Homebrew PCBs

I am trying to produce my first double-sided board and it is not a
simple one. Now I have encountered similar problems as Susan some
posts above. I have four laser and led printers at my disposal, and
when making single-sided boards never had problems. But now I found
out that two of them distort the layout so that pads and vias do not
line up any more on the printed transparency. So I tried two more
printers I had never used for this before and found that one of them
has a perfect quality but the heater is obviously a bit too hot and
warps the transparency slightly. I tried but was not able to squeeze
the foil flat on the pcb so that some traces were gone after exposure.
The fourth printer has almost no distortion but is an older one and
has a print quality which makes it unusable. How did others solve this
problem? I am not planning to buy a new printer, but in case there is
a particular model which is good and available used I might look for
one.

Regards
Martin

BTW these four printers are Xerox WorkCentre XD102, Lexmark Optra E+
(both distortion), Brother HL-1230 (heater) and Oki Okipage 4w
(quality).

I'm using an Older HP 4L Printer.

And What I have found is If you want to print Two Drawings that Must 
line up with each other, Print them One at a Time and Position them 
so Both "Print in the Same Area of the page".

This way whatever Errors occurs in the First one,
Should also Occur the Exact Same in the Second one.

Hope this Helps.........Gary
*******************************************************************
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "cruizzer77" <atlantis7@g...> 
wrote:
> 
> I am trying to produce my first double-sided board and it is not a
> simple one. Now I have encountered similar problems as Susan some
> posts above. I have four laser and led printers at my disposal, and
> when making single-sided boards never had problems. But now I found
> out that two of them distort the layout so that pads and vias do not
> line up any more on the printed transparency. So I tried two more
> printers I had never used for this before and found that one of them
> has a perfect quality but the heater is obviously a bit too hot and
> warps the transparency slightly. I tried but was not able to squeeze
> the foil flat on the pcb so that some traces were gone after 
exposure.
> The fourth printer has almost no distortion but is an older one and
> has a print quality which makes it unusable. How did others solve 
this
> problem? I am not planning to buy a new printer, but in case there 
is

> a particular model which is good and available used I might look for
> one.
> 
> Regards
> Martin
> 
> BTW these four printers are Xerox WorkCentre XD102, Lexmark Optra E+
> (both distortion), Brother HL-1230 (heater) and Oki Okipage 4w
> (quality).

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Gary" <chemelec@h...> wrote:
> 
> I'm using an Older HP 4L Printer.
> 
> And What I have found is If you want to print Two Drawings that Must 
> line up with each other, Print them One at a Time and Position them 
> so Both "Print in the Same Area of the page".
> 
> This way whatever Errors occurs in the First one,
> Should also Occur the Exact Same in the Second one.
> 
> Hope this Helps.........Gary

Yes, that's an important point.  I rotate one of the images 180
degrees for that very reason.  This especially important if you are
panelizing (multiple boards in a single image).

Its a good idea to print a test image to see where the distortions
are.  I use a copier so I just copied a piece of graph paper and found
some small distortion at one end of my copier.  I avoid that area.  

Also, humidity is an issue to consider since the paper can shrink when
subjected to the fuser heat.  You might try running the paper through
a blank print cycle to dry it but use it quickly before it reabsorbs
the moisture.

Personally I do All my boards using UV and Shipleys Resist.

I also print the Positive on Clear Acetate, "Twice".
Than I carefully line them up and Tape them, one on top of the other. 
This gives a Much Higher Contrast and usually Eliminates any Glitches 
in the Printing.

I do a Lot of Boards for projects I sell on my website and numerous 
Persons have commented that they are Very Professional looking.

The Biggest Board I have ever done is in the Pictures Section here, 
Named "Chemelec".

Using the positives I make, I can easily etch 10 ml traces and I have 
etched 5 mil traces on occassion.

******************************************************************
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Phil" <phil1960us@y...> wrote:
> 
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Gary" <chemelec@h...> wrote:
> > 
> > I'm using an Older HP 4L Printer.
> > 
> > And What I have found is If you want to print Two Drawings that 
Must 
> > line up with each other, Print them One at a Time and Position 
them 
> > so Both "Print in the Same Area of the page".
> > 
> > This way whatever Errors occurs in the First one,
> > Should also Occur the Exact Same in the Second one.
> > 
> > Hope this Helps.........Gary
> 
> Yes, that's an important point.  I rotate one of the images 180
> degrees for that very reason.  This especially important if you are
> panelizing (multiple boards in a single image).
> 
> Its a good idea to print a test image to see where the distortions
> are.  I use a copier so I just copied a piece of graph paper and 
found
> some small distortion at one end of my copier.  I avoid that area.  
> 
> Also, humidity is an issue to consider since the paper can shrink 
when
> subjected to the fuser heat.  You might try running the paper 
through
> a blank print cycle to dry it but use it quickly before it reabsorbs
> the moisture.