When you say "polished" it makes me think of a shiny, perfectly smooth
surface. I tend to rough my boards up a bit using high grit sandpaper. My
logic is that it'll help the toner bite. Of course, after roughing it up,
it's important to clean it so that there are no bits of copper dust left.
I've had good luck using a $30 scotch laminator from Walmart. I do 5-10
passes after the machine's been left to warm up for 15 minutes.
If nothing seems to work, I'd try printing using a different printer/toner.
It's just speculation, but maybe the toner formula isn't as good as others
for clinging.
Sent from my iPad
On 2012-03-05, at 2:09 PM, michael tenore <wb2lcw@...> wrote:
Hi!
Using a iron to do toner transfer successfully takes some experimentation!
You did not indicate the size of the board you are trying to make,But it is
easier to do small boards
with a iron..
I used a DRY iron ( No holes in the sole plate!) I found one in a discount
housewares store for $10.
It worked better than my wife's iron.But you are really better off buying a
laminator.
Check the website for laminator section and look at the user ratings..There
are units that work ok for less than $60.
I found a High quality laminator on Ebay cheap by carefully scanning the
listings and pouncing when the real
good deal shows up..I got a $400 laminator for $75 plus shipping.. It can
laminate boards over .065 inch.Thick.,
Use 1/32" board if you can the Epoxy glass dissipates heat too
fast..Phenolic paper boards are ideal..
I get almost perfect transfers every time the boards look like I photo
etched them..
OK anyway ,With a iron it is hard to get enough pressure on the board.
I found on the web that if you put a short wooden dowel under the board to
present a pressure point.
When you iron the board Roley-poly fashion you get better pressure!
Use good oven Mitts when you do this to keep the board under control.
Most important the board must be absolutely clean! I use Bar Keepers Friend
or Oxalic acid powder.
I use Scotch Brite pads. But they come in different grits I get fine gray
ones at Auto Paint stores.You may find this at
also at Pep Boys or Auto Zone also. The ones in the Super market are too
coarse.
then I use Acetone to clean the board then rinse with water.. If the water
lays like a sheet on the board ,you are good to go..
Don't touch the boards with your bare fingers wear plastic gloves.
Regard
Mike
________________________________
From: John <jferrell13@...>
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, March 5, 2012 8:24 PM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Toner Transfer Failures
This has become a humpling experience!
You folks have made this sound too easy, or maybe senility has set in on my
part.
First try: Printed a sample from some packages example, magazine paper, HP
P1102W Laser printer. Not too bad, did not fuse well to board though.
I used really thin double sided board, Electronic Goldmine vendor , I think.
Second try:This time I ordered paper from DigiKey. Made a board with
DesignSpark PCB package. It is pretty simple, just cross over from an
Arduino to a prototype board with SIP's & some RJ-45 Female connectors to
SIP's to stick on a Prototype Board. All on about a 3X5 paper. I used a
Double sided board that I had in my junk. Washed in Lacquer thinner,
polished with scotch brite pad. Toner did not transfer well and that is
where I disvovered I had not properly scaled the paper. The pin spacing was
9 to the inch instead of ten. OK, so I washed the toner off with Lacquer
thinner and went to my giant Chinese milling machine to check out drilling
the board. I set the 800 pound machine up to run at max spindle speed
knowing it would not be fast enough. How about that! The 1 mm drill with
the bigger shank did jus fine with it!
after drilling 40 pins for a DIP chip I realized computer control was going
to be essential. Project under planning... The chip fit fine but I wonder
about the drill size. It may be too big to leave enough copper for pads. IS
1 mm THE RIGHT SIZE FOR PC BOARDS GENERAL USE?
Third try: I got the scaling right and tried again with some single sided
board that I had in my treasure collection. I figured that I needed more
heat so I cranked up the heat on the iron to Linen. I did not move it
around much but I did push down pretty hard. After about 3 or 4 minutes I
heard a "pop" sound and figured I had broke something in the iron. As the
paper cooled down it turned kind of brittle. The board bowed away a bit and
the stiff paper raised up in spots. I put the paper in a soak bucket and
did something else for a bit. When the paper separated not only had the
fusing failed to transfer well but the PC board had copper blisters large
and all over! I blame the board this time. It was likely over 30 years old.
Fourth try: I ordered some fresh, modern board from Jameco. It did not
blister, but did not transfer as well as expected. I think the single side
board is going to bow any way I do it I am thinking I need to just use
double sided and etch the excess away. Maybe I need to try some different
paper too.
Comments, criticism and laughter invited...
John Ferrell W8CCW
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]