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Homebrew PCBs

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Message

First attempt at TT

2004-02-04 by Phil

I've used press-n-peel with mediocre results and reading this group 
got me interested in the toner transfer technique using, of all 
things, glossy magazine paper.  I have to admit, I was somewhat 
skeptical,  I mean "magazine pages?!!!?".  Like, free.  how can that 
be right??  Well, as I'm sure no one is suprised to hear, it really 
works.  And with better results than PNP.  But I have a few questions:

- how heavy are people laying down the toner?  I'm using a copier so 
I have a lot of control over this and found that you really dont need 
that much toner.  (by the way, no image stretching that I can see)

- I dont have a laminator so I just pulled out the iron and set it on 
high.  I think this is too hot.  Even with the iron set a bit lower 
(linen setting) I noticed that the toner still smeared and flowed 
easily - especially if the toner was fairly heavy.  what is the right 
temperature for fusing the toner to the copper?  I'll probably 
experiment with this a bit but I'm getting tired of scrubbing toner 
off of copper.

- is all toner the same?  I'm using a "personal copier" (canon PC701) 
if that makes much difference.  I wonder if the canon toner has a 
lower fusing point.

- how do you keep the paper aligned, especially with a laminator.  
I've had real trouble with PNP on this for single sided boards, 2 
sided is a bit daunting to me.  On one of the TT boards I did, the 
paper moved a little when pressing with the iron.  Guess I just have 
to apply vertical pressure and not slide the iron around.

well, thanks for reading this far.

Phil

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