Mike,
Thanks for the reply! I'll mix my responses in with your text, below:
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 18:59:32 -0000
From: "mikezcnc" <
eemikez@...>
Subject: Re: Digest Number 767
Hi Tom,
I called you 'Gootee' or used your name like in 'Gootee' paper
because I did not know your name but since you are a TV icon then,
there!
+ The TV-show thing still freaks me out, a little. But then I remember the writer who called saying that I was apparently the + only one dumb-enough to actually post their phone number on their website.
Removal of the residue is a problem. I don't think a mechanical
contraption is a solution nor is a toothbrush.
+ The toothbrush works OK. It's actually the ONLY way I HAVE, so far, that works for me. But it's tedious. That's why I'm
+ looking for better ways to try. I said that IF a mechanical device would work, I would use it. But I was just mentally
+ "flailing around", hoping for some more ideas.
I rather think that there is some kind of enzyme (septic tanks or
used to be a laundry powder with enzymes) that would consume paper.
+ Maybe. I was hoping for something FAST, though (and less stinky, hehe).
How about that TSP for cleaning boards? I am not to crazy about
having a potful of hot liquid on my bench but still I am curious what
that would do to paper 'whiskers' sticking out of the toner.
+ THAT'S something I haven't tried, yet! ALSO: On the sci.chem-something newsgroup, someone said I should try LYE (I + think that's sodium hydroxide.) I haven't tried THAT, yet, either. [But I did once get my eyes and face in the way of a
+ cool explosion involving high-velocity sodium hydroxide and glass shrapnel, and a small chunk of pure sodium, at point- + blank range, in chemistry lab while in high school. I had JUST taken off my goggles, too. (That reminds me of the time I
+ put one of those small CO2 cylinders, the type used with semi-auto pellet and BB guns, over a bunsen burner, in a
+ Fahnstock clamp. I was a 9-year-old "budding scientist", hehe. But luckily I had made a "bunker" to sit behind, out of
+ eight layers of corrugated cardboard, with a small viewing port with goggles pressed up against it. When it finally
+ exploded, it left the clamp and penetrated through 7.5 layers of the cardboard, just below the viewing port. "Ah. The good
+ old days...")]
What about sticking the PCB somwhat cleaned out into the etchant in
hopes that it will burn off the paper traces faster than copper and
then go onto copper etching?
+ Tried it. Nope. At least, not with Ferric Chloride.
You mentioned that you don't have problems with using iron with
Staples paper. Neither do I; I never tried it with that paper. I went
thru enough problems with all kinds of papers that I will not use the
ironing process ever. Besides, my boards are large and detailed
and ... when I read the discussion about conductors I said to myself:
there's got to be an easier method for me. Enter an H200 laminator.
+ I'm gonna hafta get one of those H200s. But the iron is good for people who can't afford a laminator, and for people who
+ can't justify buying a laminator because they don't make enough boards. The iron is also VERY good for people who
+ just read about TT for the first time and want to try making a board "right now".
Thanks for commenting, Tom. It was because of you that I decided to
try the TT one more time after having followed every paper that was
ever mentioned on internet. I thought, I know that guy, I saw his
website many times before, he wouldn't be making thsi stuff up. You
should have seen me running around town trying to find Staples with
the stuff I needed. You should have have seen me when I laminated my
first board without even barely cleaning it. You should have seen my
face when I saw that board the first time: my jaw dropped to the
floor. I told my buddy about it over the phone and he said, yeah,
yeah... When I showed to him he just locked up speechless...Enough
advertising because guys will think I work for Staples or GBC.
Let me put it this way: I have a pile of that paper ready.
+ Hehehe. Yup!
IMO the quality is comparable to a photgraphic method but the nice
thing is you need hardly anything to make a board using it.
+ Yup! And it's FASTER! It seems to break the rule, because it's cheap AND fast AND good.
Tom, are you familiar with Ballendo's CNC PCB drilling machine? You
know that an email to him might get you a 50% discount on that
machine and that in turn might prevent you from loosing your
eyesight. I didn't want you to miss that opportunity if you missed it.
+ Well THANKS for that! Actually, I emailed him several days ago. [I started working on a CNC machine for drilling, using
+ the carriage assemblies from old dot-matrix and daisywheel printers (talk about CHEAP!) (see
+
http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/gootee), but couldn't justify spending so much time on it.]
Again, this group owes you a big thank you for having posted that
crucial info. Thank you, Tom.
+ Umm... Thanks. But I don't feel like I deserve TOO much credit for it. "I am just the messenger." The paper was there,
+ all along. And TT was there. I just happened to try them, together.
+ Now, if we could JUST find a paper that transferred
+ toner as well as that, but ALSO fell off the board as easily as the "JetPrintPhoto Multi Project Photo Paper"! The Staples
+ here USED to carry it. But now WalMart has it. It ∗IS∗ ∗∗excellent∗∗ for doing the component legends! It comes off
+ after about 5 minutes of soaking in water, with almost NO effort at all. The only residue is a thin, invisible "slime", which
+ can be removed in just a few seconds by rubbing under running water. Alas, in my LJ4, it has too many pinholes to be
+ good for the copper pattern.
+ Thanks, Mike!
+ Tom
Mike
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]