[pcb newbie] should I mirror the layout before printing it?

[barret77]

Hello all

Sorry for this really newbie question; I have never worked with pcb's before.

So, I'll print the layouts in a laser printer, transfer them with hot iron and etch the board.

I'll be using layouts from fuzz central and GGG...

The way these layouts are posted in the sites, should I simply print them or should I mirror them before printing? Is there general rule to know the right orientation?

Thanks a lot

[Pushtone]

Are the words (copyright, board name, tec.) backwards?

If so it's already been mirrored.

Pushtone

[Mark Hammer]

A number of years ago, when press-n-peel was just starting to acquire use in this group, and many were still using older techniques, myself and a number of others had to shamefully confess to having etched some boards backwards.  It was at that point that we all came to a kind of common agreement, and it became a best practice, to include some sort of writing/printing on the layout, whether the name of the circuit, the year and version, or simply the name of the layout artist, in a way that would signal which type of use it anticipated.  If the printing is backwards, then that implies it will be properly legible when transferred to a board via PnP or photo paper.  If the printing is legible, then that means you either need to use it with photo-etch techniques, or else flip it around (i.e., "mirror" it) with your graphics software for use with PnP.

trust me.  These lessons were all learned the "hard way".

[barret77]

Got it!
Great, thanks a lot.