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DIY Stompboxes => Building your own stompbox => Topic started by: Gringo on December 04, 2003, 05:34:26 AM

Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Gringo on December 04, 2003, 05:34:26 AM
Hey, i don't know how many of you people are like me, with no laser printer, nor access to press and peel paper (or enough money to buy it :lol:), but here it cames anyway:

All you need is some paint thinner, and a photocopy(laser print) of the pcb transfer, any paper type you use is fine.

First clean the pcb board with your usual stuff (thinner!!), then attach the pcb print to it, with the toner side facing the copper as usual. After that, wet a small piece of cotton with thinner, and press it to the paper. When the paper is saturated and you can see the traces through it, apply pressure with some soft pad (or just your fingers if the pcb is small). When the thinner evaporates, the tonner sticks to the copper, and you just peel the paper and correct any detail you like (i apply a new coat with a permanent marker, just to be sure).

I use gloves, and the usual ventilation issues must be observed, as you are working with highly flamable stuff. I hate the smell of it, besides the fact that (unless you wanna get high at the expense of some brain cells) the fumes are not meant to be breathed.

With that being said, i'm as happy as a two-tailed dog could be!! A whole new world of complex layouts is now available!!!  :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:

Have fun!!
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: tambek on December 04, 2003, 06:02:35 AM
oh goody! =)
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Ansil on December 04, 2003, 06:04:25 AM
heck yeah man there ya go..  low fi all the way...

oh yeah.. techno beat..   (throws hands in air..) god i am sad
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Dan N on December 04, 2003, 06:32:53 AM
Gringo,

I sometimes do that backwards. I start with the permanent marker. Then I get lazy and skip the paint thinner/ printer/whatever part. Works O.K. anyway.

Of course I do miss the paint thinner fumes buzz, but a fresh sharpie can get me to a similar place.

Dan
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Gringo on December 04, 2003, 07:27:05 AM
I'm beggining to think the "careful with the fumes" part was unnecesary... :D
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: BillyJ on December 04, 2003, 02:13:07 PM
Nice gonna have to try that one. Did you come up with that technique yourself?
Sound like that might be a real cool way to do it.
Thanks for the great idea!!
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Gringo on December 04, 2003, 02:57:39 PM
No, it's not "my" idea, actually the way i came across it is quite funny  :roll:

Enough to say a girl-friend of mine who is "miss-bricolage" told me she used this technique to transfer drawings in magazines to her dolls' clothing. Go figure!

I just tried it in a copper surface...imagine my face when it worked!!! (i used to do all my pcb layouts by hand, just looking at an inverted print of the original transfer)

I don't have a breadboard, and if not forced to be tidy, i'm extremely sloppy(that rules out the perfboard approach), so i better triple check everything before committing it to a pcb.  :twisted:

I'm saving for a good, large, very large breadboard though, wish me luck ;)
Title: Press'n'Peel replacement
Post by: David on December 04, 2003, 03:10:19 PM
Gringo:

Your method of getting the toner on to the board sounds good.  How do you remove the excess copper in order to create the circuit traces?
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Gringo on December 04, 2003, 03:29:34 PM
I use ferric perclorure(?) "percloruro ferrico" in spanish, FeCl 3 for you people with some chemical knowledge.
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: javacody on December 04, 2003, 04:54:32 PM
Why would a two tailed dog be happy? :shock:
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Ansil on December 04, 2003, 05:37:02 PM
twice as much tail to chase.. lol  i coudln't resist.
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Gringo on December 04, 2003, 06:20:59 PM
Ansil, you are the man  8)
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: javacody on December 04, 2003, 06:54:25 PM
Ansil, you ever met a dog named sparky?   :lol:
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Ansil on December 04, 2003, 09:19:14 PM
nope.. but i have hear storys of animals with mutated growths. and such..  gosh i am a FREAK..    i used to practily live at rotten.com
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: troubledtom on December 04, 2003, 10:30:01 PM
sparky is the dog that stories and history are made of .......
       it all started on a foggy night . some people say it's all BS. but some of us have really seen how sparky works , true drama....... true crime,
   the guilty know who they are!!!!!!!
                       yikes,
                            - tom
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Kilby on December 05, 2003, 06:07:43 AM
Where I come from it's not a dog with two tails, but a dog with two somthing elses ;)
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Gringo on December 05, 2003, 06:33:24 AM
Actually, the expression i used is the "politically correct" version of the one i actually use, but i thought that might offend someone and went with the "light" one.

