Is the best PCB etchant in every kitchen ? Toner Transfer Paper - Matthew Sager. Toner transfer paper is a method of making PCBs at home.
You can buy special paper for making PCBs. I was wondering if it was possible to make your own toner transfer paper. It turns out you can. The key point about these types of paper is that they are coated with a water soluble coating that makes it easy to remove the paper from the PCB after you have heat fused the paper to the PCB. I used regular copy paper or onion skin paper and coated it with dextrin (vegetable based glue, similar to the stuff that is on the back of stamps and envelopes). Making the dextrinPour a thin layer of corn starch (You can find this in your local supper market with the baking supplies) on a cookie sheet or pan. Let the powder dextrin cool then it can also be stored in powder form.I was mixing enough powered dextrin with water so I got a consistency of thin syrup.
Coating the paper with dextrin I spread a thin layer of the dextrin on a piece of flat metal. Then peal the paper up and hang it up to dry. DorkbotPDX. Instead of a weekly order, 2 layer circuit boards are now sent to the fab when the panel fills up.
This means panels are going out 2 to 3 times a week instead of just once a week. Contents New ordering website! OSH Park! 4 layer orders are now every two weeks. I'm planning another beta 2-layer medium-run order on April 1st, 2013 for people that want at least 150 square inches of their boards. Order Status Keep up to date on the order status updates and to be notified of when the next order will go out: What is this? I've been coordinating a group circuit board order. It's $5 per square inch for three copies of your two layer design.
Your two layer boards will be shipped within about 14 days of the order date. Welcome. Toner transfer no-soak, high-quality, double sided PCBs at home. Warning: There are hot surfaces, chemicals and possibly ill advised actions like you would expect in many Instructables here.
You will also be running tape and un-approved paper through a laser printer. There is a very real danger of messing up your printer. If you do wreck a printer please comment so we can all learn a valuable lesson. There are some good Instructables on using toner transfer, but after doing my own for a while I have some refinements on the process that I want to share. You should be able to create high-quality, well aligned double sided boards every time. If you are just dealing with a basic board for 0.1" pitch through hole components this is probably overkill. I have made excellent boards with 8 mill pads and 12 mill clearances. There are a few secrets. 1. a laser printer. 2. a hot laminator. 3. If you follow my directions to the letter you can get great results.