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

Hi all,
I am a newbie in this group so i go off with a question
straight away. I heard about this group in yet another forum through
ST and joined here. I am in search for a good technique for
transfering computer printout to copper clad sheet.

I went across the messages and links, but there are too much
to read. Nevertheless, here are my queries:

1. Most of the designs I do are single sided ( I am a student and
amateur).

2. I do have a good PCB CAD software called freePCB(www.freepcb.com) (
infact, i met ST there..)

3. I do by manually drawing etch resistant pens and FeCl2 etching.

4. I tried the toner-iron method once. I took a transparent sheet used
for OHPs, took a photocopy of the layout in that sheet. So, i had the
"toner" version of my layout. Then, I cleaned the copper clad sheet,
put the transparent sheet over, did some ironing works. I knew that I
dint go by proper timings and temperature setting. But when i peeled
off the sheet, I had only very little bit of traces stuck in the
board. I dropped the idea since I had no more help.

5. The problems here are: whenever I come across the sites pertaining
to special transparent sheets, etc, they are North America or Europe
based which have no or few representatives here in Asia. Even if they
have, the freight charges and minimum order quantities are daunting.

Also, I am sure that the answer to my requirement resides inside in
this group but searching it among 8592 posts is really like searching
a needle in a haystack.

Any critism, advices, caveats, gratefully accepted.

Regards,
Vignesh.