HP LaserJet 1012 Printer for PNP Blue Transfer Paper?

[pswoods]

I'm looking at getting my own laser printer for transfers. A relative has a HP LaserJet 1012 Printer that he wants to unload; but I can't get a sense from any online info of how it works exactly - the toner/ink refills are are called "colorfill" or something like that. Does anyone know from experience whether HP "LaserJet" printers work for pnp Blue?

[Mark Hammer]

Any HP printer that has "laserjet" in the name will work with PnP.  It will also work with glossy photo paper when you run out of PnP.  There are better and worse laser printers.  I'm using an old 300dpi Laserjet Series II.  Slow but works just fine.

[pswoods]

Cool - much thanks for info. Gonna give it a try tomorrow nite.

[no one ever]

older ones are better, yeah?

[vanessa]

older ones are better, yeah?

It depends on the manufacturer and model unfortunately...



I've tried all sorts of them from my work (they have tons of old/new printers and photo copiers). For a long time I went with one of the oldest ones we have an HP Laserjet III. It was great until I found my new love...

We got a Lexmark C522n Color Laser in a few weeks ago and "I had to take it for a spin".

On PnP it puts down really thick toner traces that are very high rez. I used to go with the HP III as it put down the thickest traces but it's rez was very low.

Now my copper traces on PCB are very thick and very tight with no smugging. I have to hold the iron on it a little longer but it is well worth the wait. 

Oh' I have to add:

I use it in the darkest black-and-white mode. If you just print in color the toner comes out too light for PnP use.

[mojotron]

I use one of those HP1350 laserjet all-in-one  copier/printer/fax models. I had to do a significant rebuild on it and bought a microfine catrage for it. With some experimentation, this has been perfect for PNP. But, the 1350 models are really picky about the paper you use - paper jams easy - and I would not recommend them to anyone else - although I love mine.

[Mark Hammer]

Following up on Vanessa's comments, colour lasers may provide the most flexibility.  Why?  Because it is an implicit assumption that colour printers will be used for printing to photo paper, whereas black and white lasers are tacitly assumed to be used with regular paper only.  As such, a B&W printer will be fine for PnP since PnP is thinner than many paper stocks, whereas a colour printer will have to accommodate a wider variety of paper thicknesses to be useful for glossy paper stock.  I can certainly verify that I have to "help" my old printer feed glossy stock through, since it will not grip that paper in the manual sheet feeder as easily as it grips normal photocopy paper or PnP.  I didn't buy that printer for any reason other than my wife's lab mistakenly ordered a handful of toner cartridges for that same model that they can't use or return, so I knew I'd never have to buy toner for the rest of my life.

If you expect to *ONLY* ever use PnP, then as stated earlier, any old laser printer will do.  If you want to be able to switch to the MUCH lower cost glossy paper (I use stuff that I buy at the bargain store for 10 cents a page) when the situation warrants, then a printer with more choice in usable paper types is preferred.

PnP certainly provides greater resolution than glossy paper, and is better for tightly-packed layouts that use narrower traces.  There are a lot of PCB layouts with big pads and more relaxed spacing, however, that transfer and etch just fine with run-of-the-mill glossy photo paper.  Being able to save the expensive stuff (PnP) for special occasions and use cheaper stuff when it's not so critical is a nice choice to have.  If PnP is your preference, then 600dpi and up can probably be useful.  If you're going to use glossy photo paper, then resolutions higher than 300dpi probably won't even be detectable, since the resolution is truly limited by the grain and particle size of the paper, rather than the printer itself.

And yes, if the printer software or some panel control allows you to set darkness and contrast, you will want to have the thickest layer of toner possible, since that will provide better transfer.

[RedHouse]

I have (and use) an HP-1012 and it works well on PNP and other transfer media.

[lethargytartare]

I just use whatever printer I can find, slap the paper in the manual feed, and have never had a problem.  But the things I've been doing to improve the boards lately is (a) I go over the drawing in photoshop and thicken/sharpen the traces, and enlarge the pads, (2) I save it at 600dpi (didn't try a lot of different settings, just aimed for a slightly better than normal resolution), and (3) run it through the printer twice.  Works like a charm.