No-etch circuit boards on your laser printer

Thanks to Rich Olson for sharing this neat method of making circuit boards! Check out his full blog post about it here.

I’ve “rabbit-holed” on various projects – but I may have spent more time trying to come up with new ways to make circuit boards than any other. Over the last few I’ve months developed several new approaches – this one is my favorite.

When you print on glossy inkjet photo paper with a laser printer – something interesting happens. The toner sticks to the photo paper – but doesn’t really embed itself the way it does into normal paper. Hobbyists have found it’s possible to transfer the toner to PCB blanks – and use it as a “resist” to make etched circuit boards.

What I recently figured out is that certain silver adhesive will stick to the printed toner – but not the photo paper. If you apply a few layers of the adhesive – it’s possible to make circuit boards of useful quality.

Read more.


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