PCB etching not going so well

[Gordo]

good then. i'll get to etching tomorrow afternoon hopefully.

What nailed it for me was using a file/sandpaper and getting the edges smooth on the board so the iron can stay totally flat.  To the point of almost rounding the sides of the board.  Also using the iron at slightly below full blast.  If it's too hot I get the image sliding and smudging.  I put a sheet of paper on top of the whole affair and iron on that, which really helps with not dragging the transfer sheet around with the iron.  I also iron on a nice flat piece of scrap wood to keep the board from flexing.

Probably just a happy coincidence but the pages in Guitar Player magazine work consistently well for me and I use an old beater HP laser.

The nice part of the grey fuzzies is that if you need to do some touchups with a PCB pen (better than a sharpie but not by much) the ink seems to stay a bit thicker (draws it out of the pen better).