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Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] RE: Inkjet photo paper in laser printer - will it melt?

2013-10-15 by Jack Schmidling

> Sorry I'm very would up and frustrated after my first attempt today LOL.
>
> Keith.

I know the feeling.  I have made two good boards to date and it seems 
like playing craps or nailing Jello to a wall.  Doing exactly the same 
thing twice is nearly impossible when using the iron technique.

Yesterday I made a perfect board after about 6 attempts using label 
backing and PnP.  The last attempt was PnP and it worked. My previous 
good board was made using magazine paper.  Removing the paper was a 
tedious task that I do not wish to repeat so PnP and label backing are 
the only options I am interested in.

  I too am thinking about going to the photo process but wanted to give 
this a try first as it is so much simpler.

Seems like the major problem is pressure and temp during the transfer 
and a laminator may be a good idea but I don't want to invest in 
something that I have no other use for.

I started using an IR thermometer to monitor the board temp as opposed 
to iron setting and time and pressure.  After some experimenting, it 
seems like around 300F is a good number for PnP and label backing.  It 
is pretty easy just to scan the surface regularly to get the actual 
board temp than to guess at time and iron temp. There is lots of 
experimenting to do here but I have not heard of anyone else doing this 
and you might give it a try.  It at least takes the guess work out that 
part of the equation.

Jack




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