Bob AD5VJ,
Not to be rude, but its hard to imagine that a person that is too lazy to use google or do even a little searching through the archives of this or similar groups will be successful.
Look in the files (and on google) there are numerous step by step writeups for laser toner-transfer based pcbs - I've had the best luck printing onto Staples Photo Glossy paper and also onto used(ripped out) magazine pages. The real challenge is that there are very few single sided designs out there so you'll either have to design your own using Eagle or some other eda tool none of which are particularly easy and or you'll need a drill press that allows you to drill the vias and in through-holes you'll need for through hole components. Also, If you have a cnc mill its also possible to mill the traces rather than printing them - do a search for pcb-gcode which is an open source plugin to eagle that produces gcode output that can be run on mach3 (or other cnc controller software) to produce traces. For any DIY process, getting the two sides to line up and drilling vias is sufficiently complicated and error prone to reduce the success rate, at least in my experience, to well below 50%.
Realistically, imo, printing your own pcb's is more for fun and for understanding the process than any real money you'll save. There are inexpensive pcb manufacturing services for small runs, most notably batchpcb run by sparkfun, which are probably worth considering if you actually need a board that works. i've been messing with this for a couple of years and my success rate on boards is still probably less than 50% - by that I mean that the board comes out of the chemical bath and/or after routing and all traces are in the right place and work properly. In most cases you can manually repair a bad pcb by soldering wire in to replace a bad trace but again it takes time to find and manually repair these things.
Hth.
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "AD5VJ Bob" <rtnmi@...> wrote:
>
> I am wanting information on using a Laser printer process for making homebrew pcb's. I have a Dell 1700 laser printer and understand
> that it will work well for printed circuit board prints for board etching.
>
> But what type and weight paper do I use, ect?
>
> Can anyone point me to a good process description on the web that tells step by step how to use this method?
>
> I am also wondering with all the different choices out there, how do you know how thick the layer of copper should be on the board.
> I am finding .060 and .090, but not sure what to choose.
>
> I think I may purchase a Radio Shack kit for etching the board. It is Radio Shack cat no. 276-1576, is there anything bad about that
> choice?
>
> I really dont have a lot of money to spend on mistakes, I need something that works first time out of the chute.
>
> Bob AD5VJ
>