Printer driver modes make large difference. I found for my Epson 660 the
quantity of ink output is in following order from most to least.
-------------- MODE 1 -----------------
Matte Heavyweight paper 1440 dpi
-------------- MODE 2 -----------------
Photo Quality Inkjet Paper 1440 dpi
or
Photo Paper 1440 dpi
or
Photo Quality Glossy Film 1440 dpi
-------------- MODE 3 -----------------
Photo Quality Inkjet Paper 720 dpi
or
Photo Paper 720 dpi
or
Photo Quality Glossy Film 720 dpi
-------------- MODE 4 -----------------
Inkjet Transparency 360 dpi
All modes give more then enough UV blocking ability. The first mode
produces too much ink and sometimes causes ink bleeding and even
puddling on some transparencies. I use mode 3 without problems. Using
Genuine Epson Transparency, there is never pin holes. Banding or stripes
are caused by blocked jets and must be fixed.
elsokwak wrote:
>
> Hi, I have excellent results with a HP DJ960C printing in black
> directly from the Boardmaker PCB design program.
> The printhead MUST be in excellent condition as stripes are a hell of
> a problem.
> ELSO
>
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Dirk F Ganzinga" <dfg1955@y...>
> wrote:
>
>>Quite true!! I could not get the transparants well: grey-ish,
>>striping, etc. I found and read this post and it's now ok. Simply
>
> set
>
>>my Epson Stylus 740 to "Glossy Photopaper" and "Color", printed on
>
> a
>
>>deskjet transparant. It takes a while but it's perfect, much more
>>black than a laserprinter. Great advise, thanks!
>>Regards,
>>Dirk
>>
>>--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, mpdickens <md30022@y...>
>
> wrote:
>
>>>A member of another mailing list I am a member of
>>>found the following in a archive. Further, he tested
>>>and it worked as advertised:
>>>
>>>I have been dealing with a development effort for a
>>>circuit that my company is developing. In order to get
>>>fast turnaround of boards for testing, I needed a way
>>>to make high quality circuit boards (multilayer) in
>>>under 8 hours. Cost from commercial board houses for
>>>24 hour turnaround was in the range of $2000-$3000 per
>>>design. In my case, I had to also develope plating
>>>systems and through-hole activation, fast etching, and
>>>a hot 20 ton press which I built by converting a shop
>>>press from harbor freight and adding a temperature
>>>controller and heating elements. etc.
>>>
>>>For ATM purposes, 2 sided boards can be made for a
>>>minimal expense.
>>>
>>>Because many on this list make their own circuit
>>>boards on occassion (for stepper circuits and camera
>>>circuits), I thought I would share my experience
>>>with the group.
>>>
>>>I am currently producing 4, 6 and 8 layer circuit
>>>boards using equipment now in my basement. Granted my
>>>basement looks like a chamber of horrors, but I
>>>suspect this is true for many on this list. Eight mil
>>>traces and lands are now easily doable and I am
>>>holding +/- 2 mil registration.
>>>
>>>The greatest roadblock to producing good circuit
>>>boards was getting good artwork on a transparency. In
>>>that regard, I have made several discoveries which are
>>>not immediately intuitive.
>>>
>>>First, getting really good artwork for the spec above
>>>is not possible with a laser printer. Phase error
>>>creeps in and even for printers claiming 1200
>>>DPI the accuracy just isn't there. I tested this with
>>>several models of HP printers including the 2000
>>>series and the 4000 series.
>>>
>>>In addition, the toner is just not dark enough. You
>>>end up having to underexpose the photoresist in order
>>>to get good removal and then you have a problem with
>>>undercured photoresist that will not tent over holes
>>>and whose sides are weak. Further the developing
>>>process just trashes the underexposed resist.
>>>
>>>I finally decided to try an inkjet printer. After
>>>some research looking for a printer that supported
>>>high resolution in black, I purchased a Canon.
>>>Initially, I purchased the S300 but it turned out that
>>>clever marketing made is sound like it supported high
>>>res black. In reality, the black was only 600 DPI
>>>like every other printer... Not enough resolution. I
>>>then tried the S800, which did support 2400 x 1200 DPI
>>>in color and in Black - the only printer that
>>>supported high resolution black printing. Experiments
>>>with
>>>this printer unfortunately revealed the problem that
>>>most people have with bubble jets. The black is
>>>simply not dark enough in UV. This despite the fact
>>>that it was a pigment based ink.
>>>
>>>I did have moderate success stacking tranparenies.
>>>This allowed me to increase the exposure time, but
>>>because only the first transparency was ink down (the
>>>second had to have a full 5 mil separation for the
>>>thickness of the first transparency, the edges were
>>>not very clean.
>>>
>>>I then had a brainstorm, I realized that my UV filters
>>>for my flourescent lighting were amber. I decided to
>>>try other colors... I quickly discovered that yellow
>>>was just as dark (in UV) as black. Disappointed that
>>>it was not darker, I began thinking about ways I could
>>>change the formulation of the ink to include a
>>>coreactive UV blocking chemical. I started searching
>>>the net when I discovered that ink fading as a result
>>>of UV is a real problem for photography. To my
>>>surprise, my printer already contained an ink that
>>>was UV blocking. All I had to do was tell the printer
>>>that it was printing on high resolution photopaper.
>>>This automatically switched cartridges to the PC
>>>(Photo Cyan) and PM (Photomagenta). Yellow remains the
>>>same because yellow only fades to yellow.
>>>
>>>In any case, once I did that, I was able to fully
>>>expose the Photoresist. In comparing a foil blocked
>>>section and a photo ink exposed section there
>>>was little difference. Moreover, in testing artwork
>>>created by a real photoplotter (costing $200,000).
>>>There was no difference. The only difference was that
>>>I settled on "GREEN" as being the color that was best.
>>>This selected the darkness of yellow in UV and the
>>>chemical UV blocking in Photo Cyan to produce a very
>>>dark black in UV and a pretty green in visible... :-)
>>>
>>>Perfect exposures! That along with unbelievable
>>>resolution of these printers make for a killer
>>>combination for producing your own artwork and
>>>consequently your own circuit boards.
>>>
>>>The bottom line is this. You DON'T want a printer with
>>>a dark black! Forget whether it is pigment based ink
>>>or dye based ink. That is all irrelavent, none of them
>>>are going to be dark enough.
>>>
>>>You want a PHOTO printer with PHOTO ink. Further ALL
>>>photoprinters have high resolution in color! Even the
>>>cheap ones ($100)! Just make sure a photo ink is
>>>available either from the manufacturer or for an ink
>>>refiller. All photo ink is, is ink with UV blocking
>>>added so the photos you print don't fade.
>>>
>>>What will the photoplotter companies do???
>>>
>>>Armed with this information, there is no reason
>>>everyone on this list does not do steves killer mod
>>>for the Philips Vesta camera or the many circuits
>>>for telescope motorization and tracking.
>>>
>>>
>>>Best
>>>
>>>Marvin Dickens
>>>Alpharetta, Georgia
>>>
>>>=====
>>>Registered Linux User No. 80253
>>>If you use linux, get counted at:
>>>http://www.linuxcounter.org
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>__________________________________
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>>>Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers!
>>>http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
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