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Results of my first sloppy test using a laminator to transfer toner to copper clad board. This went through the laminator 10 times, and was then etched in a ferric chloride bath (maybe a little too long). I used a scrap piece of copper clad and couldn't find fine grit paper for roughing it up so used 220 grit-- that accounts for a lot of dropouts in the etch-- but for a "first light" sort of test, I'm pretty happy with the result!
The right side is the DorkbotPDX test pattern by Laen:
dorkbotpdx.org/blog/laen/adventures_in_etching_the_test_p...
THANK YOU for the idea to begin with, DorkbotPDX!
The left side is a board for a JQC-3FF-05 relay sold by Futurlec:
The laminator is a GCB210 bought on eBay from Decemtech, for ~$50 with shipping.
The result didn't scan too nicely-- I may upload a few photos too-- but all of the traces look good from 8 mil on up (except for the scratch on the right).
One issue to resolve is that the laminator had a hard time feeding the board through, spinning and jerking a little each time it went through. Overlaid, the result is a little distorted-- sheared slightly.
The big pleasant surprise was that the paper did not adhere to the copper at all-- only the ink transferred! I intended to just see how well the toner transferred, but it was so clean, I decided to etch it.
I think I'll try registering top and bottom patterns for a 2-sided board next, before dipping a toe in the SMD water.