If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
I am going to get a laser printer (I am a student I need one) but I was wondering, do you guys have experience of making PCBs with the tonner transfer method. I am wondering wich tonner (brand of printers) sticks good to the copper. I have been reading around and not all printer tonners seems to stick very good.
Registered Member #1806
Joined: Sun Nov 09 2008, 04:58AM
Location: USA
Posts: 136
I don't know what printers would work better than others, but I've done the toner transfer method, and would not recommend it.
I could go into details about the process I used, but I don't think it's worth the effort since your process would be different from mine.
Alternatively, you could use pre-sensitized boards. You print your artwork on a transparency, place it on the board, and then expose it to UV, then develop the board, and then etch. Here, , ladyada has a nice tutorial for doing it.
I've not used pre-sensitized boards, but the process is much more straight forward than the toner transfer method.
MPJA has pre-sensitized boards for very low prices. These claim to be generically photo sensitive such that you can expose them with a bright lamp rather than needing a UV source such as a huge array of LEDs.
Registered Member #1739
Joined: Fri Oct 03 2008, 10:05AM
Location: Moscow, Russia
Posts: 261
Well, it's a pretty much of a "point of no return" - if you choose to use a laser printer the way of using any UV-sensitive things will be mostly closed to you as I've seen no transparent films to work with laser printers and unsure if they even exist. Therefore if you prefer the UV method (both have downsides - the laser one may get tricky for accurate etching of the larger boards, the UV one takes a bit more time however (assuming you are putting the photo-sensitive layer on your PCBs yourself), but allows for a quick replication of a board without any additional printing).
Registered Member #16
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 02:22PM
Location: New Wilmington, PA
Posts: 554
Of course there are transparency sheets that work with laser printers. They sell them at every Staples or Office Depot, at least around here.
I've done the transfer method with everything from expensive CMYK color models at work to cheap personal laser printers. They all worked well, but the higher end models seem to work better with very fine detail like SMD traces.
Registered Member #1792
Joined: Fri Oct 31 2008, 08:12PM
Location: University of California
Posts: 527
I've done the toner transfer method, most recently with a new-ish HP office printer. I think more important than the printer is the paper that you use, photo glossy paper usually work better.
I've never done it with very fine traces, because getting the process to work well can be tricky and take a certain amount of experimentation, but it's possible. Everything I've heard is that it's easier to get good details with photoresist boards.
Registered Member #58
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:40AM
Location: Tri-Cities, Washington, US
Posts: 317
just for everyones info, if you watch slickdeals.net ive seen a few times in the hot deals forum where staples or officedepot has ridiculous laser printer prices. for example i got my samsun ml-2850 black and white duplex network printer for 40$ and that came with full ink too. I think right now they have a color laser for a similar price. it is usually based off pricematching the printer to officemax and then using staples rebates. anyways, you can get some AWESOME deals. also toner transfer method works amazingly well :D have fun
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
Laser printer for PCB making
