What's the difference between "matte" paper and just plain old, regular printer paper? sorry if that's a stupid question

I was wondering where you got your ferrum chloride if you got it at a store or online and also what are some other etchants that can be used?

Hello All,

I had ZERO success with ANY toner transfer methods until I tried these two things together:

1) After scrubbing the copper board, drop it into the etching solution for a few seconds. Remove and rinse. Be careful not to touch the copper after it is dipped/rinsed.  It roughens up the surface and makes the toner stick much better. It also removes any deep-down dirt that the scrubbing missed.

2) When repairing traces with a "sharpie", roast the board on your iron for about 20-30 sec. to make sure the "sharpie" ink is completely dry, then etch.

I use a beat-up HP Laserjet 6L, press-n-peel blue with my iron on about 3/4 full heat and moderate pressure, and get great results. Your millage will vary. Experiment a bit. It is probably different with photo paper, but try the above tricks. Good luck!

what do you maen by the "toner side" of the paper? and du you have to print this with a inkjet or lazer? 

I have used 'recycled' CD-label backing paper with success.  Just remove all the remaining adhesive-backed labels and everything else from the waxy paper it was stuck to.  Then use the waxy side for the transfer.  The wax isn't enough to interfere with the circuit traces.  Didn't seem to harm my old LJ2100 either.

Hi, do you mind if I ask you where I can purchase a decent PCB board for the above application? You have mentioned a FR4 Silver Coating PCB. Is this a good choice? If so, where do you think I can look for it? Any suggestion will be appreciate it. Massimo.

Thank you very much. Now I know what Acetone is; nail polish remover. I have also cleared the toner by scratching the board with a used and blunt razor.

In the intro, you say that you must reverse the image. I disagree, for that is only true when you are using surface mount components. If you are using the through hole variety, then the simple act of turning the pcb over to put the parts in the correct way will reverse it.

If you can get you hands on an old HP plotter (good luck though) they work great for making circuits and you can buy the pens for them that are actually resist pens. The nice thing about the plotters is that you can adjust the height of the printing surface thereby letting you print directly onto the copper with no intermediate steps.

I had very good results using a steam-iron; the steam presses the toner onto the copper and the paper gets off real easy; no need to soak/peal/rub the paper

Just a suggestion: if you find a broken trace you can fix it with a Sharpie marker (or so I hear).

Me and dad did it with a laser printer, and it didn't work so well. I didn't know that it worked better with Inkjet. We could have saved $49!

if you do not have an old printer that uses toner, can an inkjet printer be used? does the paper have to be glossy or will regular printer paper work?

Use Magazine paper! I have spent a lot of money trying numerous photo and inkjet papers with little success, the toner won't stick to them. Any periodical or womans magazine with the glossy-ish squeeky paper works a treat! It doesn't matter that the pages have pictures and text on them, they don't get transfered, just the toner does. The thicker pages work better through the printer, but don't savage your printer with glossy card. It really does work - tyr it, i know you've got a copy of TV weekly or Marie Claire sitting there doing nothing! If not, go swipe one from the doctor's surgery, they've got loads ;o)

I have always used OOO steel wool to clean the toner off the board. Doesn't damage anything. also helps the solder stick better also.

if you like ultra-super-cheap methods, instead of using Acetone to remove the toner try getting some plain paper and ironing it back off! you can eventually melt it all off onto different spots on the paper, it just takes a bit of time. very handy if you don't have any acetone ;)

If there are some small errors in the transfer, you can fix it with an alcohol-based marker. It worked for me.

I found a miraculous fix for bad transfers, that have gaps: Wiggle a desoldered/clean, low power (approx. 15W) soldering iron across a gap to fill it. The iron melts the toner and spreads it where the tip touches. *Works best where toner rubbed off - not as effective where no toner met the surface to begin with.

Im using something called "chalk paper" (looks like Glossy but without any plastic) and washing powder solution to remove paper after irioning - after 5 minute bath it releases without any scraping. Works with magazine paper too

baking paper works fine i think