Recycle That Wrapping Paper for Etches!

[tranceracer]

I noticed that the wrapping paper backing is plain or has some light guide markings and has a texture similar to magazine paper.  I tried using the back of some scrap wrapping paper to etch a trace and it worked quite well to my surprise!

Since the paper is a little thin, tape it to another sheet so it feeds thru the printer  (I tried it as standalone sheets and it would jam in my printer every time.)

-Iron the etch to a CLEAN Cu board and water soak for a minute and slowly peel the paper off. 
-Clean the white residue off and you should have a nice etch.

The nice thing is that the trace pattern is on a nice white background.

Just another method to add to the collection of techniques... let's see:
-inkjet photo paper
-avery wax backing (my personal favorite)
-blue press n peel.
-newspaper (w/ color photos)
-magazine paper

-tR

[tranceracer]

Some pics of the Gift Wrapping paper technique...





-tR

[PerroGrande]

Another Festivus Miracle!!

Nice find, tR!

[Sock Puppet]

Slightly O.T. but I've just found that Xerox high gloss photo paper has a remakable quality -

When I've finished ironing the pattern onto the board and drop the cooled board into some warm soapy water, the paper falls off leaving a perfect toner pattern with no rubbing or peeling needed.

It leaves a gelled lump of gunk in water but I can live with that.

S.

[ncc]

Thanks for the tip.

We just happen to have a small excess wrapping paper

Norm

[Sock Puppet]

Where I alas, have none...

All I got was a bottle of whisky and an imaginary friend 

S.

[km-r]

ive had bad experiences with photo papers... not all the toner transfers... even if i iron is like sh**...

[cathal]

once you've ironed and drilled the holes do you simply solder the parts in

or do you have to do more to the board?

i am a newbie to etching...

[PerroGrande]

Cathal -- before you do any soldering of components, you have to use some sort of process (etching) to remove the excess copper.  The iron/transfer process simply puts down a protective barrier for the portions of the copper you want to save.  After the chemical etching process (ferric chloride, et al), the only copper that will be saved is the area beneath the protective barrier (toner, sharpie, etc) and these make the circuit connections we want -- otherwise, the board would be a giant piece of copper with everything shorting out.

So generally, the process is:

Clean the PCB
print the pattern
iron on the pattern
cool the board
etch the board
clean the board
drill the board
solder, etc

(Some people have slightly different ordering of stuff, such as drilling before etching)

Do a search here on the many threads about etching PCBs for specific information on each step.