Running Copper Clad Kapton Through Laser Printer

Check the Homebrew_PCBs yahoo group, this has been discussed before.

Of course...Getting the boot again.. :( Huhhh... everything has been done before...

How about a cell phone with a built in digital multimeter? See the DMM cell phone group? .... :)

Anyways.. just venting... Thanks...I'll visit the Homebrew_PCB's yahoo group.. D from BC

No, just pointing out where a wealth of information might be, without actually retyping it all myself.

Well, at least *tried* before. When it comes to making your own pcb's, probably ;-)

I know...but wait a minute... Seems like you do know.. :) ....Spare a short answer? Maybe like : "Yes, works, needs coating, low risk in laser printer." I could figure out the rest. Save me a search.. :) If there's lots of details then I'll understand and check out the PCB homebrew group.. D from BC

That first problem is Easily Fixed:

Well... your fuser would have to melt copper, at, eh, 1085 degrees C.

If you're gonna experiment, I'd say get a used, working laser printer for less than the $200.

Oh, and run experiments in a well-ventilated environment, invest in a good fire extinguisher, get a permit from Air Quality Management... ;-)

-- Michael Darrett, Senior Computer Resource Specialist Wireless network setup, computer upgrades and repair. Sacramento, California

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@h3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

IIRC,the printer writes a charge to a DRUM,then the toner is then applied to,and the paper is pressed against it to transfer it,then to the fuser to fix it. Some laser printers may work differently.You would have to check the manual for the specific LP.

depends on the paper path,and it's ability to handle stiffer/thicker material than copy paper.

All the fuser does is melt the TONER,it doesn't melt the paper when printing on paper.

I wonder if you could use a thermal WAX dot matrix printer,like Tektronix made before they sold their printer division to Xerox. Etchant won't touch the wax. Getting it off after etching could be messy.

"Electronics Now" ran an article about a decade ago explaining how to do this with copper flex material, so it does appear to work. The nicest thing is that the toner is a good etchant resist. I've not heard of anyone accomplishing this with rigid boards though. Back when I worked at HP, several of us tried to put together a system using an inkjet printer and waterproof inks. In the end it was just cheaper and easier to use PCB Express, and the idea got dropped.

Chris

Ohhhh yeah! :) This is getting so tempting to try... I have the copper clad kapton too. I just have to do some thinking and reading based on other posts. If I damage my laser printer, that's ok but it's the trip to the computer store that hurts :)

Thanks D from BC

Yes that works...I once worked in a company long ago that used some sort of wax printer as a etch resist. D from BC

No. It charges the drum, which picks up the toner, then transfers it to the page like a printing press; then the page goes through the fuser, which makes it stick.

The thing I'd worry about is getting your copper-clad to go through the paper path.

Good Luck! Rich

Getting into old tech where neither a working printer, nor a driver to run it, are all that easy to come by:

Flat bed pen plotters.

Type 1, the "paper lays there and the printhead does all the moving" type. Obviously easy.

Type 2, a particular flavor of HP, I'll remember the number wrong, no doubt, perhaps a 7550? It moved the paper for one axis and the head for the other axis, but the paper path was flat, so a rigid material (such as a board) could be plotted.

In either case, a resist-ink pen got the job done.

These days directly cutting the board using a CNC router may be as easy, it's dry, and it gets the job done in a single step. Noisy and messy, though.

Sorry, my short answer would be "I recall them talking about it, but I didn't pay much attention since I don't do that".

I just guessed the paper is charged... I have yet to learn to fill in the blanks with......blanks.. :) D from BC

Ecnerwal wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.verizon.net:

HP 7475A, I still have one, it does print boards nicely, though I had to make a frame to hold smaller boards.

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It's like some topics on here... It's not interesting enough to know what was discussed just only that it was discussed.. Make mental notes and then if it becomes relevant someday, dig it up from the achieves.. :) Thanks anyways... It's still helpful. D from BC

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Neat... I might check out Ebay for one someday :) D from BC

Ooops maybe not so crazy... Taken from

The media smoothness has me concerned as taken from my HP printer manual. (See manual idea posted by Jim Yanik) "Smoothness: The 135-157 g/m2 (36-42 lb) cardstock should have a smoothness rating of 100-180 Sheffield"

The Cu clad kapton might be to smooth (not enough friction) for the feeder.

Well ....off to the HomebrewPCB group suggested by DJ to get the story.. D from BC

If I recall correctly, they said to tape the flex board to a standard piece of paper (by its edges) to make it feed through the print path. The examples looked pretty straightforward.

I'd be interested to hear how it works out.

Chris

You could roughen the copper surface by giving it a quick wipe with etchant. I fear however, the bug-a-boo is that the drum will get quickly scratched--copper's a lot harder than paper.

Best of luck! James Arthur