Homebrew PCBs

Hi, 

If its any help, I can only relate what I do.

I do a dozen or so 8" x 5.5" boards a week and I still use an Iron..
the same one my wife uses to do the ironing.
(more important toys to buy !)

I use an HP 1010 laser at 600 dpi to print on press-n-peel sheets
it works a treat... --- 

I clean the boards with 600 wet and dry, rinse and dry them

Then iron on (middle steam heat, without the heat)
with a single sheet of ordinary white paper between the iron and 
press-n-peel.. I iron for about 1.5 minutes

Then quench under the tap and peel the sheet off

The process work fine for the boards I do, I get 98% success rate
and I'm not going to mess with a process that works !

The biggest pain was hand drilling the holes..
if you are doing Fibreglass, you need to buy carbide bits

I use mostly paper boards but still use carbide bits, they last 10's 
of times longer.

Chris

In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "andrew566020" <andy.jrhall@b...> 
wrote:
>
> Hi,
> 
> I'm about to attempt my first homemade pcb after many years of 
using
> breadboards and veroboard for my electronics tinkering!
> 
> I've recently joined the group and have been avidly reading the 
recent
> posts and the archives. I do however have a few questions...
> 
> Many of the posts I've read advise against the use of an iron and
> recommend a laminator instead. Because of this I went looking for a
> suitable model. It struck me that many of the laminators for sale 
were
> quoting maximum thicknesses of 250 micron (1/4 mm), this doesn't 
seem
> nearly enough capacity, am I missing something?
> 
> Also I intend buying a laser printer. The HP laserjet 1022 is a 
budget
> model that is reputed to have high quality output. Would this be a
> reasonable starting place or should I look elsewhere.
> 
> Sorry for the dumb questions but I really am at the bottom of this
> learning curve so any help would be welcome..
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Andy.
>