This is odd. I have been doing toner transfer for almost a year now
and can get very good results - fairly repeatable. Since learning
more and more and since I have run out of the original photo papaer
I was using, I have been working with two different papers of late.
1) HP Photo paper -glossy
2) Hammermill color laser paper - it's a semi-gloss
Earlier this week I needed to make a board so I selected what I
thought was the best working paper I had on hand, the Hammermill
paper. I printed out the layout and could tell right away there
were problems as the toner was VERY thin in some areas. So, thinking
I had it wrong in memory, I then grabbed the HP paper and all went
well.
As typical for me, I screwed up that PCB (forgot to make some
changes) so I had to make it again (3 days later than the previous
attempt). I grabbed the HP paper, printed out the layout and this
time it had very thin deposits of toner on the traces. So, I
grabbed the Hammermill paper and it worked perfectly.
The only thing that changed from the first attempt and the second
attempt is 3 days in time. Same printer, same cartridge (no, it's
not low on toner), approximately the same outdoor
temperature/humidity, and even the same layout for the most part.
So, while I would like to think that toner transfer will work good,
there are some hidden mysteries to it that seem to make you scratch
your head in bewilderment!
Chris
and can get very good results - fairly repeatable. Since learning
more and more and since I have run out of the original photo papaer
I was using, I have been working with two different papers of late.
1) HP Photo paper -glossy
2) Hammermill color laser paper - it's a semi-gloss
Earlier this week I needed to make a board so I selected what I
thought was the best working paper I had on hand, the Hammermill
paper. I printed out the layout and could tell right away there
were problems as the toner was VERY thin in some areas. So, thinking
I had it wrong in memory, I then grabbed the HP paper and all went
well.
As typical for me, I screwed up that PCB (forgot to make some
changes) so I had to make it again (3 days later than the previous
attempt). I grabbed the HP paper, printed out the layout and this
time it had very thin deposits of toner on the traces. So, I
grabbed the Hammermill paper and it worked perfectly.
The only thing that changed from the first attempt and the second
attempt is 3 days in time. Same printer, same cartridge (no, it's
not low on toner), approximately the same outdoor
temperature/humidity, and even the same layout for the most part.
So, while I would like to think that toner transfer will work good,
there are some hidden mysteries to it that seem to make you scratch
your head in bewilderment!
Chris