Best Drives & Storage Devices

3 Comments

1. Electronics dude
   Posted March 16, 2010 at 11:29 pm | Permalink

   What you need is a soldering stand (two aligator clips on movible arms), a precise soldering iron (the finer the tip the better), and the lowest gague solder you can find.

2. Achmed the Dead Terrorist
   Posted March 17, 2010 at 11:03 am | Permalink

   If the copper runner is in good shape, you can put some clear nail polish over it to protect it. If you prefer, you can put a lil solder on it instead.. If it is not in environment where moisture will get to it, I would leave it alone.

3. Mark G
   Posted March 17, 2010 at 11:11 pm | Permalink

   The teqhnique you describe is called the Toner Transfer Method. You cannot use inkjet printer ink with this method as the inks are water soluble and will run.You can use reqular paper BUT there is special paper made especially for this technique available from Digikey. (see link)It is very important that you clean the copper to remove any oxidation. I use a scotch bright pad with a touch of cleanser followed by a water rinse and alcohol rinse. Next the board is dryed to remove any dampnessToner Transfer requires that the image be printed using a Laser Printer. Laser Printer toner is actually finely ground plastic particles which are melted on to the paper using teh heat of the printers fuser.By setting the printers controls to give the darkest highest contrast image possibel your image is printed onto the paper using the maximum amount of toner. Laying the print against the copper board and reheating with an iron causes the toner to remelt and bond to the copper.At this point is where using the special paper is beneficial, this transfer paper is designed to quickly and easily seperate when wet. This paper leaves all of the toner on teh board.Once the image is transfered you can use a fine point sharpie to fill in any missing, damaged or pourous looking traces.But before you touch up with a sharpie I would also recommend using a second product called reactive foils. This is a special plastic coating that is transfered onto the PCB toner image on teh copper. This film only sticks to toner and is adds an additional layer of protective plastic to your image before you etch. It also makes everthing green or white colored making sharpie touch up more visible to you.After etching I use either automotive brake cleaner or Carb cleaner (Gum Out) to wash off the film and toner.EDIT:WARNING: after viewing the video it appears to me that they are using a Laser printer with Ink Jet Paper. The point he is trying to make is that you don’t need to use special paper.As you have just found out some papers are coated in plastic and cannot take heat. Hence the paper melting onto your Iron. If you place this type of paper into a laser printer you will severely damage it as the plastic on the paper will melt onto the fuser.