Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "gettingalongwouldbenice" 
<gettingalongwouldbenice@y...> wrote:

> According to the manual for the HP4L, the fuser is 180C.
> But the specs on the media call out 200C for 0.1 seconds.
> 
> This is a relatively short time relative to the 2-3 minutes
> recommended for the iron method.
> And the thermal mass is approximately zero compared to the board.

I always pre-heat the PCB, face down, on a hot plate at 350F (~180C) 
before doing the transfer and I've found I don't really need a hot 
iron if I get the paper on the PCB fast enough after pulling it out 
of the hot plate. Also, the transfer is just about instant.

Today, I tried one right in the hot plate, with the PCB face up, and 
managed to burn myself and char the back side of the PCB... <GRIN> 
Oh well... I think if my hot plate had less of a lip and I set the 
temp lower or flipped the PCB over at the last second, it would work 
great.