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

Hi all
Well, after much frustration, I thought I would more or less
abandon my efforts at using the toner transfer method, as my results,
despite using the papers and machinery recommended just weren't
working.
i invested around $100 US in a screenprinting setup. I was told
this should have the detail to do the kinds of things I wanted to do
(little 10 mil tracks). For anyone accumstomed to screenprinting, I
used a "12XX" pitch screen, said to be okay for fine details.
I was also unimpressed. Maybe it was because I chose an oil-based
paint, but the graphic I got on my copper was smudgy and way too
thick. Damn. Another failure.
So, in frustration one night, I read someone's post where they had
suggested that the temperature of the laminator (when used) should be
very hot. It made sense that the people experimenting with fusers
would be having luck, since they are awfully hot. I read that
someone bypassed the thermostat in his laminator, but that it hadn't
yeidled good results. I thought "what the heck...the thing's more or
less useless to me anyway" (because it only heats to 242 degrees F by
itself).
I bypassed it and let the thing heat. It got up to 350 degrees
before I stopped it, but not before running a board through a few
times. And wouldn't you know it...it came out pretty good. (I
changed my paper as well, to a "Sports Illustrated On Campus" issue I
happen to have laying around).
Because of the high heat, the cheap Wal Mart laminator's heating
element had fried. It no longer heated up. So...I opened it up and
found a metal housing around the rubber wheels, supported on set of
high-heat resistant plastic legs. I thought hmmm...what if I placed
my iron right on top of the thing, and just heated it that way?
Okay, it's cheasy in it's own regard, but it appears to work well.
I think I might be noticing a slight deformation of the rollers,
but I'm not positive. In any case, the iron's high temp is around
400 degrees F. When pressed against the flat top of the laminator,
it gets it up around 350. With only 4 passes through, I actually had
a board I was semi impressed with! Finally! I'm trying to submit a
picture in the photos area, should you want to be as cheap as me.
Total cost of equipment: laminator: (Henkel 9" electric, with
cartoon duck wearing a hat on the box) $22, iron: $6. Both purchased
at Wal Mart.
Now I have another question...just as I was about to submit my
circuits to a board house...I need a method to align my top and
bottom sides. Is there anything anyone does that works especially
well? I have looked through the messages from the group and have
heard of people taping both top and bottom on, and running them
through at the same time. That sounds like it would work, but how do
you align them accurately?

Thanks
-Josh
Pullman, WA