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Very Easy Toner Transfer

post #1 of 35
10/8/10 at 2:29am
Thread Starter 

This is based on an idea from Avro_Arrow and he suggested I try it

 

First take your copper board

P1010230 (Small).JPG

 

Now don't use steel wool or any kind of abrasive, simply put in in the etching solution for 30sec to 1 min until its an even salmon color

 

P1010234 (Small).JPG

 

then normal ironing on the layout, use the tip of the iron and a good pressure,

 

P1010236 (Small).JPG

 

A good soaking and peel off the paper

 

P1010241 (Small).JPG

 

The toner sticks very well, I think it is because of the microscopic pitting from the first etching really gives it a very good key

 

P1010249 (Small).JPG

 

Using this method the reliability of the toner transfer method goes through the roof and makes it very easy and quick

 

thanks to Avro_Arrow for pointing this idea out

 

cheers

FRED

 

 

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post #2 of 35
10/8/10 at 4:38am

Great job Fred!

 

Here are some more tips for people to try...

 

Much of this information can be found here.

 

If you have problems with pitting or "board rash", bake the board in

the oven just enough to melt the toner. Let the board cool on it's

own and don't touch the traces while it's hot!

 

For better results than using an iron, use a laminator.

This one is know to work well.

 

Water slide paper works far better than ordinary paper.

Just place it in water and it floats right off leaving the

toner behind. Water slide paper is coated with Dextrin.

You can learn to make your own water slide paper

by searching on "Dextrin Paper".

 

Use the toner transfer method on the component side

of the board to look like you silk screened it.

 

Happy DIYing!

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post #3 of 35
10/8/10 at 9:20pm

thanks for this tidbit, I might just have to get my hands dirty again smily_headphones1.gif ..dB

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post #4 of 35
10/8/10 at 11:11pm

haha the mesh ground plane is a nice touch. have you modeled it to see if it has any effect other than visual?

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post #5 of 35
10/9/10 at 5:41am

PDF  -  How_to_make_laser_toner_transfer_paper

 

This is the DIY dextrin paper mentioned above ..dB

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post #6 of 35
10/9/10 at 6:11am


I never modeled how it effected the signal but I assumed that it would not

make much difference below very high RF frequency.

The main reason I did it is because it is easier for the printer.

A solid ground plane is harder for the toner to keep up with...

 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by qusp View Post

haha the mesh ground plane is a nice touch. have you modeled it to see if it has any effect other than visual?


Edited by Avro_Arrow - 10/9/10 at 6:18am
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post #7 of 35
10/9/10 at 8:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Avro_Arrow View Post


I never modeled how it effected the signal but I assumed that it would not

make much difference below very high RF frequency.

The main reason I did it is because it is easier for the printer.

A solid ground plane is harder for the toner to keep up with...

 

 

 

hmm well there is certainly some strange new science that would suggest that it probably would due to electrons (but not the signal they convey) travelling far slower than we thought they did. Many truly modern dac designs also do not use angular lines, but curves (admittedly my favorite proponent of this technique is an RF designer sub-contracted to the australian and US defense forces), That and the fact that many modern chips are quite active up there anyway, particularly power supply.

 

I totally get your reason though, guess thats where it helps to have an A3 commercial xerox colour laser from a past life in DTP and graphic design. I wonder how well colour toner transfer would work for the component print?. just collecting supplies at the moment to start really playing with the whole home PCB thing; I have several personal projects that will require quite a bit of prototyping before I send anything off to batch PCB for the final trial run. plus many of the parts i'm using are impossible to breadboard at all; except with rather expensive proto PCBs that cost almost as much as a batch PCB.
 


Edited by qusp - 10/9/10 at 8:28am
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post #8 of 35
10/10/10 at 11:10am

Great stuff.

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post #9 of 35
10/10/10 at 12:36pm

Fantastic results - I'd be dead happy!!

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post #10 of 35
10/10/10 at 11:11pm

Awesome,  can you share your BOM?  Like the where you get the boards, copper thickness, etching solution ,  I imagine not all products works easily.  Would be cool if you could share the tribal knowledge.

 

Thanks

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post #11 of 35
10/11/10 at 6:16am

hes already linked to a site that explains all of that

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post #12 of 35
10/12/10 at 4:09am

What etching solution are you using? I can't find that in the links.

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post #13 of 35
10/12/10 at 4:12pm

IIRC, he uses Ferric Chloride.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by regal View Post

What etching solution are you using? I can't find that in the links.

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post #14 of 35
10/12/10 at 5:35pm
Thread Starter 

I use Ferric Chloride for small jobs by hand and Ammonium persulphate for other jobs its much cleaner, and I can buy it on ebay :-)

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post #15 of 35
10/13/10 at 2:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred_fred2004 View Post

I use Ferric Chloride for small jobs by hand and Ammonium persulphate for other jobs its much cleaner, and I can buy it on ebay :-)



Ferric Chloride owes me a few pairs of jeans and a good few tshirts! It's incredibly messy and WILL stain wink.gif

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