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

I just made a test ironing of a toner pattern to a copper board, with
very unsuccessful results.

I cleaned the board with a new Scotchbrite type pad and detergent, then
scrubbed it with naptha (Ronson lighter fluid) before trying to iron the
image.

The image was printed in black on Staples Photo Paper, using a Xerox
color printer at the local Staples store. Even though the printer was
set for maximum darkness, there was no noticable "thickness" to the
black areas on the Photo Paper copy. Should there be?

The image and paper never actually stuck to the copper board, except for
one small spot.

The board was hot, hot enough to begin scorching the paper, from the
look of it. I used a 1200 watt iron set on Linen (hottest setting) for
several minutes. While I got some image transfer to the copper, it was
not very heavy, and was not resistant to light finger rubbing.

I tried a second transfer, also cleaning the bare board with 600 grit
wet sandpaper. The result was another partial transfer of the image
_pattern_, but it was not dense enough to be called a resist layer.
Again, the paper and image areas did not even begin to stick to the
copper surface. The paper remained completely loose on the board.

Obviously I need to do something differently; should I start by trying a
different printer?

Thank you,

Steve Bartlett