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Subject: Re: Direct Laser PCB's (not TT)

From: "James Newton" <jamesmichaelnewton@...>
Date: 2009-03-15

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Mark Lerman <mlerman@...> wrote:
>
> For anyone interested, there is absolutely no reason that laser
> printers cannot directly deposit toner on pcb boards. The practical
> problems are the fuser and the paper path. As a proof of concept, I
> took a Brother HL2140 laser printer that has a manual feed for
> thicker media and fed a sheet of thin (8 mil) laminate through the
> printer. Nothing printed.

I'm not sure I understand why nothing printed here...


> I then removed the fuser, using appropriate resistors to simulate the
> correct fuser temperature and thereby fool the printer controller
> into thinking the fuser was still there. I ran the same test, and
> sure enough, it printed perfectly! Of course, the toner was only held
> to the board by electrostatic attraction, but I then put the board
> into my trusty toaster oven and "fused" it.
>

That is very interesting... Why did removing the fuser cause it to print?

<SNIP>

> If anyone is interested in more details, I am happy to share.
>
> Mark
>


I would be VERY interested in pictures, and descriptions of the modifications you made.

--
James Newton
http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcbs.htm