My sense of humour is quite twisted, and as i really like this place, i'm trying my best to "behave" :)
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Ansil on December 05, 2003, 07:03:35 AM
hey gringo anytime you need to misbehave drop me a line.. lol..   now that probably didnt' sound right to most of the forum  but i know you know that i know you know what i mean.  you know???
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Gringo on December 05, 2003, 07:07:05 AM
You know i know  8)
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Ansil on December 05, 2003, 08:09:13 AM
i figured you would... lol  i have to control my tounge sometimes here..  when i am lacking sleep it is the worst   its like a straight line from my brain to my mouth.. no buffers..  also when i come up with my most insane cracked out ideas..
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Mark Hammer on December 05, 2003, 10:03:11 AM
While we're on the topic of alternatives to press and peel, and since I don't seem to be able to post new topics from home for some reason, here is a query.

Some time back there was a thread about using glossy photo-paper as a substitute for PnP.  Since the time of that posting, I imagine there have been new makes/types of photo paper for laser printers coming out, so I thought I'd ask the question again.

Who here uses laser photo paper for tranferring PCB patterns, and do you have preferences for type/brand?
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Bill_F on December 05, 2003, 10:10:11 AM
Hey Mark,

I have used Kodak Utra glossy and had good results with it. I used this because I was sick of the varying results with PNP. Then I decided to try PNP one more time, since I had few sheets laying around.  I followed the advice that was given in the recent PNP thread and it worked great! So I think I like it better now. Man, being finicky is a drag!

Hope that helps, but probably not.   :mrgreen:

Bill
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Mark Hammer on December 05, 2003, 11:40:23 AM
Thanks Bill,

That actually *does* help.  My gut sense is that there are some layouts where I'd probably want the dependability of PnP, and others where the almost-but-not-quite aspects of photo paper are more than acceptable enough.  For instance, many of the tight-squeeze layouts from RG and Francisco probably want PnP.

Any other brands/types of photo paper people can recommend, and any protocols to follow with it?
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: BillyJ on December 05, 2003, 12:45:17 PM
Well I cannot remember the exact name offhand but about 6 months ago (I'm guessing) there was a Japanese fellow ( I think) who posted a Hewlett Packard website where youi could get a small trial size pack of some photo paper they sell.
I got my samples and they worked really well.
If I get the time today I iwll try and search that post and drag it up if the offer is still good.
Or at least try and find the paper type it was. I waqs happy enough with it to shine on getting any PNP until it ran out.
Well worth it IMO.
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: difedetry on December 05, 2003, 03:15:19 PM
gringo
Yo realizo mis placas utlizando la misma técnica de transferencia..
la idea la recuerdo de la esuela y de... UTILISIMA!!!!!

One tip to add to this Bricollage technique is that I dry the wet
photocopy out the fastest that I can putting it above the kitchen
and sometimes making it flare (oh yeah!!)... this way the toner
from photocopy attach really strong to the PCB.
You'll probably need to retouch with a sharp permanent marker...
Results aren't so pro but this is a great hobbyist technique
anyway... and we've to survive in our country!!

just my 2 cents :)


» Diego
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Mark Hammer on December 05, 2003, 06:29:06 PM
As luck would have it, one of the several dozen advertising flyers we got in our mailbox this week advertised a sampler of H-P photo that would be free once the rebate cheque comes back in the mail.  I think I'll try it out.
Title: Nevermind the Press 'n Peel...
Post by: Gringo on December 05, 2003, 06:29:28 PM
I love the burning part of your technique!!! :twisted:  :twisted:

Gonna have to try it, it's not just a tribute to motorhead that my irc nick is "Burner"  8)

Talk about "mojo"!! If your pcbs are not imbued with something after such ritual it's time to go "bonzo style"  :D