Homebrew PCBs

I'd also suggest trying a few more passes of the laminator - 2 does sound a
little lean. And I don't know what tarn-X is but I do agree you want the
board a little rough.

And I do lose the edge of board trace pretty often - but I'm still using the
iron

PG

On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 9:56 AM, Kerry Wentworth <kwentworth@...
> wrote:

>
>
> I usually clean the board with steel wool, then alcohol. I'd avoid
> TarnX. You don't want the copper to be too smooth. I normally make 4
> or 6, or even 8 passes. I have noticed that, even with 1X3 or 2X2
> boards, the Ready light goes out sometimes when the board passes
> through. Did you have the Temp switch in 5mm? I usually let the board
> cool before soaking, but I use magazine paper.
>
> Properly applied toner can be scrubbed with a toothbrush and not come off.
>
> Kerry
>
>
> jimofc300 wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Yesterday, I tried my first PCB. I used Pulsar's "Fab-in-a-Box" system
> with their GBC "Personal" laminator. After following Pulsar's directions,
> some traces just floated off after soaking to remove the backing paper.
> First, parts of the board outline (5 mil) drifted away, followed by some of
> the traces (10 mil) and pads. Can anyone here tell me what I did wrong and
> how to fix it?
> >
> > In more detail, I printed their Toner Transfer Paper with a new HP 1005
> printer, using the HP demo catridge. I set the density to 5 (max) before
> printing. The print looked ok. Could the HP demo cartridge be different
> (cheaper maybe) than the regular HP cartridge? I let it sit around for maybe
> 30 minutes before laminating, while cutting and cleaning the board. Could
> that be it?
> >
> > I cleaned the board, by Pulsar's recommendation, with, first, a little
> dish soap on a green "scrubby" then with Tarn-X using a paper towel pad,
> rinsing thorougly after each. I wore latex gloves to avoid fingerprinting my
> clean board. Could my problem be in cleaning the board? Is there a better
> method?
> >
> > I ran the board and TTP through the laminator twice--forward and
> backward, per instructions. One discrepancy is that I didn't have the water
> bath immediately at hand and it took about a minute to get some water. Could
> the board have cooled enough in one minute to cause my problem? Also, I left
> it in the water several minutes rather than one. Is soaking too long a
> troublemaker?
> >
> > I note that the worst of the problem was at the back end of the board
> (relative to my first pass), though there was some toner floating off in the
> middle, too. Does the laminator (which I let warm up over 30 min) lose its
> heat so quickly that it doesn't do a 4" long board evenly? Would more passes
> through the laminator help?
> >
> > Any other problems with my method that could cause this failure?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jim
> >
> >
>
>  
>


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