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

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Phil" <phil1960us@y...> wrote:

Thank you,

now what exactly is inkjet paper. Is that the regular white paper?

Another important question. Onced I finished I put the leftover
FerricCloride back in the bottle. However there was a little bit left
in the container I did the etching. I watch it out with lots of
water. My question is should I neutralize that little leftover with
something. I mean I want to do things right and protect the
enviroment. I found out that in my area all I have to do is take my
ferric cloride bottle to a collection facility and since is for non
comercial use then its free.

> Congrats on progress. It is very satisfying to see that pattern
come
> out on the copper.
>
> You really dont need to use PnP. Try, instead, using a decent
> quality inkjet paper (not glossy, no special coatings, ...). Use a
> very hot iron (cotton, highest setting) and lots of pressure. I
use
> kids construction paper between the iron and the transfer paper to
> even out the irregularities. Once you are done with the ironing,
> turn off the iron but leave it sitting on the board/paper until it
> cools down a bit (below the fusing point) to ensure good toner
> adhesion to the copper. this process is highly reliable for me and
> the last few boards I did required NO touching up.
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "mr_gees100_peas"
> <geovar13@h...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Ok, today I did my first PCB. It tuen out pretty good. I
though
> it
> > would be a little bit more complicated. I follow most people
advice
> > and drilled at after the etching procees. The hole in the pads
did
> > worked as a guide plus it was eaier to drill because there is no
> > copper there.
> >
> > Before I did the etching I was at a dilema. I found out that
my
> > pads where too small. My options where to enlarge the pads with a
> > Sharpie or redo the drawing. I only have 3 PnP sheets left. So
> after
> > a little bit of search I found a website that saud you can use
> staple
> > photo paper.
> >
> > http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/gooteepc.htm
> >
> > Now I tried using this process on another blank PCB. I dodn't
> know
> > but I can't make it work. I can transfer some of the toner but a
> lot
> > of the traces did not stick. I did this process at least 5 times
> > maybe more. The results where not satifactory for me. I would
like
> to
> > hear from somebody about this because at staples you can get 200
> > sheets for $30. That is cheap. On the other hand if I cant make
it
> > work then is no good to me. Here is what I did
> >
> > I made the print out on the glossy side. I preheated the
copper
> > board then I put the printout. I but a black piece of paper on
top
> of
> > the printout because the photo paper sticks to the iron.I Iron
that
> > thing left and right and any which way possible aplying various
> > pressures. When I was done I ran it under cold water then I gave
it
> a
> > hot water bath. Now the hot water was not boiling just as hot as
I
> > could get it from the faucet. I tried peeling the paper off and
> only
> > a few traces stuck.
> >
> > In the end I just filled in the pads with a Sharpie in my board
> > that I did using the PnP paper. It only took me 3 tries to get
the
> > PnP to work right. The first one it did not stick too well. The
> > second one was a an aligment problem. or maybe it was a mirror
> > problem. Unless someone can tell me whats wrong with the photo
> paper
> > technique I'm sticking with the PnP even though is expensive.