Has anyone used this PCB fab technique?

Hi all. I have used the laser toner transfer technique with widely varying results, mostly not good. But, I came across this supplier that appears to have tackled the usual problems with the technique.

1. The transfer sheet: Is made of porous water soluble material, so after the toner is transfered you dunk the sheet and board into water and the paper dissolves. The laser printer also transfers toner to it better because it is not slick like other transfer "paper".

2. The toner is fused to the copper by a laminating machine, rather than a hand iron, taking the variability and errors out of that step.

3. An additional sheet (green sheet) is placed over the transfered toner and passed through the laminating machine again to fill the small holes in the not-exactly-opaque toner.

4. Etching is done with a sponge loaded with Ferric Chloride rather than using an etching tank. It's supposedly much faster that way, but I only just read about it.

This technique and materials supposedly makes very fine traces, something I was never able to achieve with the transfer process since the toner spreads when heated.

https://www.pcbfx.com/main_site/pages/start_here/overview.html

Your thoughts? Has anyone used this product?

I have been using it for years but have switched to having my boards made professionally.

I can only assume that one does not use a product for years unless it works well. Tnxs

It works better then anything else I have tried. But it is still a process and you can screw it up.

Now that I can get pro PCBs made for a reasonable price I only use pulsar if I need a quick prototype. I hate drilling holes so most of the time i can wait a week or two for PCBs

Thanks. No matter what process used, making a PCB is a chore. I can appreciate going out to have it done, even if more expensive. The only other issue is getting it right the first time, and multilayer boards are beyond homebrew IMO.

When I was making boards for the classes I was teaching I had it down and was making 2 sided boards without any problems. About the only failures where due to me goofing something up. It is a good system. You can as the company claims crank out boards fast but that does not include setup time and drilling.

I use https://oshpark.com/.

$5 per square inch for three copies of your design. For example, a 2 square inch board would cost $10 and you’d get three copies of your board.

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Their system is easy to use. You can send them your Eagle files if you use Eagle which I like and they have a program that shows you what your board will look like when finished so you can check for obvious mistakes. A good value.