Homebrew PCBs

I have followed the suggestions of those more experienced then me in
  precleaning the pcb, and found that I 'must have' been doing
  something wrong.

  My first 2 boards were cleaned using the scotch brite pad and dish
  detergent and failed when I ran the board through the laminator.
  By failed, I mean the toner did not adhere to the board.  I had to
  repeat the cleaning/transfer 3-4 times before I got good adhesion.
  Wasted a lot of TTS paper that way.

  I recently ordered some pcb's from abcfab, and on on the EBay page
  describing the boards, Bill mentioned that there were a number of
  cleaning solutions that would clean the copper, and that the
  scotch brite scrub wasn't necessary.

  One of the cleaners mentioned was Tarn-X.  I went out and bought a
  new bottle (the bottle we had must have been 5-6 years old) and
  tried it on 4 boards last night.  I pre-washed the boards with soap
  and water using a cotton ball, dried with a paper towel then using a
  cotton ball soaked with Tarn-X , simply applied it to the the boards.
  I then washed off the boards with water only and dried them, laminated 
  them and after 5-6 passes through the laminator I dropped 
  the boards into cold tap water and, in 2-3 minutes, the paper floated
  off and there was no toner on the carrier at all (I use Pulsar TTS)
  and the boards were perfect.  I had a hard time believing it could
  be that easy.
  
  The boards from abcfab were not tarnished in any way so this may be
  why this worked so well.  Even so I did see a change in the color of
  the copper as I applied the Tarn-X.  I am so pleased with the
  results, I though I better pass it on.

  This Pulsar TTS paper, though somewhat expensive, is a dream to work
  with.  The paper floats off and does not require any work at all.  I
  have tried other medium but it is just too much work getting the
  paper layers off the toner. As I am only making boards for my own
  use, I find the Pulsar TTS is the way to go.  Using the Pulsar, 1
  minute etch method, I can go from printer to finished board in about
  15-20 minutes.  

  Good Transferring!

  Wayne