Removing paper from copper board

Hi guys,

While trying to remove the rest of the paper from my pcb using warm water, the toner starting to vanish also. I tried with several different types of paper from some magazines and dofferent laser printers but the result is the same.
Any suggestions what might be the problem?

I have not done this in 40 years. Whin I did I used rice paper that dissolves in water. Let it soke for a while.

I have not don't that in 40 years either. 4 month ago I bought copper coated boards, my plan is to draw the traces with black marker then use Dremel tool to remove copper between traces. Those etch kits never worked well for me.

gary350 said:

I have not don't that in 40 years either. 4 month ago I bought copper coated boards, my plan is to draw the traces with black marker then use Dremel tool to remove copper between traces. Those etch kits never worked well for me.

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Just use JLCPCB, and get perfect quality boards for little money, with fairly fast turn round times - the boards are quick, delivery isn't - usually around a week in total.

I use “Glossy Photo Paper” (yes, the paper you use to print photos on). Print on the glossy side.

I use an Iron at FULL heat. Make sure heat is distributed evenly across the PCB for 5 minutes.

Once finished with the Iron, I then put the (now very hot) PCB on a flat steel surface table and press down with a piece of wood in order to dissipate the heat into the steel surface. Move the PCB around the table every 10 seconds and repeat the pressing down. I do this for about a minute until the PCB is down to room temperature (+-)

Doing it this way, the photo paper can simply be peeled off. Most of the times I don’t even need to soak in water. Comes off in one gentle even pull, without any breaks or tears or toner loss.

When (in distant memory) I made my own PCBs, I found the biggest problem to be burrs on the edge holding the iron away from the job so not enough pressure was exerted. I always filed the burr of the edges before using the PCB material.

Mike.

I would suggest the problem is that you didn't apply enough heat to thoroughly melt the toner onto the board. Or the board wasn't clean enough at the start.