On Sun, Aug 25, 2024 at 7:20?PM Morris Odell via <vilgotch1=[email protected]> wrote:
Hi all,
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I had an unpleasant experience recently but fortunately not a complete disaster.
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I have been making PCBs for years using the toner transfer method. The software I use is Sprint PCB and I have used a succession of HP laser printers. Recently I had to get a new printer and went for a Brother. It works very nicely and the toner actually seemed to give better coverage than the HP. After I made my first PCB which was a little one with a few passive components and transistors on it everything looked pretty good and I was quite happy.
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Yesterday I made a bigger board with several DIP packages on it and it still looked good. But when I went to populate it, it became apparent that the new printer was producing images that were slightly too small. Sprint allows a calibration factor to be specified and after some experimentation it turns out that factor of 1.04 gives properly sized images.
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All it cost me was some time and some PCB material but it was quite frustrating and a waste of a few hours.
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So be warned - if you change software or a printer make sure you check the sizing before making a board!
