Homebrew PCBs

Stefan Trethan wrote:


> Why the hell did it print on the aluminium foil?
> simple standard kitchen foil.
> 
> (i tried with a old toner cartridge containing tha drum also, the sharp 
> edges could possibly harm the drum.).
  > looks promising printing on copper, doesn't it?
> 


   Note the surface has to hold an electrostatic image to pick up the toner. 
Most oxides aren't that conductive, so would hold an image well enough for the 
time required.  Copper oxide is a lot more conductive than most though.

   Really it is worth trying though, may well be even the aluminum it's not 
really an oxide layer but fluxes etc from making the foil, although if the 
aluminum is bare it surface oxidizes very readily.  Anything that is insulative 
enough to let it hold the image that will not later interfere with the etching 
after the toner is applied should work.  It's something I've had on a list of 
things to try for a long time, but the paper toner method works great and I just 
haven't bothered.  And to get the best bang out of this, modifying a laser 
printer to print straight on board would be idea.  I have a spare laser printer 
or two just for this, but it's way on down the list of things to do for me.  The 
paper method works and only leaves one laser printer sitting on my desk so it's 
hard to work on having two sitting there.. :)  But laser straight to board would 
be excellent in the long run, I have a good spare 1200 DPI laser on hand.

Alan