PCB Toner Transfer -Brother toner, early experience.

[wilfred]

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[kripton2035]

I have an epson c1100 color laser printer with original epson ink
I use commercial very thin paper you have everyday or so in your mailbox
it doesnt have to be glossy in fact, it has to be as thin as possible to get away easily with water
(for french people the one from "carrefour" are excellent...)
and it makes very nice pcb for some time  now....

[stk]

Wow that looks great.
I am still to test my CNC machine with PCB`s using isolation routing.

[amspire]

I have a similar Brother printer, and it works with a  bit of effort.

I have to admit, I may get some proper transfer paper to test. This has a layer between the paper and the ink that dissolves in water, so there is no paper residue left attached to the ink.

http://www.pulsarprofx.com/PCBfx/main_site/pages/products/transfer_paper.html

The same company also has some kind of green film that can be put on top of the laser printer ink to seal it.

[Psi]

I'd be very surprised if you have any problems etching that. It looks to be pretty much perfect.


You can use turps or iso to clean off the toner after it's etched.

I have to admit, I may get some proper transfer paper to test. This has a layer between the paper and the ink that dissolves in water, so there is no paper residue left attached to the ink.

http://www.pulsarprofx.com/PCBfx/main_site/pages/products/transfer_paper.html

Yeah, i've heard good things about the pulsarpro stuff, sadly digikey wont ship it to NZ. Dunno why.
I normally use Press-n-Peel blue which i get from Jaycar. It's not cheap but i find it gives good repeatable results down to 20mil tracks, 10mil on a good day.

One thing you do have to watch though, is when you're doing boards with a sub 30mil clearance.
The toner will spread out when it gets hot, especially if your printer is putting a lot of it on (density setting).
This makes the tracks wider than they should be, so if you have a small clearance between tracks it will get even smaller and may produce shorts that you have to clear with a knife before etching.
10mil tracks with 10mil clearance is a nightmare.  10mil with 20-30mil clearance is fine.

[Zad]

I'd be very surprised if you have any problems etching that. It looks to be pretty much perfect.

Apart from the big gap in the third trace down, just right of centre?

[Psi]

I'd be very surprised if you have any problems etching that. It looks to be pretty much perfect.

Apart from the big gap in the third trace down, just right of centre?

Yep, but he said that gap was the only touchup it needed. Which is pretty damn good.
You normally do get some areas that don't transfer, so a board with only one tiny touchup needed is "pretty much" perfect.

[slateraptor]

Yep, but he said that gap was the only touchup it needed. Which is pretty damn good.
You normally do get some areas that don't transfer, so a board with only one tiny touchup needed is "pretty much" perfect.

Agreed. That has to be one of the cleanest toner transfers I've seen.

[mobbarley]

Incase you haven't found it, lots of info about toner transfer and etching here:
http://ultrakeet.com.au/index.php?id=38