🚀 go-pugleaf

ajackson@ernie.Princeton.EDU (Andrew William Jackson) writes:

>TEC-200 film

>Has anyone tried this stuff?  Supposedly you photocopy your
>PCB pattern onto it with a normal photocopier and then iron
>it onto a blank copper board, peel off the plastic substrate
>leaving the pattern behind - then you etch it.  Sounds like
>a great way to make boards without the hassle of using photo
>resist.

  It's my favorite way to make PC boards, although there are a
few tricks to it.

  First, an iron doesen't do the job very well.  Uneven pressure
with the iron causes some of the lines to smear.  I sandwich the
film, the copperclad, and a piece of heat resistant foam between
two metal plates, then heat the sandwich.  This keeps the pressure
uniform over a wide area.

  Another problem is with the laser printers used to put the art on
the film.  Thin traces are fine, but large black areas tend to be
a little patchy and grainy.  If it isn't critical, I just ignore the
problem - some of the copper on the ground plane gets etched.  If I
care, I just lay down another layer of toner on top of the first.

  I've made 2 sided boards up to 6" by 9" that have come out 
beautifully.  If a circuit has more than five or six components,
these days I make a PC board as a matter of course.

  I understand, though, that this stuff has several competitors
now - particularly paper based systems.  Does anyone have data on
these?