Toner Transfer Method – Reference Document

@sreaves Sam I was looking on the reviews on Amazon about the yellow paper, and some did have a problem printing with it.

I agree there are folks that will always have some kind of problems.

One said it did not work with his Brother printer and that is what I have.
I still may give it a try.

Thank you

@larry_n7luf 

Brother printers are a problem since AFAIK they have changed the toner formulation to an epoxy base instead of styrene based. Toner is carbon on the outside and plastic on the inside, ingenious stuff. Appearently the issue is that the laminator can not reach the temperature needed to bond the epoxy based toner to the copper.

I bought my Kyocera P2040dw printer on eBay. There are some new and used ones up there too. If buying used you want one with a low page count.

Here is one with low page count (8K,newer than mine) and free shipping:($255 OBO with free shipping

These are workgroup type printers with USB/Ethernet and Wireless ports so 8K of prontouts is nothing. Toner is cheap!

Kyocera P2040dw

I bought the one I have based on recommendations from members of the EEVBlog that are using it for toner transfer. I paid $79.00 for it and I also bought two spare genuine toners from another source for $35.00. So I guess if you wait long enough you can fine one cheap. I do like it better than my HP’s because toner is much cheaper and it works for PCB work.

There are some older Samsung and HP printers that work you just have to do some research. HP bought Samsung’s printer division so I think the new ones out of that plant are probably the newer toner formulation. I think Adam Carlson is using an older Brother printer.

I do have one on the HP P2015 printers (possibly a Samsung made one) that I need to test and see if it will work. I do know that most of the color printers will not work. I have an HP M183 Color printer that I should test at some point but I really don’t like it as it does not have a front load tray for single sheets. I’ll go back up on EEVBlog and ask around for alternatives. You can probably pick up a used one that you can still get cheap toner for. I would look for one that can do 1200 X 1200dpi.

@sreaves I have the Brother HL-L2340DW Compact Laser Printer, Monochrome that I got in 2017 and still has the cartage that came with it.

I do not know about replacement refill would have, and will hope it would be like I have for the toner.

@larry_n7luf 

Well I would try an aftermarket one from one of the larger suppliers. I use Inktechnologies.com. They may be able to tell you the toner formulation. 

Brother HL-L2340DW Toner

@sreaves

Thanks again for the advice re the Kyocera p2040. Received today, brand new for ~$160 USD equivalent. Win 10 driver + app has extensive print quality settings available from it. 

Printed to Pulsar paper and transferred perfectly to PCB. Sealed with Pulsar TRF and etched. Soaked in paint thinner for 5 mins and the TRF and toner wiped off in a couple of wipes, leaving no stain. End product looks great, super crisp lines. 

Process with correct equipment was much quicker and more enjoyable. 

Overall the board was 9.5/10, lost half a point for very tiny streaks of TRF coming off where there was no toner, causing little copper hairs to be etched. Tested with DMM and no connections where there shouldn’t have been. Lucky this time.

Unsure why the TRF did this, I did multiple passes, maybe it only needs one otherwise it runs a bit. For more experimentation!

Regards,

Wow a new P2040dw for that price. I paid $79.00 USD for a used one. Where did you find that?

Glad to hear your board worked well. Now I need to try a new source of TRF. It turns out that one of the suppliers had the film mislabeled and it was stamping film which does not have the adhesive in it so it flakes off during the etching process. I’ll post a good one here once I know for sure that it works.

@sreaves

Quite a few of them around for that price here in Australia. 

Good luck with the TRF trials.

I’ll post some pics of boards using the Kyocera soon.

Cheers

@w00t Great Matt,

Thanks for the update!

The only issue I have with the printer is:

To extend the life of the fuser I have the unit go into sleep mode if it has not been used for 10 minutes. I think this is a good thing as I believe that the earlier models had issues with fuser failures so I don’t want to take any chances with leaving the fuser hot all the time. AFAIK the maintenance kits for these were designed for service past 100K printouts.

The problem with sleep mode is I can’t figure out how to keep the WiFi active so that the printer will wake up if you want to connect to it using WiFi if WiFi is the only connection to the printer. I wanted to locate the printer in another room where I do not have any network cables run. It wakes up from sleep when it is on a wired network. So I have a temporary cable taped across a door to run the LAN cable to it. I can connect to it with any device wired or otherwise on the network.

If you are able to connect to yours after it sleeps wirelessly please let me know what settings you used. There is a web interface where you can connect to the printer. It is usually 192.168.1.21 when within your network.

Also note that for some reason the web interface does not give you the option to select print density 5, you have to do that from the printers LCD panel. Once you set it it’s set.

I’d like to add this to my DIY PCB bag-o-tricks from decades past:

Before I started using the DIY tin plating liquid I used this method: Once the boards were etched:

1. Do a cleaning with Bar Keepers Friend powder and water. Really cleans the copper.

2. Wash with regular dishwashing detergent like Dawn followed by a water rinse and dry.

3. A final cleaning with 99% IPA.

4. Once the board is totally dry apply a couple of mist coats of Aquanet hair spray. You can solder right through it with no problem and it keeps the traces bright an shiny.

