I agree repeatability must be ensured.
If several things can go wrong we must isolate them one by one.
For applying the silicone i found a steel squeegee is very suitable. I do
not think some kind of distance keeper will help.
I put the paper on a glass plate to have a flat surface.
The thickness can be well gauged by color, if you use a colored silicone
(ideally not transparent, white, or black ;-) ))
The frustrating thing is that the results are _SO_ good when it works,
even if there are flaws in areas, that makes me think this must be
possible to get reliable if it works sometimes. I mean when there was no
problem the paper just lifts off almost by itself when it leaves the
fuser, and the result is like printed directly on copper.
ST
On Tue, 10 May 2005 01:37:18 +0200, Martin Haverland
<
professional@...> wrote:
> Some additional point inserted:
>
>> i came to the same conclusions like you independently
>> i'm looking for a simple method to make the experiments repeatable to
>> get
>> an
>> advantage over the exposure method if you have to do more than one
>> board....
>> What i found out / think by myself until now is:
>> - keep out of the borders the printer uses mechanically to transport the
>> paper...or end up like us repairing printers...
>> - let the silicone coating dry out...i used the heatgun to speed up
>> things...
>> - try lower ironing temperature (to let the toner melt, but not the
>> silicone)
> a sensible point: trying to iron directly after the print: the toner will
> not be dried / cooled down ...(?)
>
>> - the coating has to be sticky enough but not too glossy (how about not
>> glossy at all?) to get the toner in the right position and not damage
>> parts of the printer...
> sensible point / idea: the good results of the Reichelt catalogue pages!
> Good because it is a physically flattened "natural" paper but not shiny
> coated surface. Maybe thats possible with silicone more easy with a
> coating
> on better paper thickness for better results...
>
>> - make the coating repeatable even (i'm not sure, what kind of tool and
>> method to use to get a fair result pasting the silicone to the paper)
> What kind of simple mechanical treatment must be used for repeatable
> results?
> What kind of everyday ∗tool∗ gives the best even surface for a nearly
> din a
> 4 kind of plane?
> How do we achieve the best stickyness for the print and how do we proof
> ?(!!!!) (Important because of the very different results we get from
> perfect to indiscussable.)
>
>>
>> that seem to be the most important points to me.
>> anything not mentioned about that???
>>
>>
>> Kind regards
>>
>> Martin
> PS: i hope nobody knows i studied physics at university long ago...:-)