Homebrew PCBs

Hi Guys
I have not tryed the method your describing or even understand the 
thermal transfer method, but I would like to give it a go in a few 
weeks and I do not want to buy a laminator. I came across a HP laser 
jet 4 printer which is going in the bin, the question is can I use 
the fuser unit from this Printer ? what should I look for ? I have no 
problems with building the control board for the stepper motor or the 
temperature control board.
best regards
            Luis


--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Alexandre Souza" <alexandre-
listas@e...> wrote:
> 
>     SUCESS!
> 
>     Yesterday I gave a try on  ppdeayal  method of thermal transfer.
> 
>     Got an old Toshiba Pagemaster printer, dismanteled and got the 
entire
> fuser assembly and gear unit. Built it onto a board of wood and a 
small
> circuit to drive the step motor. In my first try, I got so much 
sucess I'm
> really amazed. Here is how it happened:
> 
>     - Got a Couche paper (time magazine, in Brazil we have "Veja") 
sheet and
> glued it with double sided tape into an A4 sheet. My HP Laserjet 4 
plus
> cannot feed a paper so thin, so I used the A4 sheet as a carrier.
> 
>     - Printed the circuit in the darkest mode possible
> 
>     - Warmed the fuser unit, monitoring temperature in the 
thermistor (The
> IDEAL temperature of the fuser unit is between 190 and 210 degrees. 
In HP
> printers the Thermal Fuse opens in 210 degrees celsius, so keep this
> temperature lower!)
> 
>     - Put the board + paper sandwich in the fuser unit, and ran 4 
times in
> each direction (my PC program allows me to do that automatically, 
so I don't
> need to take the board from one side to re-insert in the other side 
of the
> laminator)
> 
>     - Took the board off, and put it on the cold water bath
> 
>     - The board came WONDERFULLY TRANSFERED. Wow!
> 
>     My DOs and DON'Ts:
> 
>     - Fuser units that has plastic bearings on the fuser roller 
sides are
> complicated to work. Mine melted the plastic 2 times while I was 
looking for
> the maximum temperature I can use.
>     - If you have money for a commercial laminator unit, go for it!
>     - The board has to be completely clean, of course
>     - In high temperatures (as you can see in the photos I put on 
the site)
> the ink of the magazine can be transfered to the board. Use a clean 
sheet of
> couche paper, or if you can, the lighest printed page you can find 
on the
> magazine.
>     - The "secret secret" of the thermal transfer isn't really 
TEMPERATURE
> but EVEN PRESSURE.
> 
>     Greetz for all!
>     Alexandre Souza
> 
> 
> 
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