Cheep Etching solution

Brian, did you read my post? I've made several dozens of boards over the past 15 years using laser printers. You need to leave as much of the toner as you can on the board. Using photo paper will transfer less than 10%. My method transfers 100%. You can't always believe an Internet author. Sometimes they've never even tried their own method.

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		Quote:			Posted by goldigger
	I did read your post and the topic was about using laser photo paper and hydrochloric acid, not bond!: "Posted by vpr2064          absolutely, I use a laserjet printer on photo gloss paper, an inkjet wont work." I cut and pasted the post so you can see it. Did you actually read MY post? Doubts it, Ralf!  If bond works, great, because all I can get here, is inkjet photo paper and that should never be used in a laser printer. goldigger

No, that wasn't the TOPIC, that was the question and the answer is no.

I didn't say to use bond but corrasable bond. Different stuff. Or tracing vellum. Either will work but need to be soaked off. Photo paper does not transfer well at all. Some doesn't transfer anything.

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		Quote:			Posted by goldigger
	Sorry. Such exotic paper is not on any market in Canada and you should go back to the beginning and look at the video, because I am right about the topic, THIS time. The video stressed laser photo paper! I do not understand why you have to be so picky and bitchy, just like my older cousin! I learned to ignore his irritability, I can ignore yours, just as well. Without pushing the ignore button, too. Hey, it is summer there, you can get out (at last!)  Go take a walk with your favourite locator and stop bad-mouthing. It is totally unbecoming of a person our age!  goldigger

Because, Goldigger, I wrote the original article on using reverse image laser printing more than 20 years ago in Popular Electronics Magazine and personally tested over 200 types of paper. Also, the TOPIC of this particular discussion is "cheep etching solution" so be mindful of chastising me on that. Fair enough?

That's why I am contradicting what they suggest. One thing you do know, I am sure, is that some laser photo paper sublimates the toner. In point of fact, all do to some degree. For those following this who don't know what sublimation is, that means the wax and toner coating on the laser printed paper soak into the paper itself because of the heat fusion inside the laser printer. Toner in a laser printer is a combination of black carbon and wax. Each manufacturer uses different sized particles and different waxes but all fuse at a very high temperature. I tested all of the papers for their ability to resist sublimation and allow the toner and wax to lay on the surface as much as possible without bonding to the layers below. I even tried things like Pam Cooking Spray and WD-40 to keep it from sticking. The end result was the two paper types I am suggesting here yet again.

Corrasable Bond has another name. Erasable typing paper. It can still be found in stationery stores. Tracing Vellum also works good. Tracing Vellum is a very thin, coated paper for tracing - as the name suggests. It's not made for laser printers but is for drafting work. Ordinary tracing paper may work but when I found the two types I recommended in the article, I stopped searching.

Use whatever paper you want, mate. Just try what I suggest before you slam the suggestion down. I've had this experience before with others here regarding the Ace250 and a hidden feature I discovered. Three members tried and proved what I suggested and yet the real world empirical evidence of it working as I stated is ignored by several hotheads. Don't join their ranks. You like experimentation, my friend. Give it a try and see what I mean. Seriously. No harm done by trying. You'll be pleased with the results.

After I wrote the article, I discovered that soaking the paper was good but adding just a few drops of Dawn dish washing soap made it come off easier and left the toner more clear. Those pesky paper fibers were almost all gone with that addition. Don't use warm water either. Just cold from the tap. The addition of Dawn detergent is not in the article and no errata was submitted since it wasn't a mistake.

As to our age, we are entitled by now to be a bit stubborn. Call it experience. I went out hunting today. Found 2 old pennies and $4.85 in modern coinage in an hour while the dog sniffed at every bush in the area. No jewelry today. My normal quota of trash appeared.

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Dye sublimation is a heat setting of the dye deeply into a substrate.

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In laser printing to photo paper, the paper is designed to allow the toner to sublimate deep into the paper when heat is applied. It makes the photos more scratch resistant and heat resistant. At the same time, it makes it so the toner won't transfer back onto the copper clad board very easily. That is why I recommend the paper that I do instead of the photo paper. The toner tends to stay on the surface which is the desired result.

The Ace250??

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Gramps, if you use onionskin, tracing paper or tracing vellum the toner is left behind at 100% because you soak the paper off. When you look at the result, you'll see the toner on the board and bits of paper fiber on top. Don't worry too much about that because the etching solution will go right through those tiny fibers but not through the toner.

Some older laser printers had knobs for adjusting the toner. Modern ones use the control software to do that. Some don't allow the option but almost all laser printers have control commands that you can enter manually to increase the thickness of the toner.

One laser printer I had actually allowed me to slide in a PC board from the rear. It was designed to print on cardstock for booklet covers and it accepted thin PC boards. Made work really easy that way. There are some plotters out there that will accept pens that contain resist type ink, as well. The tips on those can be blunted over time but the results are fast and beautiful.

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