Current make Laser Printer for Photo Paper etching

[John Lyons]

I have an HP IIIP and an HP 5L both are obviously older laser printers and they have new toner cartridges...and neither work well for making toner transfers with photo paper (staples photo basic gloss).

I've used the same paper for a couple years now and it works well. I'm not looking to get into the different ways to make transfers. I just wanted to know if anyone uses photo paper with a newer make printer that works well and which one they use.

I get good results with photocopies made on to photopaper but this is such a drag...going out to make photocopies. I need something that I can print at home. I'm looking for a printer to make a thick deposit of toner which seems to work best.

Any ideas? Thanks

John

[Minion]

I use a Samsung ML-2010 Monochrome Lazer printer and I get very good Transfers ,It also has a setting so you can use more toner on your Prints which really puts a thick layer of toner on your Photo Paper....I actually prefer to use magazine paper even though the printer sometimes has trouble grabbing it as it seems I don"t need as much pressure and heat to get a good transfer plus the Magizine paper disolves in Water much faster than Photo paper.....


Cheers

[John Lyons]

Thanks Minion, I'll check that make and model out.

John

[gutsofgold]

I tried a few times on a newer HP (forget the model) and it just wasn't happening.
On a limb I tried out a Brother HL-5240 and it works flawlessly every time. I use lots of different brands of paper too, all work in this printer.

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?&langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&productId=207012&cmArea=SEARCH

On sale now at staples!

[Auke Haarsma]

I bought the Canon LBP2900 over a year ago. It works like a charm (even running Linux...). It's a cheap printer but thusfar I've not had to replace the toner-thingy. Fast, good, cheap. I'm very pleased with it.

[MasaRGR]

Same here. I bought a little Canon LBP3000 laser printer just for making pcb's. Haven't had any problems at all.

[rhdwave]

Just got the Canon MF4150...it worked very well with pnp blue paper...i tried to do a toner transfer  haven't tried for just a pcb yet, but it's the same concept so it should work    great printer!

[John Lyons]

Thanks for the recommendations folks.
I'm mainly interested in printers that work well for people using photo and magazine paper. Press and peel blueworks different although it's a similar procedure.

Auke and  MasaRGR, which method are you using? Photo paper, magazine or PNP?

John

[Auke Haarsma]

I'm using toner transfer via photo-paper. Even with 'normal' paper I got good transfers.

[Mark Hammer]

I'm using an HP laserjet Series II (the kind of printer you stick in your car truck for traction on icy roads).  Though slow as molasses (let me take that back; molasses is definitely faster, even when frozen) and only 300dpi, it works like a charm.  Higher resolution is certainly a boon for printing graphics on regular paper.  In the case of photopaper, the resolution is constrained more by how the toner-covered emulsion tears off the paper backing than by the nominal dpi resolution of the printer.  You can hike things up to 600 and 1200dpi on the graphics and probably will not see any difference in the sharpness of the transferred pattern on the copper board when using paper.  With PnP, it's a different matter.  Use of a plastic, rather than paper, backing means that the toner-covered emulsion separates with very fine-grained resolution.

That being said, the suggestion that being able to adjust copy darkness or contrast is a boon, is spot on.  You want the toner to be as thick as you can make it without having the white areas look grainy.

[MasaRGR]

Auke and  MasaRGR, which method are you using? Photo paper, magazine or PNP?

I'm using inkjet photo paper and following your tutorial. Works like a charm 

Masa

[plankspank]

I have an older HP lasetjet 4 also and couldn't get it to work with the Photo gloss paper (I kept getting a paper jam error-looks like the paper is too thick for the sensors??)
Anyway I tried  PNP blue and it works great on this printer- plenty of thick toner even on the fine lines. It may seem expensive @ $12 for 5 sheets, but it works out to about .27 cents per B size circuit (i cut the sheet slightly larger that the trace, and tape it to a sheet of paper, and run it thru.) and no scrubbing bits of paper off.... a lot cheaper than a few hundred $$$ for a new printer...