Electronics > Beginners
PCB Transfer via Laser Printer
David Cutcher CEG:
This is for people who need simple, reliable and easy transfer of their traces onto copper clad.
Here in Canada, the classroom chemicals for photo resist transfer were labeled carcinogenic. I showed this method to my colleagues and it was immediately adopted by everybody. With practice, I was able to consistently get .015" lines.
To do double sided, just line up some pre-drilled register marks before attaching the paper.
See attached, from my book Electronic "Circuits for the Evil Genius" 2nd ed, McGraw Hill
David Cutcher - Certified Evil Genius
Psi:
I never got photo paper to work that well.
Proper laser printer film designed for making PCBs, like press-n-peal blue, always worked great.
But i never got photo paper to get anywhere near the quality of press-n-peal blue. 0.2mm was about the limit for it, did a 100TQFP once.
Then i discovered elecrow and pcbway :)
David Cutcher CEG:
The dedicated paper is far superior, yes. But at $.25 / sheet, the Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper does a great job.
Immediate success nearly guaranteed with .03" (.75mm) even for a beginner.
Yes, it does take practice. but I was able to get regularly get a trace between CMOS DIP chip pads and 3 traces down the middle of a 4011 CMOS. But I always tried to keep those super thin lines as short as possible.
DC
james_s:
I think it depends a lot on other variables, I had some success with photo paper but nowhere near as good or consistent as press n peel. The cost of the PnP looks high but a little goes a long way, I cut a piece just big enough for the board I'm making and after ~10 years I'm only on my second package.
As far as chemicals being labeled carcinogenic, that's probably thanks to Prop 65 in CA which labels virtually *everything* as carcinogenic. I would not be surprised if that warning is somewhere on the photo paper too.
Psi:
The way i used press-n-peal blue was to first print what i wanted on an A4 plain paper sheet.
Then i made 4 small diagonal cuts into the sheet at the corners of my pcb design within the sheet.
I would then cut out a small piece of press-n-peal blue and insert the corners of it through the slits in the plane paper sheet.
Then i could put the entire thing into the printer and print on only the small section of press-n-peal blue that i required.
It made the stuff last for ages.
Ya get a lot of small pcbs out a 5 pack of A4 press-n-peal
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