I clean the board with acetone then rub board with a veryFine grit 3m pad.
They are grey in color! they are available from auto paint stores..
That is all I usually do.
If you want to pre etch try clear vinegar.It is mild and the board gets real shinny and clean spots are evident when you see how water beads on the board when you rinse it off. wear vynl gloves to be sure your fingers don't leave any oils on the board..
I did manage to get a really good laminator cheap on ebay fairly cheap..
it usually goes for $300-400 but after watching listings for over a month
there was one late at night and none was bidding on it and i got it for $95 shipped
and my boards come out great.. it really helps..
regards
mike
--- On Thu, 5/12/11, tda7000 <Tda7000@...> wrote:
> From: tda7000 <Tda7000@...>
> Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Pre-etch for toner transfer
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011, 6:06 PM
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> I've never done that to clean them, I
> don't think you need the board super clean for the
> transfer to work, really.
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> I've tried just cleaning with a (non-metal) pot
> scourer, and with that plus acetone, both ways the transfer
> worked just fine.
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> Whenever the transfer has failed for me it's been due
> to not enough heat or not enough time.
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> Also if you are using old magazine pages as some do, make
> sure to use pages with text only on both sides, graphics can
> cause problems. Not sure if it's that they act as a heat
> barrier or something else, either way they can cause
> failures.
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> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com,
> "cramapple" <john_cchas@...> wrote:
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> > New to the group, have been reading for a few days and
> getting to try a pcb or two.
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> > I have read on here of the importance of cleaning the
> cladding and various ways to do that. Somewhere on here I
> read of someone who had good success by actually wiping or
> pre-etching the board prior to transfer. But now I have
> been searching for that message reference and cannot find
> it.
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> > What I was wanting to find out further was whether the
> poster, after pre-etching the board, then just rinsed in
> water or if he cleaned the fecl off with something else?
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> > Thanks,
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> > John C.
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