Brother laser and transfer PCBs

What do you call toner transfer ? usually image problems stem from failure to clean correctly or a bad drum

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Reply to
atec77
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Does anyone know if using a recycled toner cartridge can solve the problems of using toner transfer with Brother printers?

All the best

Ian Macmillan

Reply to
Ian Macmillan

Asking the question in an electronics forum, I suspect it was printing a layout on pcb by first printing onto paper, then ironing it onto the copper.

If such, considerations are turned up setting to max? tried different brands of paper? right iron setting and method?

Reply to
terryc

Tinnit type products have a toxic ingredient thiourea as the "reducing agent" so they are hard to ship because of this.

Reply to
Mark Harriss

I have used this PCB transfer method a lot in the past, using a now defunct Canon photocopier. However my Brother laser printer doesnt make acceptable transfer images, despite extensive experiments with paper and methods. The images are fine, but they dont transfer properly. I see other comments on the net about this problem with Brother printers.

I have discovered that Brother printers use a positive charged toner while the majority of laser printers use a negative charges toner, so my idea that a different toner in a recycled cartridge might help seems less likely. It seems temperature may not be the only factor.

By the way, I must say we are very happy with Brother printers - we now have three of them, good prints, no problems, economical.

I will experiment with surface treatment of the copper substrate to try to improve the copper to toner bond. Flame treatment, pre-etch, and tin (or other) plating are on the agenda.

Incidentally, does anyone know if the U.S. electroless tinning product "Tinnit" is available here?. Probably not shippable from U.S.A....

All ideas appreciated!

All the best Ian Macmillan

Reply to
Ian Macmillan

problems

I see that all the previous responses to this post have evaporated. However I found a simple and inexpensive solution to this problem. I print a nice paper copy of the PCB artwork and take it to my local print shop and get a

20c photocopy of it on Kodak Gloss Photo paper (Cat 665 7076). This copy works fine. Incidentally, I carefully preheat the board (fibreglass) with a propane torch until it just starts to colour, then quickly roll the image paper on to it with a rubber art roller. I have backed this up with a domestic iron, but suspect the roller treatment is all thats really needed using the hot board approach.

All the best

Ian Macmillan

Reply to
Ian Macmillan

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