Homebrew PCBs

I went out and bought the GBC H210 from the local Staples and am 
having trouble passing 1/16" thick boards as it jams every attempt and 
Im fearful of destroying the laminator. I can pass 1/32", but only 
w/the board and the toner paper w/o a carrier sheet. I quickly learned 
that I dont need a carrier sheet and the results blow away any of the 
boards Ive done in the past w/the clothes iron.

From what I read on the PULSAR site, their laminator (GBC H210) can 
pass 1/16, do they mod the laminator in any way to pass the thicker 
boards? Is there a special tech to doing this? Please help.

Wayne

OK, after powering down the laminator for a bit and letting it fully 
cool I thought Id try an pass an old 1/16 pcb I did. It worked w/o 
any probs, so I then passed it thru again w/a single sheet of 
printing paper and again no problem. I continued to do this until 
the laminator got up to full temp, as the laminator got hotter the 
more difficulty it had passing the media. At full temp setting and 
the green light on it didnt jam and stick, but it did hang 
momentarily and when it came through there was a burn mark accros 
the paper. Appearantly the temp has an impact on its ability to pass 
media.

Yesterday when I was having all the jam issues I had the laminator 
on full, fully warmed up. I tried the 1/16 and HM laser/photo paper 
and the laminator wasnt having any of it, it would jam and made 
horrible binding noises.

Any of you familiar w/any of these issues? Those of you using this 
laminator, what settings and paper are you using? 

Any help is greatly appreciated

wayne

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "wayneosdias" <wayneosdias@...>
wrote:
...
> Yesterday when I was having all the jam issues I had the laminator 
> on full, fully warmed up. I tried the 1/16 and HM laser/photo paper 
> and the laminator wasnt having any of it, it would jam and made 
> horrible binding noises.
> 
> Any of you familiar w/any of these issues? Those of you using this 
> laminator, what settings and paper are you using? 


I'm having the same issue as you, only I've been using Pulsar's paper.
As you noted, Pulsar states on their website that the "TIA Laminator"
can handle 1/16" board (0.062") but works best with 1/32" (0.031").
Unfortunately, the H210's manual it says it can handle a maximum
thickness of 0.040" and it seems that the manual is correct and Pulsar
is, shall we say, stretching the truth a bit.

Frankly, I was pretty incensed as I could've easily tacked a few 1/32"
boards on to my Digi-Key order had I *known* that the "TIA Laminator"
was, in fact, a plain old H210 with a 0.040" max. capacity...

Ive gotten a responce from Frank of Pulsar, He states that the 1/16 
board may need a little persuasion, but will pass through. He 
suggests we switch to the 1/32 board. I did in fact use the laminator 
w/a 1/32 double sided board and it worked but it warped and is very 
flexible. I dont think this will fair well w/ smd or my pc mount 
xfer. I told Frank about this but he seems to think it should be fine 
and that the warped board can be manually straightened.

I really want to get this sorted for the 1/16 because the results are 
much much better than the clothes iron tech. I still cant wrap my 
brain around the fact that the h210 passes the 1/16 easily when the 
heat is turned down.

I found a link that mods the older h200 to pass the media slower, but 
Frank says that is is not needed for the new h210 and that the h210 
is a much better machine.

I havnt had time to fiddle w/this, but on the WE I plan on doing alot 
of testing. Ill post then.

wayne

Expensive but see http://www.film-source.net/12_inch_pouch_foam_laminator_2244_prd1.html

A quick goggle for "Bigmouth and laminator" turned up above site $189.00 free shipping.

Haven't tried for PCB's but will laminate up to 1/4" thick.

Norm

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: wayneosdias 
  To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 6:12 PM
  Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Help w/ HeatSeal 210


  Ive gotten a responce from Frank of Pulsar, He states that the 1/16 
  board may need a little persuasion, but will pass through. He 
  suggests we switch to the 1/32 board. I did in fact use the laminator 
  w/a 1/32 double sided board and it worked but it warped and is very 
  flexible. I dont think this will fair well w/ smd or my pc mount 
  xfer. I told Frank about this but he seems to think it should be fine 
  and that the warped board can be manually straightened.

  I really want to get this sorted for the 1/16 because the results are 
  much much better than the clothes iron tech. I still cant wrap my 
  brain around the fact that the h210 passes the 1/16 easily when the 
  heat is turned down.

  I found a link that mods the older h200 to pass the media slower, but 
  Frank says that is is not needed for the new h210 and that the h210 
  is a much better machine.

  I havnt had time to fiddle w/this, but on the WE I plan on doing alot 
  of testing. Ill post then.

  wayne



   

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On 5 Jun 2007, at 00:12, wayneosdias wrote:

> I really want to get this sorted for the 1/16 because the results are
> much much better than the clothes iron tech. I still cant wrap my
> brain around the fact that the h210 passes the 1/16 easily when the
> heat is turned down.

The answer to that problem is simple enough, but whether you'll be  
able to mod the drive mechanism to give a little more gap between the  
rollers to cope with the greater thermal expansion is another matter.

-- 

Cheers

Derryck