Illustrated how to

[PMinMO]

Great illistrated paper on Toner Transfer:

http://pminmo.com/pcbmaking.pdf

[dpuch]

I had lots of problems with trying to use inkjet paper. I tried a few brands and they were sticking in the printer and hard to remove the paper. They seemed to have a plastic film that would melt either in the printer or when ironing...

Anyhow what I found at Staples: Hammermill "color laser gloss" 16311-0
This worked much better for me, and was only about $16 for 300 sheets

Dale

[PLC77]

I have found that Drafting Mylar works exceptionally well for toner transfer. I use mylar drafting film 4 mils thick, with a translucent finish.
I print it with and old HP laserjet series II.
After printing, I place the film on the cleaned PCB material and cover it with a piece of plain copier paper and then iron it for 5 minutes with a clothes iron set to about "Polyester" Moderate pressure during the ironing moving it evenly to get full coverage of the printed area. (It is wise to place the PCB on a hard surface like a block of wood so as not to burn the countertop of the wife's kitchen!)
After ironing, plae the board with the film attached under running cold water untill it is cool. gently peel off the mylar still under the running water.
If you have the time and temp set right you will transfer virtually all the toner to the pcb.
I have discovered that Toner transfer methods work best for circuit layouts that use roughly the same size lines. Large areas don't print well with the laser and won't provide good results, consider using cross hatch patterns rather than solid copper pours.

Good Luck

[3dlab]

I have been using cheap Fujifilm paper and works fine.
even with my new hp1018 doing 600*600.
for removing paper best method I have tried is using soft wood, like balsa or a bit harder, and scratch copper with it.

[wtxrcdog]

Hello

I just finished making a couple of boards with some paper from Staples.
It is called "photo basic gloss" it is for inkjets but it works great in laser printers. this was my first try at it and was suprised it worked so well. After I ironed on the transfer I just soaked it in warm water about five min. and pulled most of the paper off. then let it soak another five min. than rubbed most of the rest off with my fingers. then used a tooth brush to get the last little bit off. I also found a homemade etch solution that works like a charm. it is 2 parts hydrogen peroxide mixed with 1 part muratic acid. The hydrogen peroxide is the kind you get at the drugstore. I used gloves and a paper towel to lightly rub the board and it only took about 3.5 minutes to etch. I think this is the link to the article about this.
http://www.fullnet.com/~tomg/gooteepc.htm

Bruce

[Lawmate]

Hello
I have just made a few boards with the toner transfer method using paper from regular magazines. I got some info on it from http://www.riccibitti.com/pcb/pcb.htm. The paper from these magazines is free as im sure everyone has old magazines lying around. I found areas with little colour print on them are the best as sometimes a little of the ink can transfer from the paper although it is far too thin to block the acid. I just cut out a section of the paper from the magazine and sellotaped it to an A4 paper and it never jammed up in the laser printer.

IMG_2839.jpg (165.41 KiB) Viewed 1855 times

I found that if i just pressed on the cut-out design with an iron then to get the right amount of pressure it would slip a tiny bit and smudge. Also i couldnt properly get a distributed pressure over the pcb area. All of the methods i saw on the internet just mention using an iron straight onto the printed paper so maybe its a problem with my iron or the toner that my laser printer uses, but i just couldnt get it to work and when i rubbed off the paper in the water only half of the toner would remain. Anyway i overcame this problem by placing a thin metal sheet above the circuit board and printed pattern and clamping it down either side of the board. This stopped the pattern smudging and also dissipates the heat more evenly. I had a bit of copper sheet lying around that i used but im sure you could use kitchen foil folded over a couple of times. I put a sheet of paper on top of the metal so that i wouldnt scratch the underside of the iron. Since i used this method all of the printed toner has transferred every time.

IMG_2906.jpg (226.89 KiB) Viewed 1887 times

Another tip but not as necessary is that i found using barely luke warm water with a bit of soap mixed-in was the quickest way to soak the paper before rubbing it off.
Good luck
Lawmate

[PMinMO]

looks good

[Robfowlr]

Hi Everyone
i have some years experience at a pcb board house in Amesbury MASS. and thought about how to make toner transfer method work better.

just a note on Toner Transfer PCB's, what i have found to work the best is coated Glossy Laser paper, made by hamermill color laser gloss.
this paper gives really fine lines and is much easier to watersoak and rubb off.

also as a side note if you pre-ech the bare copper ie. wash it with soap and water or some kind of cleaner to remove the copperclad anti-corrosion oil.
then dip the bare board in etchant just prior to ironing the toner artwork on (use baking soda to neutralize the copper/etchant from the board and dry). this does two things, it makes the copper accept the toner much better because its softer on the very top micron layer and gives a rougher surface than just using a buff pad. it also removes tiny imperfections on the copper so the toner lays down cleaner.

hope this helps ..... Rob

i have managed to do TSSOP chips using the method described above. soldering tssop is not an easy task though. Rob