Anyone willing to etch some PCBs?

[jonewoo]

It is very important that the printer produces a good solid black with no toner pinholes.If you're planning to buy a printer for PCB use, do some test prints on tracing paper to check the quality first. If the printer has a density control, set it to 'blackest'. Even the best laser printers don't generally cover large areas well, but this isn't usually a problem as long as fine tracks are solid. Note that the blackness of the printing on paper doesn't always mean a good opaque result on tracing paper so always check with tracing paper if you're buying a printer for PCB work. When using tracing paper or drafting film, always use manual paper feed, and set the straightest possible paper output path, to keep the artwork as flat as possible and minimise jamming. For small PCBs, remember you can usually save paper by cutting the sheet in half, you may need to specify a vertical offset in your PCB software to make it print on the right part of the page.

[duncan303]

Hi Jonewoo,

I would add that a laser does not replicate accurately due to the way in which the laser printers work, one is liable to notice "bands" of distortion aligned down the printing process. Noticeable if one prints an image at 90deg to another and overlays them on paper.
This may cause an issue depends on requirements, but I would always go for an ink jet printing in photo mode using paper treated with highly absorbent seaweed.

Basis test is pick up image and if you can see the sun through the ink then............



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[The Master]

Ive been using the borrowed lazerjet. Its giving much better results than anything i tried on an inkjet. I have been using special PCB paper for both printers and the lazerjet is quite old but its still doing a better job.

Ive also changed the developer/water ratio and started using the orange acid. these have helped improve the PCBs too