Has anyone tried UV photomasking and UV light for making PCB boards?
I’ve ordered some from Eujgoov, and a specific wavelength bulb and am waiting for it to come.
Toner transfer is not going well, so I thought I would try another method.
Toner transfer can be adjusted to work really nice and consistent but…. You most likely have run into some of the most common problems which most of us run into: the laminator not sufficiently hot (it has to be roughly in the ballpark of 190-205 degrees Celsius !!!), not using adequate paper such as photo glossy paper of some sort, PCB not “hospital clean” (as in: grease fingers, sweet etc) !!!! before applying the design over it and running it thru the laminator. If my memory serves MCL is using break-cleaner spray for the ultimate cleaning of the copper cladding after sanding. PCB not sufficiently and/or uniformly sanded using adequate grit size for the sandpaper (Very important). Insufficient number of passes thru the laminator (in my experience 8-12 passes are needed). The printer settings in software wrong (contrast too low instead of being set to maximum possible (do NOT set for ink saving !!!) or using third party cartridge. Laser printer being very old and the dram is now not functioning properly. PCB size can also impact the toner transfer: if you cut the PCB to its final size before the transfer and do not allow for an extra redundant (waste) all the way around it (8-15mm should be fine) then the design usually has trouble sticking to the edge of the design due to a phenomenon in which all edges of the PCB cladding tend to warp a little and because of it the laminator rollers will have some difficulty in emulating that micro-curvature and in turn the toner will not always stick to those edges. That’s why it is always strongly recommended that you cut the PCB cladding larger than needed and then trim it later (after etching). And yes, I know you have waste but…this is how it works best.
@ovi4 thanks for the pointers! I was getting ‘better’ results as I went – higher contrast (more toner) – sanding with 400 grit – cleaning (using acetone) – got the best paper I could (not glossy – i ended up getting the matte matte Mr C did a test with). I suspect my temperature just isn’t hot enough as you said…
I got the UV bulbs in the wavelength I think I need – just waiting for the photomask.
Was intending to make the power supply with the XR1468C but I can’t find it anywhere – going to do a custom board for fun and to ‘re-learn’ layout.
@badandy Hi yes those ic’s are rare and by mow obsolete but if you look on the PSU’s schematic he actually mentioned 2 other (equivalent/similar) ICs and if you cannot find those either then you can either go discrete with a BJT pass element and a zenner but also the Individual IC regulator pairs such as the LM78XX+LM79XX or even better the nicer and higher current capable LM317+LM337 combo. I used them myself on various dual supply projects with really nice and stable (low ripple) results