Staples was kind enough to replace a “stocked” toner cartridge that I had sitting on my shelf for three years! They just gave me a new one and let me go out the door, which was totally unexpected but totally cool of them. So I expect finer traces and cleaner results for my next board but I think I will still try a solder mask. It doesn’t need to be perfect and I’m not too worried about the toner melting as I think it will create enough of a lip to create enough surface tension for the viscous molten solder to stay put. Though it may look a little nasty colored as I don’t think I will be able to remove all the toner once components are placed on the board, but I think that is a fair trade for cleaner solder pads and traces not bleeding with copper.

I use “Staples Photo Basic Gloss” paper as recommended by the GoTee method and I had really low expectations for the entire process especially after I ran into printer trouble. I found that you don’t have to heat the board for nearly as hot, long and with such pressure as the method recommends. Just long enough and hot enough to release the toner and not necessarily to melt the paper to the board. I found patience to be the biggest determiner for how well the toner transfers to the board.

Anyways, I’ll be back after my next board. I have a socket iWiFi card that I would like to make a shield for my Arduino BB. BTW, just salvaged a 2×40 LCD out of a junk box and it works perfect. I’m currently working on writing a “Menu API” for HD44780 compatible LCD drivers to make devices with a UI faster to develop and implement.

Cheers,
-Mpare

First, I’ve tried ironing “silk screen” toner transfer onto the copper side, and it didn’t work well for me. The toner didn’t seem to stick well to the copper, and it didn’t stick at all near the edges of traces. I ended up wiping it all off and lettering by hand with a Staedtler pen. So I’m not sure the iron-on technology is going to work well there.

Second, thermoplastic laser printer toner isn’t a good choice for a solder mask — if the household iron melts it enough to stick to the board, the molten solder is going to melt it enough to unstick. I’ve thought about doing something like a toner transfer for the solder areas, then spray on varnish, then scrape off the varnish and toner, but that’s not exactly . . . elegant . . . or efficient. And I’d still have the problem with the toner not sticking well on the copper side in the first place.

I’ll be very interested if you come up with a good way to do this. Well, even a way that works at all.

Anyways, I know what you mean about wanting to get all the paper off for your silk screen. If you don’t you get this weird blue/white color after it dries. When it is wet all looks great. So I was afraid that if I rubbed too much I would loose the toner and with it the whole purpose of the silk screen. So I went to my kitchen and grab some vegetable oil and applied it to a q-tip and lightly swabbed the printed areas then removed the excess with a cotton cloth. I got enough of the oil off so that you don’t notice it on your fingers after touching the board. It worked perfect! Many days later the silk screen still looks crisp black. I think next time I will try to use mineral oil or lynn seed oil. Either way I would recommend a small application of oil to save excessive scrubbing. Next time I also want to try applying a thin coating of hair spray to see if that will make the toner stay that dark color and make it more difficult to be scrapped off. Though once you solder on the components the scratching and flaking is less likely.

I think when I do a board with traces that are closer to each other I may even attempt a solder mask to prevent the solder from flowing so much. I think I’ll try just toner transfer for that as well but I’m not sure.

I haven’t posted the schematics and board layout yet, because I want to get header strips added for a ground plane and probably +5V plane as well. Shouldn’t take me long to do that if there’s interest, and I can post an entry here when they’re ready.

Are there any other changes you’d be interested in? Or do you want the single-sided design as a starting point for your own board; and you’re going to hack it up anyway, so my changes are unimportant?

Nice board! I’ve been wanting to do a single PCB sided proto shield myself. Do you have your modified EAGLE schematics available for download somewhere?