I have had finished boards stored for years that way. Steps 1-3 are the same steps I use to clean copper clad before the toner transfer too except I do the scrubbing with a Scotch Brite pad. I use Acetone instead of alcohol for the final cleaning.

Coating addition for when you do you own DIY toner transfer for the silk screen:

I found a new product (at least new to me) that works really well to seal and protect the toner that you want to keep on a PCB or panel artwork.

It’s Krylon Low Odor Clear Finish. It is a matte finish which is exactly what you want for the top silkscreen side of the PCB. The bar code label says “7120 LOW ODOR MATTE” number 24504 07120. I got my can at Hobby Lobby or maybe Michael’s Craft Store IIRC. You can probably find it at any artist supply store.

It dries very quickly. It is a clear latex finish. Since it does not contain acetone or similar solvents it will not attack toner or plastics or lacquer based paint. Krylon has many clear fixatives and coatings but this is the only one that I know of that is alcohol based clear that does not contain solvents that attack toner or plastics. The label says that you can coat craft foam so that tells me that it is innocuous to most materials. I don’t know if you can solder though it however so I have not tried my Aqua Net hair spray technique with it.

Note that when I did the hair spray trick SMT did not exist so I have not tried this with SMT boards. If you try it let me know.

The hair spray technique may also work for sealing toner on PCB’s but I don’t think I would use it for panels. It will obviously wash off with soap and water.

I read recently where Aquanet hair spray works great as a temporary adhesive for 3D printing. Just spray it on your build plate. Easier clean up than the glue stick too. I have not tried that but the next time I print a part I’ll do just that and let you all know.

@larry_n7luf 

Did you obtain some of the Yellow special paper and give it a try? I don’t remember if I said this before (I’ve slept since then) but make sure you keep the paper in a zip lock bag as moisture will affect it. If you have some packets of dessicant toss a few in for good measure.

@sreaves Hi Sam, no I have not tried it yet, and it is still in what it can with.

Have you done a double sided PCB, and did you do it like MCL does his?
I have not done a double sided board yet, as I just got an overhead projector.

Oh I won on Ebay and got two overhead projector, and hate that when that happens.

I think I have a light table in the attic. One like used for X-Rays. I’ll have to have a look up there as long as I can keep the cats from running it!.

I have not tried double sided boards yet.

However I did find that Wal-Mart carries the Krylon Low Odor Clear Matte 7120 (24504 07120) finish I like for sealing toner and it’s something like 6.50 a can half of what I paid for my first one at Michael’s so I just placed a pick up order for two cans.

Hello,

If you are looking for a compact light table solution for working with artwork for double sided boards I don’t think you can beat this LED light pad that I found that is currently on sale for $20USD. It’s a little larger then a leter size page and it looks like it would be ideal as storing it would be just like a book.

I just ordered one today along with a couple of cans of the Krylon 7120 Low Odor Clear Matte Finish. See the link below. Also Wal-Mart was in error for the Krylon Clear. It turns out they do not have the Low Odor Matte finish and they substituted the regular finish which has Acetone in it…BAH!! So I found the Jerrys Artarama was one of the least expensive places to get it so I ordered from them as my total order was enough to qualify for flat rate shipping.

It seems that Amazon and many other sellers want $21.00USD and up for a 11oz. can so grab it cheap why you can. I don’t know if this is what I call Covid Gougeing or what as the price variances make no sense to me. Maybe Krylon just doubled the price to their dealers and some of them still have older stock. Who knows?

When I get the LED light pad I’ll report back later in the week and see how it works out.

https://www.jerrysartarama.com/acurit-led-light-pad

My toner transfer solution…

After many failures using a Pantum printer (junk) and almost every type of paper, I bought a Brother DCP-L2640DW printer, which is their new model. With this printer I get great results using the Pen + Gear brand of photo glossy paper available at Walmart. I picked up the 4×6 size (90146 55161), which states it’s for inkjet printers, but haven’t had any issues with it. The print is excellent, and the paper soaks up water like crazy and with just some light rubbing rolls it right off the board. As Mr C states when he uses a toothbrush to clean up the pcb, “If you’re worried doing this part, your laminator isn’t hot enough” always freaked me out a little, but now I scrub it with no issues. Under magnification the traces look great.

I’ve also tried the yellow “transfer” paper from Amazon and could not get the toner fused to it, so that was a waste of both my time and money.

I’ve also heard the rumor to not use Brother printers, but I couldn’t be happier with mine. Not a bad printer for $200. I rather not go vintage with a printer, as you’re just asking for trouble down the road…

I won an auction a few years ago for a pouch laminator (model TCC-160) that says it only goes up to 160c, but a few (15 or so) passes and its good to go and it takes 10 Mil sizes no problem. I was going to mod it for a few more degrees, but if it aint broke…

Hi All, I am planning to embark on doing some small PCB’s and was wondering if anyone had tried using a sealing / covering iron used with covering model aircraft wings and fuselages? An iron commonly will have adjustable temperatures ranging from 100C (212F) to 220C (428F) and commonly can be used with a cloth sock to protect surface as well. One can be purchased in Australia for about A$75 and if it works may be an easier option to buying a laminator and then having to do a modification to the thermostat. The added benefit is that I can use it to cover models (which is another interest I have just taken up). Any thoughts appreciated. Cheers, Tony