Homebrew PCBs

arvidj01 wrote:
>   
> There are several very narrow but well defined white lines that go
> vertically down the page. 


Some years ago my old trusty printer had some 'non printable vertical
lines' and some glue or melted plastic from duct tape on the drum that
made some spots unprintable. It got to the point which i didn't had any
place on the paper with enough good printing area to do my pcb's. It
became like this since i really stupidly place the printer at the same
room i made the pcb's and just next to the dusty driller. I had to treat
it like trash and decide to buy another. Unfortunately i didn't know
this group by then and bought a crap bad one, and didn't even tried in
time to return it. Meanwhile, my interior kid, disassembled the old one,
deciding if anything useful from the parts, after a lot of ideas i just
clean the dust inside (like in the mirrors and lenses) with compressed
air, used  i-don't-remember-what to clean the drum, and gave it a last
try, and is still my old trusty printer :)

I can't recommend to clean it the same way, when i did it i wasn't
caring at all if i break it completely. The vertical blank lines in my
case were from dust in the mirrors or lenses, the repeated horizontal
problems were from the drum. From the few things i had at the time i
possibly used for drum cleaning a pcb cleaning fluid from 'kontakt
chemie' that came in a spray can which you spray trough a brush. It was
the less abrasive thinner thing i had at the time and 100% volatile. The
drum is an expensive and sensitive part of the printer, if choose to
clean the drum be careful of what you use to clean it.