I found my new toner transfer paper!

[pappasmurfsharem]

Tried some glossy photo paper with meh results.

Tried parchment, well not really... no tape I had would stick to it.

Tried magazine type paper with ok results.

Then I got this at office max.

HP glossy presentation paper.
For laser, 32lb (120 g/m2)



I printed out with the laser printer.
Cut the transfer and lined it up in the copper clad.

Then heated it slightly so it wouldn't move. Then I just left the iron immobile on top four about 40 seconds on high.

After that with about my arms weight made circular motions on the paper.
I stopped street I could see ghosts of the traces and pads coming through.

Then I set the pcb to the side to cool no water nothing.

After about a minute I peeled the paper off, it felt like removing a printed label from label sheet.

This is the result



This is how the paper looked




You can see the gloss came right off with the toner. I'm very happy about this.

[John Lyons]

Cool, thanks for the post. I'll try it out.

[pappasmurfsharem]

Cool, thanks for the post. I'll try it out.

Best of luck sir.

Keep me updated

End result, not to shabby

[chromesphere]

Looks good smurf.  YOu should try sticker backing paper.  The toner FALLS OFF that stuff. Its amazing!
Paul

[J0K3RX]

pappasmurfsharem - I have been using that same exact paper for about a year now. Works great like you say although I have not even tried to peal it off without getting it wet yet! I will give that a try.

Haven't tried sticker backing paper... interesting.

I have heard that Dextrin coated paper is the best for toner transfer, period? The toner is transferred onto the dextrin layer which is water soluble and I guess it doesn't trap any of the paper fibers, just pure toner, just stick it in water and the paper falls right off leaving the toner on the PCB. So, you could also transfer toner images onto enclosures also without them turning white from paper fibers and then clear coat over the toner to seal it.  Anybody try this stuff??

http://www.pcbfx.com/main_site/pages/products/transfer_paper.html

[bluesdevil]

Thanks PappaSmurf. May I ask what brand laser printer you have?
I haven't had any luck with anything other than PNP with my old HP laser printer.

[chromesphere]

Hey Joker, thats exactly what sticker backing paper does.  Leaves behind zero paper fibers.  Watch that video i posted and you will see the paper peels off leaving nothing behind!  Its awesome!
(thanks rob/deadastronaut for the tip
Paul

[pappasmurfsharem]

Thanks PappaSmurf. May I ask what brand laser printer you have?
I haven't had any luck with anything other than PNP with my old HP laser printer.

i bought this one when it was on sale for $69

SAMSUNG ML Series ML-2165
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ADF50A/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

seems to work ok havent had it very long.

Looks good smurf.  YOu should try sticker backing paper.  The toner FALLS OFF that stuff. Its amazing!
Paul

Thats what I was going to get when I went to OfficeMax. But a pack of 5 was almost $20. I would imagine it the superior all around with the exception of it bending.

This was on sale for $9 for 250 pages =)

If I ever find some reasonably price label paper around here I will definitely get it for enclosures.

[trixdropd]

I have heard that Dextrin coated paper is the best for toner transfer, period? The toner is transferred onto the dextrin layer which is water soluble and I guess it doesn't trap any of the paper fibers, just pure toner, just stick it in water and the paper falls right off leaving the toner on the PCB. So, you could also transfer toner images onto enclosures also without them turning white from paper fibers and then clear coat over the toner to seal it.  Anybody try this stuff??

http://www.pcbfx.com/main_site/pages/products/transfer_paper.html

I've made a bunch of boards with pulsar pro fx system and had great results!

[Perrow]

It's impressive how much you can improve the toner transfer method while still having it so much more cumbersome than photo sensitive boards 

[pappasmurfsharem]

It's impressive how much you can improve the toner transfer method while still having it so much more cumbersome than photo sensitive boards 

Perhaps but then you need photo sensitive boards and a UV lightbox, which is to me a tad more cumbersome.

[deadastronaut]

yep, i peel mine off just when its cooling on pcb's and boxes...good results.

[rring]

I just tried the HP paper suggestion in my laminator and yes it works very well- you do have to get it very hot. What I like the most is the gloss pulling off adds extra resist and the paper doesn't jam the printer. Normally I use the backing off of large UPS shipping labels, but I think this is even better. Great suggestion

[davent]

It's impressive how much you can improve the toner transfer method while still having it so much more cumbersome than photo sensitive boards 

Perhaps but then you need photo sensitive boards and a UV lightbox, which is to me a tad more cumbersome.

UV lightbox is totally unnecessary, have only ever used regular flourescent tubes already present lighting the workspace.

[garcho]

A friend of mine gave me one of those 'daylight' boxes, think that might work well for photo transfer? If Dave gets results with fluorescent, I'm guessing it'll work just fine, yeah?

back to the OP - glossy presentation paper is 1/10th the price of PnP, def will try. I use a Brother laser, which as you all know has a reputation for not working well with transfers, but I get decent etches and boards out of it, so I'll assume if it works with PnP, it'll work with glossy.
Is there a definite advantage to letting the PCB cool to the touch before peeling, as opposed to running it under water?

[deadastronaut]

^ the advantage is no gloss residue crap on the copper when cooled n peeled.

(no white crap once dried in the case of the wet n rub method )

[pappasmurfsharem]

A friend of mine gave me one of those 'daylight' boxes, think that might work well for photo transfer? If Dave gets results with fluorescent, I'm guessing it'll work just fine, yeah?

back to the OP - glossy presentation paper is 1/10th the price of PnP, def will try. I use a Brother laser, which as you all know has a reputation for not working well with transfers, but I get decent etches and boards out of it, so I'll assume if it works with PnP, it'll work with glossy.
Is there a definite advantage to letting the PCB cool to the touch before peeling, as opposed to running it under water?

^ the advantage is no gloss residue crap on the copper when cooled n peeled.

(no white crap once dried in the case of the wet n rub method )

The white stuff is good for resist though so depends on what you want. if you want clean toner for an enclosure use water. If you are etching a pcb just peel it.

It all came of with 3 swipes with some acetone so the paper doesn't make it difficult to take off.

[tubegeek]

So - I just scored an hp Laserjet P1006 printer at a yard sale for $30 - great printer so far.

A couple of questions for the toner transfer crowd -

1. Those of you who use sticker backing paper - are you using a laser printer, or a copy machine? I tried Avery sticker-backing in the copier at work, and it wasn't able to print on that stuff, it came out of the copier a smudgy mess. Does a laser printer work better on the sticker-backing? I can get a shit-ton of that stuff from my job mixing sound at a church, we label up quite a few CDs every week so I can easily get several sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 Avery sticker-backing that way.

2. I see that there is quite a market in third-party toner cartridges for the hp - it uses cartridge 35A. Can anyone weigh in on what I need to look out for with regards to toner refills? The genuine hp toner cartridges are hella expensive, the remanufactured cartridges or refill kits are much easier on the wallet.

thanks!

[davent]

I usually see it suggested to avoid third party refills and stick with the printer manufacturer's products if going to be doing toner transfers. Did try it and wouldn't do it again, was fine for printing to paper but even decal stock was getting buggered up.

[jimilee]

All chemical free etching? very cool.