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Homemade PCB with Blue Press & Peel paper

Discussion in 'Effects [BG]' started by icecycle66, Apr 10, 2012.

  1. Apr 10, 2012 #1
    icecycle66

    icecycle66

    Feb 4, 2009
    Arizona
    New effect pedal makers, press and peel blue transfer paper works better than anything else.

    Home

    I've read things that say glossy print paper or magazine paper work just as good.

    That's garbage.

    I've wasted 3 6"x4" copper boards screwing aroud with different types of paper. Then I buckled and bought some press and peel. Worked the first time.

    There is no guess work with it.
    With a laser printer, print your circuit onto the dull side of the press and peel.

    Then put the printed side of the paper face down on your copper board.

    Put your iron on polyester setting (mine anyway).

    Then slowly iron the press and peel against the copper board until the circuit shows through, darkly, the shiney up side of the blue paper. This takes me about 45 seconds

    Dunk thecopper board, with the paper still attached, into cold water to cool the board enough to handle.

    softly pat everything dry.

    slowly peel the paper off of the copper board.

    There ya go. Ready for etching.

    Video:
     
  2. Apr 10, 2012 #2
    Taylor Livingston

    Taylor Livingston Supporting Member Commercial User

    Dec 25, 2002
    Oregon, US
    Owner, Iron Ether Electronics
    Strangely enough, back when I used to etch PCBs, I had much better results with photo paper than with PnP. I guess the take-away is that there is no right answer, and that depending on a ton of different factors (your printer's print density and heat, your iron, what type of etching chemistry you're using, etc.) different media will work better or worse for your individual situation.

    I definitely agree that it's a good idea to start with PnP. If, for whatever reason, you can't get good results with it, consider trying out some other options though. I had it in my head that PnP was by far the best, and that kept me from experimenting for a while. I had the opposite results that you did - spent a lot of money on PnP only to find that photo paper worked better in my case. Just another person's experience.
     
  3. Apr 11, 2012 #3
    icecycle66

    icecycle66

    Feb 4, 2009
    Arizona
  4. Apr 11, 2012 #4
    AmpedSilence

    AmpedSilence

    Feb 2, 2012
    L'ville, GA
    ^ Nice demo man! seems like a cool project to tackle
     
  5. Apr 11, 2012 #5
    icecycle66

    icecycle66

    Feb 4, 2009
    Arizona
    Thanks.

    I am building the Madbean Macheen (Zvex Machine clone)

    From scratch.

    I am taking pictures of the process and all that.
    When I am done I am going to post the whole thing.
     
  6. May 2, 2012 #6
    crazy8

    crazy8 Guest

    May 2, 2012
    I've never gotten the pnp to work. Could be my shaky hands, effects my playing, but you have to keep your hobbies! I just get my pcb's from pcb solutions. They have yet to gripe about all my small orders, though I guess I've ordered hundreds through them already. :/