Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "javaguy11111" 
<javaguy11111@y...> wrote:
...
> > 
> I have this same kind of laminator. Assuming the packaging is the 
same
> there should have been a sheet of heavy paper included. I took that
> paper, folded it in half and put my two sided board inside and solid
> against the fold. Leave enough overhang so that when you feed into 
the
> laminator the paper is grabbed first. Keep a tight grip on the 
paper,
> pc board sandwich until board is in between the rollers. If you do 
not
> have the paper I have also used heavy construction paper. Ordinary
> notebook paper tended to crumple up rather than coming out the back.

I'll give it a try.  thanks. I leave about a 1" border on the paper 
so there I can pull the small boards out.  I've not had any problem 
with the paper getting caught in the machine.

> 
> With this technique I have had no problems with maintaining 
alignment.
> This also comes in handy with boards that are too small to appear 
out
> the back side before it has fed all the way through. 

I saw about 5 mils of misalignment before I started tacking with the 
iron.

> With my boards I generally found it took any where from 6-10 
passes. I
> also  found it also useful with my larger boards to rotate the board
> so that different edges fed in first. This helped with problems with
> the edges not getting a good transfer.

Yeah, I flip my boards over for each pass.  I took careful notes of 
my first 5 attempts.  On the 64 mil stuff, 12 passes wasn't enough 
and 16 had some lifting of traces but 20 did it.  I wonder if they've 
tweaked the design or its normal variation in manufacturing.

What kind of pcb material are you using? I'm using 0.064 FR4 1 oz