OT: how big would it be? - PCBs at home

From: Roger Merchberger <zmerch_at_30below.com>
Date: Sun Oct 24 18:33:38 1999

On or about 07:15 PM 10/23/99 +0100, Tony Duell was caught in a dark alley
speaking these words:

>Oh, don't get me started on trying that... And that toner-transfer film
>isn't that good either...

Isn't that good? My, you're certainly in the mood of understatement today,
Tony. I've tried that stuff (thinking... This is cool. I can finally
prototype PCB boards for my classic interfacing projects relatively
easily...) and I can officially say that it really, really, really sucks.
And the worst part? It's not that cheap, either.

(certainly affordable, if it worked... which it doesn't.)

For the problems with acetate, try getting a transparency film designed for
the actual printer that you intend on using. Toners are quite different,
including their fusing temperatures, fineness, and other factors. Another
thing to watch for with this iron-on crap (or laser film, or whatever):
Don't run it thru the printer twice. The high fusing heat changes something
in the media that seems to make it right close to worthless the 2nd time
round.

I think that's what happened to me; the 600 DPI HP's use a "micro-toner"
which fuses at a higher temperature, and I think it changed the media so it
wouldn't "iron-on" easily, not to mention I don't think the iron got hot
enough to xfer the toner if that's a factor on the process working right.

Some of the newer "photo" inkjets might work pretty well for artwork,
too... My wife's Epson Photo 700 does this thing called "micro-weave" for
the photo papers. It essentially takes 1/4 swipes at the image, and prints
the image 4 times at 1/4 density with the full printhead, so there's
virtually no banding. I've not tried it (have a laser) but it just might work.

As always, YMMV and all that...
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
=====
Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- zmerch_at_30below.com
SysAdmin - Iceberg Computers
===== Merch's Wild Wisdom of the Moment: =====
Sometimes you know, you just don't know sometimes, you know?
Received on Sun Oct 24 1999 - 18:33:38 BST