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

I use an 8 year old Minolta PagePro 1250 laser printer. I have used the factory toner and remanufactured cartridges from two different sources. All give the same result. I have used a different laminator in the past that did not give the same results even tho I had the temperature the same. That laminator used a faster feed rate. I believe that time/temperature is a determining factor in getting good results. Time/temperature is also likely a major factor in the printer itself. I would think that the higher the page/minute rate of the printer the higher the printer temperature needs to be. Not sure the temperature the printer runs at is necessarily the fusing temperature of the toner. I did verify the temperature of my laminator with a candy thermometer to verify the reading on my control.

The majority of traces on a typical board I make are 12 mil. If I loose a trace it is always near the edge. This was true even if I used the iron method. Seems the heat dissipates near the edge??? This is the main reason I use two passes and reverse the board on the second pass.

I would say that toner transfer is mainly a method of producing prototype boards. Having to repair a trace or two is not a big deal on one up prototypes. If a trace falls off it is obvious before I etch. If I see it and it is in a critical place. I wipe off the toner with acetone and rerun the board. I have run batches of 50 boards using toner transfer with no traces missing.

RD



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