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Registered Member #3610
Joined: Thu Jan 13 2011, 03:29AM
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 506
I've had excellent results with toner transfer using the thin glossy magazine paper from catalogs that come in the mail. I can do SOIC packages and 603 size SMT easily with almost 100% yield. I've done a few boards with the finer pitch SSOP packages with success but usually have to do a bit of manual cleaning between the pads or I get bridges. The trick is to use a printer that uses the right kind of toner, clean the board very well, and use a good laminator to do the transfer. At first I modified a really cheap Scotch laminator to make it hotter, but now I use a fancy Tahsin commercial unit I found on ebay. It lets me turn the speed way down and the temperature all the way up to 160C. The best paper I've found yet comes from the pages of Action Lighting catalogs but I've used others with good success too. My printer is a Xerox Phaser 6100 with OEM toner. For etchant I use cupric chloride that I regenerate with 12% H2O2, it does a nice job and is much cheaper and less messy than FeCl.
I like this process because I can use the dirt cheap copper clad that I buy in 18"x24" sheets for $12.99 at the local surplus shop rather than spending that much on a couple of 4"x6" UV sensitized blanks.
Registered Member #618
Joined: Sat Mar 31 2007, 04:15AM
Location: Us-Great Lakes
Posts: 628
James, I have used the toner transfer method a few years back in high school at my college prep class, but any more the IC's I'm wanting to use are micro controllers that generaly come in LQFP packages which have .22mm/.0067in/6.7mil spacing between pins or smaller, and I just don't trust the transfer method, especially if I want to do double sided boards to decrease the foot print of the board. Not to mention I already have a developer kit from wanting to try it out last year but getting around to getting an exposure unit never quiet materialized
Registered Member #3610
Joined: Thu Jan 13 2011, 03:29AM
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 506
I'm not saying toner transfer is the only way, just that done properly it can yield very good results. I've made boards with LQFP packages using it, and double sided is no harder with toner transfer than it is with photo methods.
When it comes to photo etching, I've found that laser printing on tracing paper and then sandwiching the paper print-side to the PCB on an exposure box with a thick glass window and a UV bug zapper lamp works well. It's important to get it pressed nice and flat, I used a couple of heavy books to hold the PCB down against the printout.
You won't be able to etch copper directly with a solid state laser if that's what you're asking. Copper is an excellent reflector so you don't get enough energy into the board. I've seen guys spray paint on a blank PCB and laser etch off where they want to etch copper but I don't recall how well that actually worked. There were also some guys getting very good results by inkjet printing certain inks directly to the PCB but I didn't have an inkjet printer. I've thought about building a laser plotter with a low powered violet laser to draw the pattern directly on UV sensitive board but then I got the toner transfer refined well enough that if I need better quality than that, I just send out for some professionally made boards.
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Questions on optic disc lens and possible options for PCB fabrication
