transfers for ink jets?

[M.D.]

:idea:  Hey just a question i was in the home depot yesterday and i ran into a guy who helped me find a very nice day light bulb for exposure's and turns out he used to do alot of this kind of stuff and he swore up and down that i could buy the transparencies for the ink jet (they have a rough surface on one side but is still clear) and do it that way I was just wondering if anyone tried this before but that guy swore he's done it lots but I wanted to ask before I open the package,also if it dose work i'll let you know how it works out

mike.  :twisted:

[Samuel]

If you're doing the photo process, yes you can use inkjet transperencies. You can't do Press-N-Peel transfers, cause you need toner for that instead of ink.

The only issue I had photo printing through inkjet transparency was the opacity of the ink. I found I had to print out two or sometimes three transparencies and stack them to get the ink dense enough to block light. Of course, when you do that you have registration problems, and have to make sure that all your transparencies are lined up and held in perfect contact with one another. Problems with this were my primary reason for switching to Press N Peel...

[Samuel]

Also there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between poll subject and message body text  :wink:

[M.D.]

yeah lol sorry bout the poll here it wasnt suposed to be in this thread bah i'm new with this forum still trying to figure it all out.Play hard

[Bucksears]

I ran out of PNP Blue sheets and had to resort to either transparencies or rub-on decals by hand (too time consuming).
After trying two different types of transparent sheets on a laser printer, I finally wound up going to Staples (office supply store) and having their copy folks do a couple of sheets on a high intensity setting. They worked great and were only $1.21 for two full sheets of PCB's.
Just an FYI.

[bobbletrox]

I used to make my own silkscreens, and doing photo process PCBs looks very similar.  I found getting transparancies done on crappy photocopiers never made the design opaque enough...so light would still bleed through.  The super-expensive laser copiers at Copy Shops do a waaaaay better job.

I've looking into making my own PCBs and the photo process method looks more reliable than "Press n' Pray".

[M.D.]

lol yeah press and prey thats what  i found too well i like the photo process but i am tired of driving a couple of miles each time i need more transparencies made up,I'm just looking for a decent cost effective way and i think the ink jet would be it if there were a good kick ass ink for em or somthing.

Any way just my thoughts,

ps,if I were to try a sheet of glass for a weight i wonder if the uv blocking properties would kill it?I dont know too much about glass.

[Dan N]

Andrew (the Tone God) uses transparencies instead of press 'n peel:
http://www.geocities.com/thetonegod/etch/etch.html

He does not mention if he used ink jet or laser jet. Maybe he'll see this and post.

There is one kind of photo board that uses a regular flourescent light. I use that it and have had good results. When I print out my transparency, I set the printer to highest quality. Sometimes there may be some diffusion if the transparency is not hard against the board.

EDIT: Looks like he does use a laser printer.

[runmikeyrun]

Yes, they are available.  Check Office Max or Staples or maybe even Wal-Mart.

I've been using them for years to burn the photo emulsions for screen printing.  Works great!  To get them as opaque as possible, Print them twice or even three times (make sure you get the page orientation right when sticking it back in the printer!)  Even with fine lines and complicated patterns the printing will line up extremely close with subsequent passes and you'll be ready to burn.

[Samuel]

Any old glass generally works fine. I used plates out of a cheap picture frame and it did fine...

[bobbletrox]

...what's so bad about the photo process that no one seems to use it?

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

...what's so bad about the photo process that no one seems to use it?

I guess it is like "why not print your own photos", you need space to set up, you are usig caustic chemicls, you need to experiment until you get the exposure right. If you have space & time & are reasonably physically coordinated, it would be OK.
And it isn't cheap either.
(I havn't done it, mind. But that is how it looks!)

[Samuel]

There's no reason not to use it...but as was said, you are introducing another chemical into the process (which I actually think is not as bad to deal with as ferric chloride ), it does require a bit more experimentation (you'll probably waste a couple of expensive sensitized boards getting the exposure time right, since you can't immediately see the results like you can with press-n-peel, you have to wait until you've developed it) and you should be working in semi-darkness to ensure decent results, which if you're not accustomed to darkroom work takes a bit of getting used to. For most people PnP is easier since it requires less equipment and is more visually intuitive.

I've done it and it definitely works. I've got like 3 or 4 sensitized boards, some developer and a fluorescent light, so I'll probably end up making some more boards that way just to use up the materials. The thing is, once you've got the pnp thing down, the boards you make with the photo process aren't any "better" than pnp boards...

[Samuel]

Actually there is one big advantage: The sensitized resist that is left over after you develop and etch is formulated to act as solder flux, so you can leave it on the board and solder through it. This serves the triple purpose of 1) fluxing the entire board, 2) looking cool and green, and 3) covering all the non-soldered copper and therefore preventing it from oxidizing, which is really nice.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Right, I was thinking about how a friend used to sensitise his own boards by pouring stuff on them while they spun on a turntable (TRUE!), now that was a messy process. I forgot you can get the boards precoated now!
I jut hope that peopel know how to make a teat run by progressively moving a card to give a range of exposures.. the way some ppl here complain about wasting a couple of sheets of PnP while learning, they will EXPLODE largetime when a couple of coated boards go west
double post dammit!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Right, I was thinking about how a friend used to sensitise his own boards by pouring stuff on them while they spun on a turntable (TRUE!), now that was a messy process. I forgot you can get the boards precoated now!
I jut hope that peopel know how to make a test run by progressively moving a card to give a range of exposures.. the way some ppl here complain about wasting a couple of sheets of PnP while learning, they will EXPLODE largetime when a couple of coated boards go west