Synth-DIY Yahoo! Groups Archives

Thread

Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-02 by Brad

I finally got some white toner and made my first silkscreen! I didn’t try to hard (the board was scrap), but the results are encouraging. I’ve made a post on my blog here for those who like me just have to have a white silkscreen on their boards:

http://bradhodge.ca/blog/?p=1026

Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-03 by AncelB

Well, u can silk screen with regular toner, and then do a craft foiling
transfer pass with any type of color foil you prefer. Gets u
professional looking metallic labeling if u want.

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-03 by Brad

Yeah I tried that but never had much success with it. Plus, if I can dial this in a bit better it’s one less step, one less thing to go wrong, right?

From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Friday, June 2, 2017 6:40 PM
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

Well, u can silk screen with regular toner, and then do a craft foiling
transfer pass with any type of color foil you prefer. Gets u
professional looking metallic labeling if u want.

Virus-free. www.avg.com

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-03 by Marc OLANIE

Hi Ancel & all

>…. and then do a craft foiling

transfer pass with any type of color foil you prefer.

Could you pse give a reference or URL of such a « craft foiling » stuff ? I’m still looking for such material

Many thks

Mark

Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-04 by AncelB

Craft foil for toner transfer: EBay item # 160937797413

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-04 by Marc OLANIE

Thank you, Ancel.

These foils have metallic particles. Unusable or risky for UHF and/or high voltage pcb. Just good enough for CC apps and arlui-like applications

I was looking for something more neutral.

Tnks agn

Marc

De : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
Envoyé : dimanche 4 juin 2017 05:53
À : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Objet : [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

Craft foil for toner transfer: EBay item # 160937797413

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-04 by Kevin Byrne

Get white trf instead as it is made for that application. I can supply a link to both green trf and white trf thru a site I buy from.

Virus-free. www.avast.com

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-04 by Brad

I don’t know why but I couldn’t make the TRF work. It always ended up lifting the toner from the board. The rare spots where it adhered it looked awful. I tried the recommended settings for an iron *and* their recommended laminator but no dice. Just wouldn’t work.

I’ve been doing more experiments with the white toner and the results are pretty good.. I think this is much preferable to a process with additional steps. The cart will do 2000 ‘pages’.. for $115.. that’s not bad..

From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 4, 2017 1:20 AM
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

Get white trf instead as it is made for that application. I can supply a link to both green trf and white trf thru a site I buy from.

Virus-free. www.avast.com

Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-05 by AncelB

I have used the purple metallic foil up to 1Ghz on 0.8mm FR4 with no
probs....No apparent effect on permittivity etc.

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-05 by Marc OLANIE

That's an important info :-)

just a last stupid question : did you try to use it to minimize toner porosity? In other words, does it resist to acid ? (replacing some kind of "green trf" foil)

Marc

De : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com> de la part de AncelB mosaicmerc@... [Homebrew_PCBs] <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Envoyé : lundi 5 juin 2017 03:28:16
À : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Objet : [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

I have used the purple metallic foil up to 1Ghz on 0.8mm FR4 with no
probs....No apparent effect on permittivity etc.

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-05 by Dennis Shelgren

Just my two cents. White toner is probably the most direct route. Back in the late 90's alps wax printers could do decals that'd be fairly close to perfect. But there's been no new machines that work that way unless you look at "pro" machines. Hopefully some fellow maker out there will make a new version of the old alps.

On Jun 4, 2017 8:16 PM, "Marc OLANIE Marc.olanie@... [Homebrew_PCBs]" <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

That's an important info :-)

just a last stupid question : did you try to use it to minimize toner porosity? In other words, does it resist to acid ? (replacing some kind of "green trf" foil)

Marc

De : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com > de la part de AncelB mosaicmerc@... [Homebrew_PCBs] <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com >
Envoyé : lundi 5 juin 2017 03:28:16
À : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Objet : [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

I have used the purple metallic foil up to 1Ghz on 0.8mm FR4 with no
probs....No apparent effect on permittivity etc.

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-05 by Kevin Byrne

https://www.circuitspecialists.com/printed-circuit-board-supplies

Here is the link. I use green trf with a Apache lam and it works good and protects with great results in acid bath. I have yet to try silk screening but am watching this post for a good way to try this out.

Circuit Specialists is a pro type good place to buy as far as I can tell as a newbi. Best kevin

Virus-free. www.avast.com

RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-05 by alan00463@...

Well I'm planning to do black silkscreen using Ed Chew's method
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL0fVtREgRA   on the component
side of a TH board.     My idea is white is best for silkscreen, black
silkscreen is better than no silkscreen.

Kevin Byrne, when you figure out how to make white silkscreen using the toner reactive foil, let us know how you did it.    I'll be happy to switch to white silkscreen.

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-05 by Harvey White

On 05 Jun 2017 21:39:44 +0000, you wrote:

>Well I'm planning to do black silkscreen using Ed Chew's method
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL0fVtREgRA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL0fVtREgRA on the component
>side of a TH board. My idea is white is best for silkscreen, black
>silkscreen is better than no silkscreen.
>
>Kevin Byrne, when you figure out how to make white silkscreen using the toner reactive foil, let us know how you did it. I'll be happy to switch to white silkscreen.

Take the silkscreen layer for the board (should not cover pads).
Reverse it and print it on paper, then laminate or iron it on the
board (whichever works for you).

Take the white toner foil put it over the board and laminate it. I
generally use at least two passes and at the highest temperature. You
might want to experiment with how many passes on a few board scraps,
although it can be removed with acetone.

Pull off the foil. You will notice that the foil pigment is thicker
and lumps up a bit, or comes off the board leaving large clumps. Those
clumps are just bare toner and are not attached.

Use either scotch tape or cheap (you don't want strong adhesive) tape
turned sticky side down to blot up the extra scraps. This should
leave the pattern behind and remove the scraps. Do this lightly. You
could remove the toner.

Harvey

Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-06 by AncelB

Yes, I use the craft foil instead of TRF as it is far cheaper and works
as well.

I have both.

Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-10 by alan00463@...

here do you get the craft foil, AncelB ? What is it called ?

Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-10 by AncelB

Craft foil for foiling toner on PCBs, to either remove any pitting when
etching the fills on the solder layer or for quality silk screening on
the component layer: Ebay item # 160937797413

Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-20 by dougholberg@...

Per your suggestion, I bought some. Tried it today and it worked just great! The stuff is so thin, it is tricky to get it to lay perfectly flat on the board as it goes through the laminator. However, on my first try, I only had a couple of tiny wrinkles. Still the board came out great. I got one roll of 10ft and it will probably last forever.

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-20 by Harvey White

On 20 Jun 2017 17:47:58 +0000, you wrote:

>Per your suggestion, I bought some. Tried it today and it worked just great! The stuff is so thin, it is tricky to get it to lay perfectly flat on the board as it goes through the laminator. However, on my first try, I only had a couple of tiny wrinkles. Still the board came out great. I got one roll of 10ft and it will probably last forever.

try cutting it to size, then smoothing it down so it without wrinkles.
This can cause a static charge that helps hold the foil to the board.
Run it through the laminator and it might help.

Harvey

Re: Silkscreening with white toner

2017-06-20 by dougholberg@...

Good idea. Another thing i am gonna try is to roll it over the end of the board and tape with Kapton and then hold some tension on it as it goes through. Pretty impressive stuff.