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Table of Contents

PCB Making
Photo Etching
Toner Transfer
Glossy Paper
Matte Paper
Matte Paper (Second Try TQFP Package 14x14mm 80 Pin)
Drilling
Discussion

PCB Making
Photo Etching
Toner Transfer
Toner Transfer is another way to making PCB. As Thomas P. Gootee tried to using
Inkjet Glossy Paper. Print the Circuit Board on Gloossy Paper and use Iron to
transfer toner to PCB then etch it. It can produce high quailty PCB with fine pitch.

Glossy Paper
- I use Konica Premium Photo Glossy Inkjet Paper

- First Clean the Copper Board with Several Options : Sandpaper or Cleaniser, You
Must Clean It , Otherwise, Toner cannot attach to Copper

Design a Your Own PCB, Then Print it with Mirror Options (Not
Rotation , Not Flip) , and Print on a Glossy Paper

Face the Glossy Paper (Toner Side) to the Copper, Turn On the Iron
to Maximum Temperature. Press Hard to Iron it. It takes around 5-15minutes. You
can check the it around minutes of ironing.

When you found that paper is already attached to Copper, just

press it for one more minutes with Iron. Then Put it into Hot Soap Water for
Soaking.
 If paper feel soft, you can use a toolbrush or your finger to
remove paper softly. Becareful, Toner maybe removed by toolbrush if too hard.

Then you can etch it by any kind of method. I use ferric chloride.
After several minutes, Etch is finished.

After Etching, please check the trace carefully. As you can

find in the photo, some of the traces cannot etching completely due to some glossy
paper. But I cut by myself instead of etching. After it , you can use Acetone to clean
it. You can go to store to by a Nail Polish Cleaner (Your Girlfriend or Mother or
Wife will have one).

Then use the multimeter to check it by measuring resistance of each trace. Very
important to measure the Power and Ground. If it is short circuit, it may draw lots of
circuits and cause damage to your component.

Using High Glossy Paper have problem of removing Paper from Copper after
ironing. As you see, Copper Trace on the PCB are not shape enough, got lots holes
and some of traces are short. Also, it takes a long time to iron it.

Matte Paper
Karosium has demonstrated another amazing toner transfer method that using Santi-
Matte Paper. He toke a video and you will find no pain to remove the coating paper
from the copper. It don’t need to take a long time and high temperature to transfer.

Karosium Clean, Simple, Cheap Toner Transfer

This time, I use FR4 with Silver Coating PCB Board for Etching. FR4 is much
harder and better for drilling and cutting. Bakelite PCB is brittle.

- I use Konica Photo Quality Matte Paper. It is much much cheaper than Glossy
Paper and More Easily to clean. From the following photo, you will find that
Copper Trace is very shape and it is much better than above method.

- I use less time to iron it. Also I don’t need to press very hard to iron it. You can
try different temperature. You can try the middle temperature.

- After Etching, I use the CRC Industries Plasticote 70 for PCB Coating. It can
protect the copper from erosion. Also, it provides a insulting coating. You can spray
it before soldering. Remember, Keep Good Ventilation during Soldiering.
Protect Coating will might emit some toxic gas

Matte Paper (Second Try TQFP Package 14x14mm 80 Pin)

This time, I tried to use Toner Transfer for making a TQFP Package. It is much
smaller pitch than most of the others except BGA. Also, it is quite common for High
Pin Count Micro-Controller.
Just Print it as Usual on the Matt Paper and Clean the Copper Board Very Well.

Use an Iron to Iron It. This time, I use

medium temperature and iron it for about 3 minutes.

Put the Board into Cold Water to Soak

it. Then remove paper by finger. It can be done very easily.
 Then Put Into Ferric Chloride to etch it.

After Etching, then clean it by Acetone.

As you will find trace clear enough. It seems Toner Transfer is good enough to
make the trace which is around 12 mil or 0.32 mm.

Drilling
Discussion
, 2007/04/06 09:17:
Reply

, 2007/05/25 23:28:
Reply

, 2007/06/23 17:22:
Reply

Massimo, 2007/07/04 08:07:

 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.

Reply

George Kochmar, 2007/10/15 03:16:

I am new to pcb building a beginner or novice but i’am excited about

electronics and would like to know when you have a schematic, how do you
come up with the design on the pcb...since the pcb and schematic are totally
different looking to me. The transition from drawing schematic to a pcb
design on your completed board confuses me. Plz explain....thx. George

Reply

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makepcb/pcb_making.txt · Last modified: 2007/03/26 22:48 by hilary Back to top