Magazine paper transfers

Seven64 · July 13, 2011, 01:14:05 AM

hate to bump this back up, but i am anxious as i have never etched before and its soaking in soapy warm water right now

theundeadelvis · July 13, 2011, 01:18:09 AM

I've been building for quite a while, and have always used PnP Blue. Finally decided to take the mag paper plunge yesterday. It took me 6 or 8 tries to get it right, but when I did, I was amazed at how well it turned out. I think once I get my process worked out, I'm a magazine convert!

Seven64 · July 13, 2011, 01:23:26 AM

yea, started peeling 10 minutes too early and took half the toner off. i may have not ironed long enough, but it was around 5min or so. the part that stayed looks great tho! i just need to work on my patience. brothers b&w laser printer with office max toner btw.

theundeadelvis · July 13, 2011, 01:27:34 AM

I had the same issue numerous times. When I got my best result, it was only on for maybe 60 seconds. I had to use a little pressure and a higher heat. One thing to be careful about is, when you apply pressure and use adequate heat, the toner basically liquifies or flows, this is what allows it to transfer to the copper. So you want enough heat to make this happen, and enough pressure to transfer it to the copper, but be careful because any side to side movement of the iron can smear the toner ruining your transfer. If you had yours on for that long, I would bump up the iron temp and put a little more pressure on it and see if that helps.

Seven64 · July 13, 2011, 01:37:06 AM

yea, i am missing about 1/3 of the pcb and cant get most of the paper off. can i just steel wool it and try again?

theundeadelvis · July 13, 2011, 01:43:23 AM

Yep, just steel wool it or use a solvent to remove it. If you use a solvent, make sure you clean any residue off that might prevent the toner from sticking. Also, when you do get a good transfer, if any paper sticks to the traces, don't feel like you have to get it all off. You can etch it with some paper residue stuck to the toner as long as it's not also covering area that should be etched away.

deadastronaut · July 13, 2011, 02:41:25 AM

just a note:, i had a bit of smearing at first... tape it down to the top and your table surface just to keeep it in place!...sorted!..

i love mag paper...and its free!... and great results too...

Govmnt_Lacky · July 13, 2011, 07:16:11 AM

Quote from: deadastronaut on July 13, 2011, 02:41:25 AM
just a note:, i had a bit of smearing at first... tape it down to the top and your table surface just to keeep it in place!...sorted!..

i love mag paper...and its free!... and great results too...

Rob... I would like to get into magazine etches again and was wondering if you could elaborate on the "type" of paper you are using. Could you give some examples of the publications you use? The paper size and specifications? (i.e. does it matter if there is text or pictures under your transfer)
I have tried magazine paper before but failed miserably

I have all tyes of mag paper sizes to try now. From thin to thick pages and from barely glossy to super glossy. Maybe an abbreviated tutorial on magazine transfers since you seem to have great success with it

deadastronaut · July 13, 2011, 10:07:56 AM

sure!..do'nt laugh, ive been using slimming world..(my wifes obviously..)

its quite thin paper really, ive been mostly using stuff with just text on...but some with coloured graphic bits on too...dont see much of a difference!...

i set my printer to be dark and best quality, and turn toner saver option off....thats it..

i seem to be able to get away with ironing on cotton setting, and for a much shorter time..like a minute or 2 maybe.....thin paper i guess....

(i used to use iron on hottest linen, with thick glossy photo stuff...)

the trick is to keep the image still....tape it down so it cant slide n smudge...and use a blank piece of paper on top to iron onto...

it sticks really quick...i stick a piece of masking tape on the back of the toner image and use this to line it up properly, then tape the rest down..not overlapping the tape!..

hope this helps..good luck man!.. rob.

space_ryerson · July 13, 2011, 04:02:29 PM

I've followed Rob's instructions on this in the past, and we met with good results using the mostly white pages of Guitar Player (usually the pages towards the back of the magazine).

