Homebrew PCBs

I use the MAX Bright 94 brightness, and so far 5 out of 5 perfect
transfers.It's not in the "photo" paper section, It's a ream of 500 sheets
for like $4.00  in the regular type papers section, There are higher
brightness levels, but this one seems to work, with a laminator and Lexmark
Optra R with 3rd party toner anyway

JT

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil" <phil1960us@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 12:30 AM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: TT experiment


> ok, I got some of the office max photo paper.  so far, with three
> tests, I'm underwhelmed.  I think it might require a higher
> temperature - the toner was staying with the paper in places.  This
> is at the same temp setting that I use for magazine paper.  That
> suprises me - I expected the toner to melt at the same point and
> adhere to the copper, regardless of the paper.  I'll try again
> tomorrow when my acetone induced fog clears. lol
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Alan King <alan@n...> wrote:
> > Phil wrote:
> >
> > > thanks.  here's the state of my "operations":
> > >
> > > paper: I'm using magazine semi-glossy.  I'll try some of the
> coated
> > > inkjet paper.  I did have a couple of sheets that I used a while
> ago
> > > and think it had the same problem but I could be misremembering
> as I
> > > was fussing with learning the process.  by the way, passing the
> paper
> > > though the copier multiple times to increase the amount of fusing
> > > seems to have no effect.  it does come out hot so I know its
> > > getting "cooked".
> > >
> > > toner density:  I've played with this a lot.  really cranked it
> down
> > > and even at super light settings I am seeing the blotchiness
> along
> > > with complete drop out due to too little toner.  In general, I
> keep
> > > it on the light side.
> > >
> > > heat:  I think I've got this right as i started high and kept
> > > dropping it until the toner was not adhering, then kicked it up a
> > > bit. I'm getting good aherence. Using the aluminum sheet metal
> seems
> > > to improve the uniformity of the heating but there is still some
> > > blotchiness.
> > >
> > > pressure:  I still think this, along with uneven heating, is part
> of
> > > my problem.  Its hard for me to control which is why I thought
> the
> > > metal plates would do a more even/uniform job.
> > >
> > > I'm not going to obsess over this blotchiness as it doesn't keep
> the
> > > board from being usable, it just doesn't look super clean.  I'll
> keep
> > > at it so Me Etch Pretty, Someday.
> > >
> >
> >
> > http://www.jetprintphoto.com/c/graphicgloss.asp
> >
> >    Try this, or find the Office Max Hammermill equivalent since
> this is also a
> > Hammermill paper.  It has a good coating, and a paper sheet.  I
> think Office Max
> > just bypassed JetPrint and bought their paper direct to make a bit
> more money.
> >
> >    Note that magazine paper is very thin and dense, and most has a
> solid
> > coating.  You will easily get the smashing of toner as you're
> getting, there is
> > no where for the toner to go but out.  There are some who swear by
> the magazine
> > paper mainly because it's free, but they also tend to swear you
> must use a
> > laminator etc to get good results.  You can get great results from
> this paper
> > without anything else being special.  And the extra fusing is to
> keep the
> > coating from this type paper from sticking, I wouldn't expect it to
> do much for
> > magazine paper.  I'd assumed you were already using good paper, you
> should try
> > some just to understand the difference in quality and ease.  Even
> if you can
> > live with the magazine quality for now you should see this so you
> know you can
> > step up if you need to later.  You'll spend far more time trying to
> make the
> > magazine paper process good than you will just buying the 50 cents
> a page paper.
> >   And the 20 pages in the pack for $10 lasts a good while if you're
> judicious
> > and print tests on normal paper first etc.
> >
> >    Pressure is the problem, but you'll never be able to get
> it 'right' with such
> > a solid dense paper.  You may find a mag with a thicker softer
> paper, but
> > they're few and far between since transport bulk dictates that thin
> highly
> > compressed paper is better for a mag.  For contrast I can barely
> make my prints
> > smash at all or have uneven results, even with intentional wide
> variations in
> > pressure.  This type paper is your limiting factor, not that you
> don't have
> > superhuman or mechanical control over the pressure.
> >
> >    A few sheets of normal paper behind may mitigate some of this.
> But even then
> > the coating on the inkjet papers is a bit different and seperates
> from the
> > looser page better.  My prints leave the coating on the toner with
> only a little
> > of the page sticking in the coating, and the extra coating tears
> right at the
> > trace edges, and the resulting transfers are nearly perfect, even
> the holes are
> > left clear even with almost all the coating sticking on the toner.
> I don't
> > think you could get that kind of coating seperation with the highly
> compressed
> > tight bonding of the magazine coating and page.
> >
> >    Actually I'll have to try some different magazines and see if
> there's
> > anything out there that's as good.  Free paper would be good.  But
> from how most
> > everyone using it says lamination is absolutely critical and
> knowing the basic
> > construction of most pages I don't really expect to find it, but
> worth checking.
> >   Using this paper and fusing an extra time or two so the unprinted
> coating is
> > dried better and won't stick are almost my whole process, and hard
> to consider
> > that a drawback since the paper and printer do all the work.  After
> that the
> > ironing etc is all very simple, instead of having to get it exactly
> right it's
> > almost impossible to go wrong.
> >
> > http://photos.yahoo.com/alantak69
> >
> >    Look in PCB, this was a rush job since I expected to have to
> clean it up and
> > it was just a proto board anyway, so was going to have wire jumpers
> etc.  Even
> > with hardly ironing so a couple small pieces didn't stick, it came
> out nearly
> > perfect.  Note the second photo, smooth even fuzz almost
> everywhere, but almost
> > no holes were covered so the copper was properly exposed for etch,
> and only a
> > couple had to be picked at by hand.  Little secondary touch up or
> handling
> > required.  Note the first pic, you can see the image in the coating
> on the page
> > since the coating seperation was so clean.  I only spent about two
> minutes doing
> > the ironing, a little bit more would have likely gotten a perfect
> transfer.  The
> > route through the pins wasn't smashing, I had it drawn a bit wide
> in Eagle but
> > it was still not touching and worked perfectly.  While the pics are
> a bit fuzzy
> > from being close in, the trace edges were sharp.  If your results
> aren't equally
> > easy and painless with just an iron by hand, maybe this will let
> you see it's
> > likely your choice of paper.  It's hard for what I'm doing to even
> mess up.  The
> > stepper board in the other album was a much earlier board, before I
> knew to fuse
> > extra and clean the copper better with acetone.  Still came out
> well, but took a
> > lot more hand work since the coating stuck much more.  That's what
> the extra
> > fusing is for, almost totally eliminates any unprinted coating
> sticking with
> > this easily seperated coating.
> >
> >
> >    Bit of a read but hopefully this will help you bypass the idea
> that you need
> > to do a lot of work on heat and pressure, and get you to try some
> other ideas
> > with a better paper.  It's much easier than fixing the process with
> the paper
> > you're using right now, and well worth the 50 cents a page when
> printing boards
> > to make everything else much less critical.
> >
> >    It's even hard for me to really work on the print to copper idea
> too hard,
> > this really is easy enough for my light to medium use, and doesn't
> take
> > modifying a printer.  But I think our current ideas on that will
> coexist with
> > normal printing now, so if the testing works it'll be worth finding
> and setting
> > up one printer that can print fine on paper and also straight on
> copper board.
> >
> > Alan
>
>
>
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