Homebrew PCBs

Gary Hoyles wrote:
> I dont have an inkjet printer so im suck with this poo now.
> 
> Anyway. i have to ask the question, does ant of the other stuff in staples work well ?
> 
> I got some cheep "Tesco's Blue Stripe" Photo Glossy Paper, you  know the value stuff, and it does work well, but only for board with wide spacings , say 15 - 20 mil, as it leaves small stripes of paper in between the finer tracks. I have also used the stuff from the maplin catalogue, that works quite well, but still not so good on the finer tracks. I got this Staples stuff in the hope that it would make a great board as i am trying to make a single sided board that's need tracks of 10 mil and spacing of 10 mil, each time i have made this board i have had to get a knife and cut to separate some tracks, Its getting a pain, so hopefully somebody can shout out to me "he use this paper its great stuff" other wise its off to Maplin this weekend to get kitted up for UV.

OK, I don't have Mailtunnel set up on this machine, so I have no idea if 
this message will even get through but...

1) I posted to the list and updated the database a few months back 
w.r.t. the Staples paper changing formulation. Yes, it's a plastic 
coating - I also mentioned the "burn test" for testing the paper. 
Basically you heat the paper with a gas lighter or heat gun and if it's 
plastic coated it'll bubble before it burns. If it's paper (cellulose 
fibre) it'll just burn.

2) HP Everyday Photo Paper (Semigloss) is fairly good. You need to turn 
the print density WAY up, but it literally floats off the PCB, leaving 
almost no residue. As a bonus, because the coating dissolves so easily, 
it doesn't pull the toner off. It's about \ufffd10 for a pack of 100 sheets, 
but when I bought mine they (Staples) were doing a buy-one-get-one-free 
offer on the stuff.

3) Try it on a bit - take the Staples stuff back and just say "it 
doesn't work in my printer" (which it doesn't). If they don't refund or 
offer a credit note, ask if they'll exchange it for some of the HP stuff 
if you pay the difference in price. For what it's worth, the new-formula 
Staples photo paper is absolutely dire - it doesn't even work properly 
in my Epson C64 inkjet. The HP stuff, OTOH, does... Read into that what 
you will.
Argos sell the stuff too: 
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&productId=559122
I'll get the HP item code off my paper when I get home - I'm mooching 
off the wifi at university at the moment...

4) In general, semigloss papers are more likely to work for TT than 
glossy papers. The old-formula Staples glossy used to leave bits of 
coating inside pad drill holes, which was a pain to remove. I ended up 
using a bradawl to remove it...

5) Aim for something about as thick as the HP stuff. IIRC it's about 170gsm.