video DIY Printed circuit board
I want to share my personal experience with heat toner transfer method of making PCB.
It's easy to learn for beginners and it delivers very good result for fair price.
Do fast prototyping with fun!
Enjoy!
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To get more info about LIQUID TIN see Spec sheet at
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/421.html
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NOTE!!! Why it works only with laser printer!
Heat toner transfer is possible because it employs physical properties of laser printer toner.
Toner is a mix of a very fine plastic powder and black pigment.
When paper is being heated by fuser inside printer plastic particles melts and sticks to paper.
If we attach paper to flat surface and apply heat to paper so temperature of paper exceeds toner melting point, plastic melts again and sticks to adjacent surface.
If you don't have laser printer you can use xerox to make copy of your artwork. Since xerox employs laser technology it should work the same way.
It's easy to learn for beginners and it delivers very good result for fair price.
Do fast prototyping with fun!
Enjoy!
...
To get more info about LIQUID TIN see Spec sheet at
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/421.html
...
NOTE!!! Why it works only with laser printer!
Heat toner transfer is possible because it employs physical properties of laser printer toner.
Toner is a mix of a very fine plastic powder and black pigment.
When paper is being heated by fuser inside printer plastic particles melts and sticks to paper.
If we attach paper to flat surface and apply heat to paper so temperature of paper exceeds toner melting point, plastic melts again and sticks to adjacent surface.
If you don't have laser printer you can use xerox to make copy of your artwork. Since xerox employs laser technology it should work the same way.
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Your local printshop can be your friend. Take your graphics file in on a disk or thumb drive; and ask them to print it out on a color copier/printer/xerox machine with the darkness setting wide open and in forced color mode even though its black and white. Color mode will cost you a buck or two, but this forces the machine into mixing a black toner from the four process colors. The result is a much thicker layer of toner so you get better transfer and better protection of the copper. Use a little less iron pressure though; its thick enough to squish our a bit under extreme pressure.
Also, there is no need to buy photo glossy paper. The printshop will have a ready supply of glossy papers at near normal paper prices. Ask for the lightest weight gloss paper they have; and try a couple different paper brands. I have personally found "Sappi" gloss text 80# to work well - but that may or may not be available. I like it because I find it softens/falls off faster in water after ironing.
Set up your board to fill a sheet of paper - ie multiple copies of it. It won't cost any more and you will have spares for mistakes or future duplicates. (yes, my employment is in such a printshop - so I've had the opportunity to do some experimenting with all this :) Just wanted to share the info with those who don't have the equipment available to 'play' with.)
Getting the toner back off after etching can be a challenge. Alcohol, nail polish remover, light fluid, etc will do it with a lot of scrubbing. Go to your local auto parts(or Wally for that matter) and buy a spray can of 'brake and parts cleaner'. Hit the board with a shot of that, and the toner will wipe right off instantly.
You can use the same technique to create a 'silk screen' image on the board after etching, even in full color! I don't recommend doing it on a side your going to solder. It doesn't stick as easily to the bare board as it does the copper, but its good enough to locate components for assembly.
Keep on!
online.
I'm going to assume that the poor quality job he has received is due to the transfer being heated too high when applying, thus causing all of the holes to disappear and lines to be wavy. Do you know what the maximum temp should be? Or is it safe to say that the iron will not go past that?
Once again, thanks for the fantastic tutorial. It really saved the day for us!
Heat and pressure force should be evenly distributed over whole area and best result you can achieve using laminator.
Squeezing too hard on one spot will result in distortion of image being transferred.
If iron is too hot you may try to put additional sheet of regular paper between iron and paper with artwork.
You can use glossy photo paper, i used Magazine paper which is also glossy paper. Don't worry about the stuff printed on paper because it is printed with ink. and will not affect your design.
Rubbing is done to remove the extra dirt or something on copper clad board.
Do it properly and u'll get better results.
Another extra layer you can add to a professional board is a silkscreen layer that lets you put text onto the board for labeling parts, values, and what the board does.
But, it does not have anything to do with lawsuits. The cheap commercial boards don't have one either! They are an extra thing that usually cost more. If there is a short in the board from soldering, then that is the designer's fault not the fabricator.
Hope that helps!
People here will be happy to help you to gain some knowledge.
In my tutorial I don't do final operation - applying of soldering mask.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder_mask
It's not so easy to implement at home based lab and it's not really necessary for most of boards.
After soldering I coat board with transparent conformal coating.
Great movie!
Now, about tinning.
Yes, tinning can be avoided for home-made prototype.
Purpose of tinning is prevention of bare copper against oxidizing. It also provides excellent solderability.
Of course Liquid tin gives home-made PCB professional finish but
you have option to save few bucks and tin PCB manually with soldering iron.
Clean board, wet whole board with liquid flux, get fine soldering wire and carefully solder all traces i.e. cover with thin layer of solder whole conductive area.
Final step, clean PCB with alcohol and carefully check for solder bridges (unwanted short between traces).