Poor man's press n peel

So, on a lark i decided to try the old "laser print on a sheet of sticker backing" method of transferring a diy etch layout to a piece of copper board...I gotta say, it's easier, faster, and essentially better than pnp.

Really, really surprised. :thumb:

I use couche paper, you must peel it after put it on water for some minutes.
it work very well.

is that the laser print method?? how you do the transfer? hot iron?

I use a hot iron, but a friend of mine uses acetone, he also uses plain paper.

I'm really not sure what you're saying...

[quote author="Ptownkid"]So, on a lark i decided to try the old "laser print on a sheet of sticker backing" method of transferring a diy etch layout to a piece of copper board...I gotta say, it's easier, faster, and essentially better than pnp.

Really, really surprised. :thumb:[/quote]

Could you be more specific as to the process. I'm going to do some pcb's later and your method sounds interesting, but I'm not following you....

I suspect is the exact press n peel method. print, iron, peel.
the sticker back paper is use because the toner don`t stick to it too much.
a member of my forum use transparency paper , the same idea.

yup, he's right. Print with a laser printer onto the shiny side of a piece of sticker backing, iron on to a copper clad board.

I've even heard of people using glossy paper like a magazine.

I used to use magazine paper but couche paper work a lot better for me.

some magazines use couche paper :roll:

> I used to use magazine paper but couche paper work a lot better for me. some magazines use couche paper

I think the american english word is "coated paper"; at least it turns up equivalent in an H-P printer manual.

Coated paper is the glosssy slick stuff in Playboy, not the rough stuff in newspaper or most books.

It used to be a thin layer of clay applied with a scraper knife. That was 100 years ago. Apparently there's been some changes since then.

If a page from Playboy isn't working, go to the office paper store and ask for "HP Coated Paper". But it seems to come on a roll half as long as a football field.

Thanks PRR.
papel couche hp c6568b = coated paper Hp c6568b

here is a picture of the paper

even a child can do this :grin: (just in spanish)
http://robotsperu.org/foros/aprendiendo-a-fabricar-circuitos-impresos-caseros-vt204.html

:wink:

I'm really not sure what you're saying..

Click to expand...

that was about the couche paper??

Rafael :grin:

I have also heard of guys that use Inkjet glossy photo paper. I have a lot of the PnP so I haven't tried it yet.

But similar concept to coated paper.

"Better" than PnP?

I thought the advantage of PnP was that it had that blue powder coating on it that made the laser toner into a more robust resist.

I etched some 4 oz copper pcbs (for power amps) and found that ironing an additional blank piece of PnP onto the board after the PnP resist was applied kept the pinholes from happening during etch. Ditto for etching graphics on aluminum panels. NOTE: Don't etch aluminum without learning more about it than this one liner. It's NOT the same as pcb etching. Fumes, heat, violent bubbling... :shock:

No argument, non-PnP backing (glossy paper, label backing) is way cheaper and works fine for general purpose work and one-offs on 1/4 to 1 oz copper.

But "better"? In what way? Or are you just referring to the fact it's WAY cheaper than PnP?

no, it came out just as clean as pnp, and it only took 15 seconds of ironing.

I use an older version of the this:

http://salestores.com/gbc17001.html

Much better and more consistent than an iron.

yeah, i've been looking at that.

Hi Ptownkid,

Never tried faster\less ironing - I was always afraid it wouldn't stick somewhere !

How fine pitch are the traces you are laying out?

about 26mil, which is pretty big in the grand scheme of things.

26 mil is pretty skinny in my book. Was that 1 oz copper? No gaps to touch up?

[quote author="aortizjr"]I have also heard of guys that use Inkjet glossy photo paper. I have a lot of the PnP so I haven't tried it yet.

But similar concept to coated paper.[/quote]

Yes, I use inkjet glossy paper, and it works fine. Probably it depends on paper brand a bit, I use Verbatim cheap paper, printing with cheap HP Laserjet, highest print density. Iron temperature is important, must be hot, so that paper turns a slightly brownish (burned?) after ironing it. PCB must be really clean. And take care with larger PCBs - preheat PCB, before putting paper on it, otherwise PCB expands after being heated, and traces get somewhat smeared on edges.

After ironing I throw pcb in water for some minutes, then paper goes off easily by rubbing with fingers. It is simple and cheap.

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