PCB at home

[froten]

Hello all,

I'm using the toner transfer methode to make my PCB. Currently I'm studing the idea of using the inkjit printers which can print on CD-DVD disks. I found couple of printers but with very high coast. the cheapest is hp-5363 which uses the inks 140 & 141.

Did any budy tried this type of printers for PCB drawing on the board? is it good? is there are any advises?

any help is graetly appreciated.


froten

 

[Reloadron]

This article may be worth a read. Since the wife has an Epson R280 that prints direct to CD & DVD I was thinking along the lines covered in the article. Printers like this are inexpensive and with little effort the tray can be modified for direct print.

Ron

 

[Voltz]

I've read up on the toner transfer method as I was interested myself and one thing that seemed to almost always come back was that Laser Printers were considerably more effective and the reason given for this was that apparently the toner doesn't stick to the paper like Inkjet ink does

 

[MrDEB]

The laser printer ink is composed of plastic flakes, not ink as you are thinking.
Try printing a page on a laser printer, apply a little water. The "ink " does not run
Try that same experiment with ink jet printing. The ink runs
When you go to etch the board the inkjet ink will not stick.
IMO the best way is using Pulsar paper.
Sure its expensive BUT it works.
One method if wanting to use inkjet is print on a transparancy then using a photo sensitive board do your magic. Cost more than using the Pulsar method.
I understand Staples photo paper works ok.
**broken link removed**

 

[nigelwright7557]

This article may be worth a read. Since the wife has an Epson R280 that prints direct to CD & DVD I was thinking along the lines covered in the article. Printers like this are inexpensive and with little effort the tray can be modified for direct print.

Ron

I have a sR220 Epson printer and it prints on cd/dvd very well.
Had it a few years now and use compatible inks and had no problem.

 

[Reloadron]

See below. Firefox sort of crashed.

Ron

 

[Reloadron]

I have a sR220 Epson printer and it prints on cd/dvd very well.
Had it a few years now and use compatible inks and had no problem.

This link highlights using the epson R220. Something to remember is even special ink is used as a resist.

The laser printer ink is composed of plastic flakes, not ink as you are thinking.
Try printing a page on a laser printer, apply a little water. The "ink " does not run
Try that same experiment with ink jet printing. The ink runs
When you go to etch the board the inkjet ink will not stick.
IMO the best way is using Pulsar paper.
Sure its expensive BUT it works.
One method if wanting to use inkjet is print on a transparancy then using a photo sensitive board do your magic. Cost more than using the Pulsar method.
I understand Staples photo paper works ok.

The idea behind the link I posted initially is that there is no paper used. The ink is transferred using the printer to print directly to the board. They seem to get mixed results using the method. The trick being to use an ink that will also act as a good resist.

Overall I doubt as good as using toner with a LASER printer but an interesting approach to doing things a little different.

Ron

 

[DirtyLude]

I would ask and search on the Homebrew PCB Yahoo Mailing List. That place is much more geared towards experimental PCB making. The direct print PCB method does look really good, and the results look amazing when it works perfectly, but it's still not that widely used. Somebody was selling metal templates that hold the PCB in the CD tray and special refilled ink cartridges. I'm sure if you google search, you'll find them.

 

[mincior]

Try this post:
Electronic Circuits and Projects Forum
Circuit Simulation & PCB Design
new method to manufacture pcb at home