Then how do you transfer it to the PCB? Hot iron? or just stick it?
Heat and pressure are required. I happen to have a heat press so I use it but an iron would work.
And the one tho OP is taking about the vinyl paper that keeps it from sicking you remove it print on it place the vinyl back on and iron it peel the vinyl place on copper and iron it on then just peel it off and etch. I been looking for the second way can't find the link. http://en.electroni-city.com/
Link is good. Thanks for that. No, the substrate that the manufacturer uses to carry the vinyl is not what is printed on. It's the vinyl that is printed on. Once it is printed it is placed onto the board, print side down, and the toner is then transferred to the board using pressure and heat.
I'm thinking that it's so you can just use a small section of vinyl the right size for what you want. With sticking it to the paper then you can put it back through the printer.
The alternative would be to put a full vinyl sheet tthrough the printer and then cut out a small section afterwards.
I'm guessing as much as you, but that's the only thing that seems logical to me at the moment.
Correct.
you print onto normal paper just so you can see what you need to cover with a vinyl 'patch'.
Then cut a piece of vinyl just big enough to cover the area to print, leaving the rest of the paper uncovered.
Then run it through the printer again to print the PCB onto the glossy side of the vinyl.
I guess you then transfer from the vinyl to copler by using an iron, heat press or laminator?
Also correct.
How well does it work for thin pitch? (0.5mm) The problem I have with my photo paper is that with fine picthes (less than 1mm) the photo paper gets transfered and stuck in between traces along with the toner. I end up having to scrape in between traces with a knife.
You will not have that problem with vinyl. Only the toner gets stuck to the board.
Thanks for the video link vasquo, that helps very much to make the process understood.
As for two sided boards, clear vinyl is available. Otherwise I was thinking that transferring to one side of the board and then using a couple of drilled via holes to index the other side would work.
- Scotty