Homebrew PCBs

In September I purchased the GBC® HeatSeal™ H200 Laminator
from Staples for $99.99 as recommended by Frank Miller of Pulsar.  
After processing a couple of  0.031 inch PCBs, I decided to modify it 
to accommodate the thicker 0.062 inch PCBs. I carefully followed the 
TIA modifications provided on the Pulsar web site 
(http://pulsar.gs/). 

The directions are not easy to follow, but in all fairness it is 
difficult to describe this modification without use of pictures or 
diagrams. The modification took about an hour and a half; I can now 
do it again in much less time.

Upon completion, I tried to run a 0.062 inch board thru it, but it 
jammed. Upon inspection, I discovered the leading edge of the board 
was hitting the edge of the lower guide plate ("outfeed plate") as 
the board exited the heating rollers. Both the upper and lower plates 
have a bent edge facing the rollers.  I was about to increase the 
bend on the lower plate when I noticed the upper plate had a slightly 
sharper bend than the lower plate. So I simply swapped the plates and 
found the 0.062 PCB could then be properly fed thru the laminator. 
All has been well since then.

I am quite pleased with the performance of the laminator. It takes 
the guesswork out of implementing the toner transfer technique.

Bye the way, I have successfully used two types of paper to do the 
transfer. The well known Staples picture paper for injet printers 
(Staples item 471861) has a high clay content which serves to protect 
the toner. But the paper is somewhat difficult to remove requiring a 
substantial amount of rubbing. After completion of the rubbing 
process, I have to use a sharp thin blade (Xacto knife) under a 
microscope to remove residual glue from the sides and corners of a 
few traces. The Epson photo paper for ink jet printers (Staples item 
380356) will eventually float off the PCB leaving the toner intact. 
This unprotected toner is more delicate than the clay covered toner 
left by the Staples paper but there is significantly less residual 
glue left on the PCB.

Oh...before I forget, there is a recall notice on the H200 and H300 
laminators due to a faulty crimp connection. This connection can 
cause a short circuit that could bypass the temperature regulator 
circuit and both thermal fuses creating a potential fire hazard. The 
recalled H200 laminators have serial numbers starting with "PI" 
or "PJ".  GBC will replace laminators with these serial numbers (call 
800-541-0094).