Homebrew PCBs

On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 2:35 PM, leeleduc <leeleduc@...> wrote:
> Dissolvo is sending me a sample pack of all their paper weights, including the 4-mil coated. I'm looking forward to trying them out. I'll post the results. The 3-mil paper does not curl in either the printer or laminator, stays nice and flat. The paper is a little slick so I had to fold it over the end of the copper clad to get a clean start into the laminator.
>
> When I tried my first run through the laminator I made 6 passes. This worked for the thick paper I was using but was too many passes for the dissolvo 3-mil. The 10-mil board outline was "squished" in a couple of spots. 2 passes works just right. This is what I used to get the clean 6-mil text on the 2nd try.
>
> When I get more paper I'm going to try printing and laminating an 8 by 10 inch board outline with a pad at each corner to check the dimensional stability.

Note that some printers don't print accurately. For example, my HP
LJ1100 prints about 0.5% larger than intended in the direction of
paper travel. Maybe that's because there is some dust stuck on the
surface of the paper rollers. I use PentaLogix ViewMate to adjust the
Y scale (if I really care about accuracy), then print to a PDF file
using CutePDF writer, then use Adobe Reader to print the PDF to the
printer.

> It also dawned on me that if I mess up a print, I should be able to simply print on the unused side and laminate that image instead. Sure would cut down on waste. I'll give that a try also.

Frank Miller at PulsarProFx warned me that getting toner on the
rollers of the laminator would make the rollers sticky, and I'd have
to take the laminator apart and clean off the rollers. I've never done
that (got toner on the rollers), but I put a note on the laminator to
remind myself not to do that!

At 60 cents per 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of Dissolvo paper (from
http://www.kleargear.com/1815.html) I wouldn't worry too much about
waste. Still, you can save on your special materials (transfer paper)
by printing your pattern to plain letter paper, then taping an
appropriate-sized piece of the transfer paper over the pattern, then
running the assembly through the printer again. I use printable labels
from OfficeMax as tape, to reduce the risk of gumming up the printer.
(Using printable labels as tape was another of Frank's suggestions.
Not sure if such paranoia is justified, but I'd rather be cautious
than risk screwing up my printer!)