Heatless toner transfer pcb

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#4
I can't get ethanol here (BC Canada) but with what passes for denatured alcohol here (methyl hydrate) or isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol mixed with acetone, I had no success at all. I tried different ratios (alcohol/acetone) and different papers and got zero transfer on to the board.
So it's back to the heat methods for me...
 
#5
This method will work nicely on small circuits. Small pcb size with fairly sized copper traces. It will not produce good results [clean traces] on larger pcb with thinner copper traces. The best transfer solution I've tried so far is acrylic thinner. [potent stuff] :nownow:

Sa Muli!
 
#6
Ethyl Alcohol is highly regulated in the US also. Medicinal "rubbing" alky "can" be Ethyl plus a nasty-stuff, but is almost always a cheaper non-Ethyl alcohol.

You CAN buy nearly pure Ethyl. Go to the Liquor Store and get Everclear or Golden Grain or Gem Clear, preferably 190 proof (95%). In some states you can only get 150 proof (75%).

The drawback is that you will pay full Liquor Tax (whatever your gin-sin rate is). If you do not regularly buy hard drink (I don't), the cost is shocking. But you know it IS ethyl alcohol and potable water at the indicated ratio.

I don't have a local booze-shop catalog, but online peep shows 750ML (3/4 quart) of Everclear 190pf is $18.99 in Illinois. That's more than you need (it goes bad {absorbs water} once opened). Ah, 375ml is $12, which sounds right, and not a budget-breaker.

This is good stuff for many kinds of cleaning where you want NO oil left behind.
 
#7
PRR said:
Ethyl Alcohol is highly regulated in the US also. Medicinal "rubbing" alky "can" be Ethyl plus a nasty-stuff, but is almost always a cheaper non-Ethyl alcohol.

You CAN buy nearly pure Ethyl. Go to the Liquor Store and get Everclear or Golden Grain or Gem Clear, preferably 190 proof (95%). In some states you can only get 150 proof (75%).

The drawback is that you will pay full Liquor Tax (whatever your gin-sin rate is). If you do not regularly buy hard drink (I don't), the cost is shocking. But you know it IS ethyl alcohol and potable water at the indicated ratio.

I don't have a local booze-shop catalog, but online peep shows 750ML (3/4 quart) of Everclear 190pf is $18.99 in Illinois. That's more than you need (it goes bad {absorbs water} once opened). Ah, 375ml is $12, which sounds right, and not a budget-breaker.

This is good stuff for many kinds of cleaning where you want NO oil left behind.
Click to expand...

You can get denatured ethyl alcohol (they add poison to it so people can't imbibe themselves with it). Works very well - I am pretty sure the trace poison won't affect results.

Klean-Strip 1 qt. Green Denatured Alcohol-QKGA75003 - The Home Depot

To the OP: Nice video though and thanks for sharing.
 
#8
The biggest problem I had with doing toner transfer was finding a laser printer that could do enough ink on the page to make a clean etch.

I switched to self-laminating photo sensitive film and inkjet with transparency paper. 10W UV led was cheap enough as well. With that change also came the revelation that I could do my own solder resist and silkscreens which I do now as well.

However, I do this method of toner transfer when I need a quick and dirty silkscreen on a home-made board.
 
#9
kylej1050 said:
The biggest problem I had with doing toner transfer was finding a laser printer that could do enough ink on the page to make a clean etch.
Click to expand...

The 'brand name' toner (Samsung) seems to do a better job than the no-name (refill) toner. I swapped toner cartridges toward the end of my experiments and seemed to get better toner adhesion on the board- but it may be a coincidence, as I'd cleaned a number of failed transfers from the same board.. The boards I'm making don't have very thin traces, so it shouldn't be that difficult to get a usable board.
 
#10
Yes, the Samsung brand [ printer & toner] seems to do the job better. I find out that using a type of glossy paper does the trick, I' ve tried photopaper and it also works great. I do think provided the pcb is scrubbed clean of any contaminants and setting the flat iron to a suitable heating temp, the result is quite nice and clean and all the toner traces transfers to the pcb.
 
#14
The active ingredients are probably slightly solventy, but I have a feeling part of the trick exploits the lotion base which acts as an emulsion stabiliser. After mixing it with water there wouldn't really be that much of the active ingredients compared to the lotion base and water.

If the hypothesis is true then it would be possible to achieve similar results using most sorts of antibacterial creams, like dettol and orinine - although I suspect the insect repellent is a lot cheaper.
 
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#18
I have used 94% Ethyl alcohol plus Toluene and got very good results.
Percentage of each is quite critical and regular plastic bottles ara permeable to Toluene so mixdegrades along time, since Toluene evaporates through bottle PVC skin while Ethanol stays .
But I keep the plastic solution bottle inside a jam flask/bottle/jar (pick one 😉 ) where glass body and metal cover keeps it stable for months.
 
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