
 Hello all, 
 I am trying to find a technique to transfer a circuit board layout  printed by my laser printer onto copper clad. I sometimes get  satisfactory results feeding aluminum foil into my laser printer then  using a hot iron to transfer the image onto the copper clad. I can't seem to determine what works best, printing on the shiny side or the dull side of the aluminum foil. Nor have I determined, after  ironing the image onto the copper clad, whether it's better to peel the aluminum foil off right away while its hot or wait until it cools down. 
Does anyone have a better method? 
Thanks in advance, Peter Holtan  puzzled@cris.com 

By using aluminum foil you risk making scratches on the toner drum of your printer. I've posted the method described below a few times already and haven't gotten any real feedback. I hope it works for someone. Let me know. I assume we've all heard of Avery printer labels. I found out that they make laser labels that are able to be removed after the have been placed on a surface. Anyway, they advertise these labels as Avery "Remove 'Em" laser labels. I buy the ones for diskettes #6490 as these serve two purposes... disk labels and PCB transfer paper. The backing for these labels is the least expensive and best method I have found to transfer PCB designs to the copper board.
This is what I do.... 
1. Make a regular printout of the layer on paper. 
2. Cut a piece of the backing large enough for the design to fit on. (Be sure to handle it by the edges as oil from your fingers will cause smudges on the design) 
3. Place the piece of backing directly over the printout you made and use labels or paper tape to hold the backing in place. The tape must be placed on the end that will be fed into the printer first. The other end should be left alone to prevent crinkles when feeding through the printer. 
4. Place the sheet back in your printer so that the design can be printed on the shiny surface of the backing. 
5. After you have printed your design, separate the backing from the paper and set your clothes iron to Wool. Heat depends on different irons obviously. 
6. Take your copper board and sand it (I use #400 sandpaper) to remove corrosion or whatever. This also helps in the adherance of toner to the board. 
7. Iron the design to the board. If you want, you can place a regular piece of paper over the backing. Press hard if you want! The pads and lines won't stretch! Make sure the entire piece of backing is ironed to the board. However, leave about 1/2 inch or so of backing over the edge of the copper board to allow for removing. 
8. Tricky part! About one or two minutes after lifting the iron off, hold it by the edges (gloves on if too hot for you!) and peel away the backing. Everything is perfectly transferred, and I mean perfectly. 

Things to watch out for.... 
1. DO NOT INSERT AN ENTIRE BACKING BY ITSELF INTO YOUR LASER PRINTER! The reason for this is that the backing itself is smooth and does not have enough "traction" to be fed by the printer. I found this out the hard way, I had to disassemble the fusion area of my printer to clean out the melted residue on it! 
2. Use labels or paper tape to hold the backing in place. DO NOT use the clear tape!

 Hi All,

 wrote:
I assume we've all heard of Avery printer labels.  I found out that they make laser labels that are able to be removed after the have been placed on a surface. Anyway, they advertise these labels as  Avery "Remove 'Em"  I am using a flat bed plotter with ink from Staedler Lumocolor permanent pens to plot directly onto the pcb. It works reasonably well, but is slow and messy. I would like to use the laser printer method, but before I buy a laser printer, there are questions.
 I cannot find the Avery Remove Em labels here. Do other label backing work? 
 Can you confidently use 12mil tracks with 13mil spacing using that method?
 Regards
 Johan Smit

I have used other types of backing with not so good results as the removable ones.  The ones I described can take the heat from the fuser of a laser printer and alot more especially from an iron.  Also, when it comes time to peel off the backing from the pcboard, the smoother surface of this paper will allow all the toner to be transferred.  Not like some of those other TT systems.  I don't even use a marker for touch-ups, don't need it!  I have done traces down to 10mil with this,it is important to clean the board first with the method described, don't "shine" it with steel wool.  If you can increase the toner settings for the printer do so.

 I am trying to find a technique to transfer a circuit board layout printed by my laser printer onto copper clad. Amy Torelli wrote: 
 Hello all, 
 I am trying to find a technique to transfer a circuit board layout  printed by my laser printer onto copper clad. 
 Thanks in advance, Greetings : I have use the photographic technique using transparency film successfully to make single and double sided boards. To acheive the best image transfer, I let my laser printer warm up for atleast an hour or print out a large doccument berfore printing the image on the transparency. To acheive proper registration for producing double sided I print the pattern for the both sides onto transparancy film. Bearing in mind the mirroring of the opposing sides. Eyeball the two transparency sides together and, using a two hole punch, punch two holes in the two transparencies. Then insert plastic dowels, the same size as the punched holes, into the holes. The plastic dowels are now serving as registration pins. Sandwich a double sided sensistized board between the two transparencies. Sandwich the printed circuit board and transparencies between two sheets of glass, using bull dog heavy duty paper clips to hold the assembly together. Expose and etch both side per instructions. All parts can be found at any office supply store. (Plastic dowel is from the top section of Bic pens) Hope this helps. Terry tgunder@lakefield.net

