the soap. the print came out perfect.
but now I just pre etch the board for about a minute that works good
to.

I wanted to use black ink since it's cheaper but does not resist
etchant very well at all even if baked on.

then I got some powder coat paint and tryed sprinkling that on the wet
freshly printed board and baked it that didn't work very well, the
etchant goes through the powder coat.

then I got some toner and sprinkled that on the freshly printed board
blow off the excess and heat with a heat gun. this works very well.

when my black ink runs out I plan to just refill it with water and see
if it will print with just water since all it does is hold the toner
in
place untill I bake it with a heat gun