From - Thu Nov 06 23:17:00 1997 Path: news.bc!News1.Vancouver.iSTAR.net!News.Toronto.iSTAR.net!news.istar.net!news-peer.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!news.idt.net!nntp.farm.idt.net!news From: ovidio Newsgroups: sci.electronics.basics,sci.electronics.cad,sci.electronics.components,sci.electronics.misc,sci.electronics.repair Subject: Re: PCBoard fabrication question Date: Mon, 03 Nov 1997 16:28:53 -0500 Organization: IDT Lines: 90 Message-ID: <345E4215.667062F8@idt.net> References: <345E3065.4680@concentric.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: ppp-44.ts-8.nyc.idt.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.01 [en] (Win95; U) To: puzzled@concentric.net X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Xref: news.bc sci.electronics.basics:3896 sci.electronics.cad:1328 sci.electronics.components:3247 sci.electronics.misc:3421 sci.electronics.repair:8416 Amy Torelli wrote: > Hello all, > > I am trying to find a technique to transfer a circuit board layout > printed by my laser printer onto copper clad. I sometimes get > satisfactory results feeding aluminum foil into my laser printer then > using a hot iron to transfer the image onto the copper clad. > > I can’t seem to determine what works best, printing on the shinny side > > or the dull side of the aluminum foil. Nor have I determined, after > ironing the image onto the copper clad, whether it’s better to peel > the > aluminum foil off right away while its hot or wait until it cools > down. > > Does anyone have a better method? > > Thanks in advance, > Peter Holtan > puzzled@cris.com > > whims@cris.com By using aluminum foil you risk making scratches on the toner drum of your printer.I've posted the method described below a few times already and haven't gotten any real feedback. I hope it works for someone. Let me know. I assume we've all heard of Avery printer labels. I found out that they make laser labels that are able to be removed after the have been placed on a surface. Anyway, they advertise these labels as Avery "Remove 'Em" laser labels. I buy the ones for diskettes #6490 as these serve two purposes... disk labels and PCB transfer paper. The backing for these labels is the least expensive and best method I have found to transfer PCB designs to the copper board. This is what I do.... 1. Make a regular printout of the layer on paper. 2. Cut a piece of the backing large enough for the design to fit on. (Be sure to handle it by the edges as oil from your fingers will cause smudges on the design) 3. Place the piece of backing directly over the printout you made and use labels or paper tape to hold the backing in place. The tape must be placed on the end that will be fed into the printer first. The other end should be left alone to prevent crinkles when feeding through the printer. 4. Place the sheet back in your printer so that the design can be printed on the shiny surface of the backing. 5. After you have printed your design, separate the backing from the paper and set your clothes iron to Wool. Heat depends on different irons obviously. 6. Take your copper board and sand it (I use #400 sandpaper) to remove corrosion or whatever. This also helps in the adherance of toner to the board. 7. Iron the design to the board. If you want, you can place a regular piece of paper over the backing. Press hard if you want! The pads and lines won't stretch! Make sure the entire piece of backing is ironed to the board. However, leave about 1/2 inch or so of backing over the edge of the copper board to allow for removing. 8. Tricky part! About one or two minutes after lifting the iron off, hold it by the edges (gloves on if too hot for you!) and peel away the backing. Everything is perfectly transferred, and I mean perfectly. Things to watch out for.... 1. DO NOT INSERT AN ENTIRE BACKING BY ITSELF INTO YOUR LASER PRINTER! The reason for this is that the backing itself is smooth and does not have enough "traction" to be fed by the printer. I found this out the hard way, I had to disassemble the fusion area of my printer to clean out the melted residue on it! 2. Use labels or paper tape to hold the backing in place. DO NOT use the clear tape!