Hello,
 I have been using DynaArt Designs Toner Transfer Paper for over 7 years to make PC boards and I think it's hard to beat for simple boards. I use an old version of Tango PCB to generate the artwork and print on the paper with a good laser printer. I usually panelize the artwork if it's small to fill the whole 8 1/2 x 11 sheet. I then bond the transfer paper to the copper clad board using a cheap laminator (I have also used an iron with excellent results). When you are done, you pop the board into some water which will release the paper. What you have left are nice toner traces on your copper board. Now etch. The whole process takes me about an hour. 
The TTS paper isn't real cheap but works great. You can order it from Digikey. The only secret I found to increase the quality of the transfer is to go over the board real well with a "scotchbrite" pad or equivelent (not steel wool). This roughens up the surface just enough for the toner to bond really well. A great system... I have yet to find an easier way. Bob PS there is a link to Dynaart's web page that has the whole process on Don Lancaster's website: http://www.tinaja.com

 Jim Fong wrote: 
 
Hello all, 
I am trying to find a technique to transfer a circuit board layout printed by my laser printer onto copper clad. I sometimes get satisfactory results feeding aluminum foil into my laser printer then using a hot iron to transfer the image onto the copper clad. I can't seem to determine what works best, printing on the shiney side or the dull side of the aluminum foil. Nor have I determined, after ironing the image onto the copper clad, whether it's better to peel the aluminum foil off right away while its hot or wait until it cools down. 
 
Does anyone have a better method? 
 
 Hello all,  
 I am trying to find a technique to transfer a circuit board layout printed by my laser printer onto copper clad. I sometimes get  satisfactory results feeding aluminum foil into my laser printer then using a hot iron to transfer the image onto the copper clad. I have tried every press on, peel off, iron on, spray on, toner transfer trick that everyone has come up with and they are all lousy. I finally decided that if I was going to make good PCBs then I would find out how they are really made. A little research and a trip to a big city and I was in the PCB hobby. Find a PCB supplier and get a roll of DuPont RISTON film. This is the stuff that motherboard companies use so it is the real McCoy.
 This is usually ironed on to the blank board with a machine, but you can get very good results with a hand held hot air blower like the model airplane builders use. The film can be handled under a bright yellow light. Cut a piece of film large enough for the board, strip the backing off of the film making sure that it doesn't fold over and stick to itself. Place it on the board and smooth out all of the wrinkles. Using about a 212 degree setting, blow hot air on the board and iron the film with your fingers or with a print brayer roller (from your local print shop). You now have a board ready to expose. Place your negative on the board, then place over it a thin sheet of glass, like from a picture frame, and expose it to a bright white light. I use a mercury vapor lamp like the one that you use outside on a pole. You will have to determine the exposure based on the intensity of your lamp. If you get a soft resist when developing, you have not exposed long enough. After exposure, you can develop it in a solution of baking soda or some other alkaline solution. I bought five gallons of developer while I was there. Don't remember what it cost but it wasn't much. 
At a recommended dilution of 44 to 1 I should have enough to last to about the year 2035. Properly developed, the resist is very hard and almost damage proof. It will also hold very fine lines, something that I never could get with toner transfer methods. (How does two traces between each DIP pin in addition to the traces going to the pins grab you?) Etch with your favorite chemical. Scrub off the resist with steel wool. Or, using the easy method, place a very small amount of sodium hydroxide from your local grocery store into a pan, drop the board in, and heat to almost boiling. The resist peels off in a minute or so leaving bright copper behind. Note, that everything else above is non-toxic, but I would be real careful about handling boiling lye. Outside would be a good idea if you don't have an area that you can control access to. I use PADS PCB for my artwork and a Lexmark laser for the transparencies. ken+farmer@technologist.com Ken Farmer remove the antispam + for a valid address

 Hello all, 
 I am trying to find a technique to transfer a circuit board layout printed by my laser printer onto copper clad. I sometimes get satisfactory results feeding aluminum foil into my laser printer then using a hot iron to transfer the image onto the copper clad. I can't seem to determine what works best, printing on the shinny side or the dull side of the aluminum foil. Nor have I determined, after ironing the image onto the copper clad, whether it's better to peel the  aluminum foil off right away while its hot or wait until it cools down. 
 
 Does anyone have a better method? 
 Thanks in advance, 
 Peter Holtan 
 puzzled@cris.com 
  I had pretty good results using the 3M overhead transparency film, printing on the *glossy* side, rather than the matte side, as the directions indicate. Set the iron to "wool" and have at it.
