HerbertMunch

Has anyone in the UK found a paper that will peel off nicely?
Im so sick of the inconsistent results caused by the wrong paper!

Thanks

HarveyH42

I use Pulsar paper, and believe they ship worldwide. Press-N-Peel should be availiable in the UK as well. If you are looking for something more common, or to re-purpose, (some will bring this up...), magazine paper. But it take a little trial and error to find the right type. I tried it only 3 times, just out of curiosity. First one didn't stick, only ran through the laminator one pass. Second got jammed in the laserjet (first and only paper jam). Third was successful, paper came off clean, good etch. Passed it through the laminator three times.

There are some here who use regular paper, and can go into better detail. But you need to find the pages with color print pictures. Not the thick paper, but basically the same as the rest of the magazine. Cut a small piece, and let it sit in a cup of water for a while, and see how it gets soggy and breaks down. This will give you some idea if you are on the right track.

3v0

I did a bit of looking and found P&P for sale in the UK. But it looked to be quite expensive.

Some one on your side of the pond needs to get together with frank at Pulsar and start distributing his products in the UK. He has good products, not only for making PCBs but also making decals.

mvs sarma

Photographic printing uses a type of paper called coated paper. this is used for color and monochrome printing of quality prints, using inkjet.
the paper is slightly thicker than noral xerox paper. this supplied by a firm called DESMAT

I use this type and anothe local brand NEELGAGAN.

Both have on one side coated whistish shining surface.

it is working well.
Ofcourse, nothing to beat PRESS and PEEL
this is the one used by PCB manufacturers for sample supplies.

I am yet to see one such in my country.

Finall, you may get the DESMAT coated paper, as it is an international brand.

you may try with RS Components ,perhaps they may have something equivalent

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Sarma.

mvs sarma

Aso please see this site

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...88&postcount=1

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HerbertMunch

Ok, thanks for the replies.

Yesterday I was hit by an epiphany!

To all those brits on these forums, that have had limited luck with toner transfer, I have the answer!

No more blood, sweat and tears!

Heres my setup:

Brother Ml2030 LASER
Argos catalogue paper (FREE and widely available!)
Sainsburys cotton makeup removal pads (Free also, from the girlfriend!)
one A4 backing sheet.
sticky tape.
pure Acetone (not nail varnish remover).
Fine grit sandpaper.
Cheap iron.

Method:
1)Cut a sheet of argos paper out of the catalogue.
2)Stick it to a sheet of plain A4 using two strips of tape. (To stop it jamming the printer) Print your design onto this.
3)Clean board thoroughly with sandpaper, then acetone. (Nail varnish remover leaves loads of other chemicals behind, so only use pure acetone).
4)Put cotton pad on a hard surface and put the pcb onto the pad. (this pad will spread the weight when we start ironing.)
5)Cut out the bit of printed argos paper from its A4 backing sheet.
6) position this on the copper.
7) put another bit of A4 over this, and Iron. I only ironed for about 1 minute using this method.
8)take this to some water, and submerse.
9) after about a minute, if you rub the paper in a circular fashion lightly, the shitty quality argos paper just falls off!

I have never achieved such consistant results from toner transfer before, and the best part is, the paper is completely free!

3v0

Glad you have it working. Some ideas to MAYBE refine your process.

All I use to clean the PCB is a elbow grease, green scotchbrite pad, and dawn dish soap. Give this a try and see if it works. If not others may want to know what grit sandpaper you are using.

For tape I use the 3M blue panters tape.

For the iron step, try the hint from the PulsarProFx site. They put a large wood dowel under the board. The contact patch of the dowel puts a large amount of pressure on the board/toner as you roll it under the board while ironing.

Great post.

HerbertMunch

thanks 3v0.
Ill give that a go when I get home from uni.

the roller sounds like a great idea. Like manually laminating.

My laminator is far too cheap and weedy to heat the board effectively, so that tip should come in handy.
I don't think it likes me putting boards into it anyway

Many thanks,
Chris

HerbertMunch

On the laminator note,
I used to have a decent laminator, but I broke it!
For making boards, I don't really think you can beat it for ease of use, but decent laminators here in the UK seem to be really expensive.

mvs sarma

Hi HerbertMunch,

please see this site.

he is supplying Press&Peel paper, as i checked his site incidentally.
http://www.ronlin.co.uk/


Hope this will help to serve your needs.

__________________
Regards,
Sarma.

picasm

I usually use cheap coated paper with mixed results.

A few days ago I tried using magazine paper. I cut it out of the mag with a Stanley knife and a steel rule to approx the same size as A4 paper.
Feeding into to the manual feed slot of the laser printer avoided any jams.

The pcb tracks quality was better than with the coated paper and it was easier to remove the paper residue too.

For cleaning the pcb before ironing, I use a very fine wet&dry paper (I think it is 600 grit) then spray on some solvent cleaner (the type that leaves no residue such as that used for preparing car panels for spraying) and wipe it off with a kitchen tissue.

After etching, the toner can easily be removed with a cloth dipped in Cellulose Thinners.

Hero999

I've always found magazine paper works very well, it might not be the best method but it probably represents the best value for money in my opinion.

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HarveyH42

I tried some laser printer transparency plastic yesterday. Almost worked good, but was a little grainy. Going to try it again. I forgot to set the printer density to max, and I left the paper backing on. Next time will make sure the printer is setup right, and will try a single pass through the laminator, insted of three. I think some of the toner got burned. The plastic looked stained, more then toner just being left behind. Other then the graininess, it was a good transfer. The best part was no water needed, the plastic just pulls off.
I was concerned the plastic would melt an ruin the laminator, but the backing paper wasn't stuck, and the plastic didn't seem melted or deformed.

Rolf

[quote=picasm]{snip}
For cleaning the pcb before ironing, I use a very fine wet&dry paper (I think it is 600 grit) then spray on some solvent cleaner (the type that leaves no residue such as that used for preparing car panels for spraying) and wipe it off with a kitchen tissue.
{snip}
QUOTE]

I don't quite understand why you prefer sandpaper over common household cleaners like Comet or Ajax? It cant get any simpler, clean / polish, rinse and dry. It usually don't take more than one paper towel for an average size board.

mvs sarma

Perhaps to remove the surface contamination (oxidation that already took place)

any cleaning powder will do. and the Copper clad makers should have supplied the clad witha false coating so that only when needed , the layer could be peeled off and the clad used immdeiately. manymanufacturers don't do it and they pack with an interleiving paper to avoid scratches.

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Sarma.