Seven64 · July 13, 2011, 05:39:37 PM

i dunno if this is a good idea or a bad one, but it was an accident regardless.

i tried again, but this time per instructions in this thread separated the magazine paper with a piece of printer paper. it just happened to be a printout of the same circuit, and cut to the same size. i didnt realize it at first, but im pretty sure i was melting the paper to the otherside of the magazine paper as i was ironing, because i could not peel it off once i was done ironing. but once i discovered that, i used it as a basis for how long to iron.

just started soaking again....round 2

**edit**

got about the first 1/2" of the board perfectly, including text. then it didnt transfer anything else.

ironing problem?

Seven64 · July 13, 2011, 07:47:33 PM

round 3 didnt work either. maybe its my toner? its office max brand.

Beo · July 13, 2011, 08:22:31 PM

Quote from: Seven64 on July 13, 2011, 07:47:33 PM
round 3 didnt work either. maybe its my toner? its office max brand.

The toner could be it, I had no luck with the toner from my brother printer. Canon toner is working much better.

Don't give up yet though. Surface prep is important. Make sure there are no burrs or edges that will prevent the iron from making full contact. Scrub the copper with a green scotch pad (you can use steel wool, but I prefer the scotch pad). This will scrub off any corrosion and leave a bit of a roughened texture that will help the transfer. Then wipe with acetone and do not touch the surface again with fingers.

I gave up on using an iron as I had a hard time consistently get the temperature, duration and pressure correct. Either incomplete transfer or smeared traces. Now I'm using a basic laminator that I got from costco for 20 bucks. I feed normal width board through it easily, and use about 10 passes.

Seven64 · July 13, 2011, 10:23:40 PM

i was using 00 fine steel wool. gonna try the green pad next time... or should i just use a brillow pad for dishes?

how gentle do you need to be when peeling off the paper?

Beo · July 14, 2011, 01:35:45 AM

If you use thin enough magazine paper, you don't even pull it off. Instead you just rub over it gently with your fingertip and it comes apart and rolls off. Usually I will rub off whichever layers are loose, and then soak some more so any lower layers of paper get wetter. Thinner magazine paper works better.

Seven64 · July 14, 2011, 04:20:35 PM

i have been doing that too, but whenever i apply a little pressure to it the transfer peels up too

deadastronaut · July 14, 2011, 06:59:48 PM

Quote from: Seven64 on July 14, 2011, 04:20:35 PM
i have been doing that too, but whenever i apply a little pressure to it the transfer peels up too

sounds like you arent 'keying' (scratching) the copper surface enough...sometimes i use a very well worn piece of 'fine' wet n dry paper...with soap..

just to get it scratched nice...as long as ya dont go mad i'tll be ok..and most of all 'clean'..grease free!..

i never touch the copper at all once 'keyed'...

stringsthings · February 23, 2012, 10:13:34 PM

just did a toner transfer with gloss paper ( from Staples - 19900 200 g/m2 ... worked surprisingly well

where is a good place to get drill bits?

joelindsey · February 23, 2012, 11:34:54 PM

I just bought a couple different sets for my dremel. This one is nice... http://www.amazon.com/Micro-Drill-0-8mm-Dremel-Rotary/dp/B005OHT2LC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1330058030&sr=8-3

Pablo1234 · February 24, 2012, 11:37:17 PM

I bought a set of Drill bits from Ace their #61 to #80 for like $8.

My process is -
Brother HL-2140 with the drivers set to max ink output.
Kodak High gloss Ink jet Photo paper $16 50 sheets

I texture the copper surface with 1000 grit sand paper till it all looks the same
I wipe everything down with acetone to degrease and clean the board
I iron on the transfer on both sides(I do dual sided boards) for approximately 5 - 10 min
I let it air cool until it barely feels warm then I soak it for 20 min and I peal off the paper and scratch off the starch from the gloss.

This process works perfectly for me and I have done boards with 0.010" trace thicknesses with no problems.
The only thing thats a pain is getting the starch coating off but a little effort and whala perfect boards every time.

News:

Magazine paper transfers