Need a laser printer that prints very dark

[Modelworks]

I need a laser printer that can print as dark as possible. This will not be used for large amounts of work so cost is important, probably no more than 10 pages a month.

The reason for the need for dark print is this will be used to make printed circuit boards. To make a board you create the pattern on the board of where the actual circuit traces will be located .

Then drop the board in an acid bath and anywhere the board is not covered the acid will remove the copper . Remove the board , rinse and drill and you have a board ready for circuits.

There are a couple of methods to do this, one is photographic, which can be fairly costly for small amounts of boards and the other is toner transfer. Toner is just bits of plastic that when heated fuse to the paper. To transfer the image to the board you print your design on paper, different kinds works better than others, and then place the paper over the board and use a regular clothes iron to adhere the plastic toner to the copper clad board. Drop the board in water when done and the paper slowly dissolves leaving the toner.

The acid bath doesn't dissolve the toner so it works pretty well. The problem is you need a printer that will use a lot of toner on the print so there is toner to transfer over to the board when you use the iron.

I had a really good printer but it finally gave up, laserjet 4p, it was about 13 years old. So I need a new printer that can do dark prints and doesn't cost a lot.

 

[jamesmcuk]

I have no exp in this area but would any laser not work if you send the printout through the printer a second time therefore doubling up the toner? No exp as I say just a thought. Hope you find something.


J

 

[0roo0roo]

laser can only print as dark as the toner you put into it.
unless there is special dark toner, i don't see how the printer could do anything more. any printer should work the same way unless in econo mode, only so much toner will stick to the drum if i understand it correctly.

 

[d33pt]

if your 4P worked so well, just get another used one on ebay or CL. plenty of them out there.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I've etched PC boards before but, never used anything but film.

 

[Modelworks]

if your 4P worked so well, just get another used one on ebay or CL. plenty of them out there.

That is what I ended up doing. I got one for $50 shipped with a 30 day warranty.

 

[Modelworks]

I have no exp in this area but would any laser not work if you send the printout through the printer a second time therefore doubling up the toner? No exp as I say just a thought. Hope you find something.


J

It would work if the printer aligned the pages perfectly every print but most don't so you end up with a blurred print.

The problem with a lot of the newer printers is they print dark but even with economy mode turned off their dark isn't as black as some of the older printers. The older printers used a higher voltage to charge the drum and also used higher output lasers to draw the patterns on the drum.

Before I scrapped the 4p I had I salvaged the parts from it including the laser assembly. I was surprised to find a very nice 100 milli-watt uv laser assembly . That is about 4 times the power of a cd burner laser, strong enough to burn lines in paper if run at that output.

The other thing I noticed about the 4p is the build quality. Damn they built things good then. Lots of steel, heavy thick plastic and screws in everything. Even the circuit board was laid out well.

 

[corkyg]

Yeah - things used to be built to last. Now they seem built to last 2=4 years. My LJ 4000 is a tough bird as well. In its menu system, however, is a description of TONER DENSITY. It has 5 levels of density. The default is 3. I believe this is what you were looking for. So, those are the words you search for - TONER DENSITY.

http://www.laserquipt.com/support/idx/96/279/article/Changing-toner-density-setting-.html

 

[Jeff7]

Is this for small-scale prototyping or hobby use?
What about using UV-treated bare boards?

I think they use the printed pattern like some kind of photo resist, and then the board gets exposed to low-level UV (I think even a bright fluorescent leaks enough UV to be usable for this). This does something to the coating, and then there might be a few other steps, and finally you etch the board.
(I saw a Youtube video of it once, that's as much as I know; figured I'd throw it out as an option though.)

 

[Modelworks]

Is this for small-scale prototyping or hobby use?
What about using UV-treated bare boards?

I think they use the printed pattern like some kind of photo resist, and then the board gets exposed to low-level UV (I think even a bright fluorescent leaks enough UV to be usable for this). This does something to the coating, and then there might be a few other steps, and finally you etch the board.
(I saw a Youtube video of it once, that's as much as I know; figured I'd throw it out as an option though.)

Just hobby and one off board designs. I rarely do one a month. You can do the photo method but it is a lot more costly and takes a lot more work but it does give better results when you have to do very fine lines.

The photo method is the same method they use for screen printing fabrics.
In screen sprinting there is a resist that is applied to the mesh screen. After it dries you put your design printed on transparency paper over the screen and expose it to a black light for a minute. Next you put the screen in developer until it cures. After that you can apply ink and only the places that were covered by the transparency will allow the ink to pass through. So you have to buy resist, developer, UV lights, transparencies and the resist and developer has limited shelf life.

You can buy pre treated boards that you just have to expose the image to and develop but they cost a lot more than bare boards. A bare 4x6 board is about $2 , a pre-sensitized one is about $11.

With the laser printer you can use a page from a magazine, for some reason the paper in magazines works best. Print the pattern on the paper using the laser printer and then put the paper over the copper clad board. Use a cloth over the paper and a clothes iron to heat the paper and transfer the pattern then soak the board in water and the paper is gone and you are ready to etch. Only cost is the paper and toner.


I got the replacement printer and it works well except halfway down the page, every page ,it prints out the image half as dark for about 1/4th inch . Anyone know what causes this ? I did the cleaning routine and removed and looked at the toner cartridge, didn't see anything wrong.

 

[Modelworks]

Yeah - things used to be built to last. Now they seem built to last 2=4 years. My LJ 4000 is a tough bird as well. In its menu system, however, is a description of TONER DENSITY. It has 5 levels of density. The default is 3. I believe this is what you were looking for. So, those are the words you search for - TONER DENSITY.

http://www.laserquipt.com/support/idx/96/279/article/Changing-toner-density-setting-.html

I found that setting after I installed the correct drivers. In all the years I used it never noticed that setting so thanks !
I had a little trouble getting win7 to recognize the printer. It wouldn't see it on the parallel port. Previously I was using an older xp machine in my work area. Odd solution but I connected it to an epson usb to parallel port converter and win7 instantly recognized it and downloaded the driver.