Re: Transparency film for laser printer
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As others have mentioned, laser printing artwork on transparencies is just too much of a headache to be worthwhile.? There's never a great way to ensure it's opaque enough and free from defects.? I've been using a Epson Artisan 1430 for years with great success, and even moved to a continuous ink supply system recently to really make refills painless and cheap.? The only trick is you need to anchor the transparency to a piece of paper with a couple pieces of tape since otherwise it won't register the presence of the transparency.? This appears to be fairly universal on Epson printers unfortunately, as there's no support for transparencies.
Anyway, highly recommended for quick, simple boards at home.? I usually coat my own PCB material with the "blue paint" photoresist found on eBay for a few bucks, mixed with ethanol since it's like actual paint consistency when you get it.? They recommend artificial banana oil to dilute it, however I could never find a source?for it.? Ethanol works very?well and allows me to spray on an even coat that dries quickly.? You might ask why I don't use dry film photoresist, however that stuff expires over time (They say to use it within 9 months when it's refrigerated) and I had too many experiences where I wasted time fighting to get it working when I could have just sprayed on photoresist and been done with it.? Despite being very inexpensive the paint photoresist has great resolution and durability, and I don't have to worry about laminating thick PCB stock that won't fit in my laminator, or issues with temperature control.
HTH- Larry
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