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Comment on Alternative uses of a 3D printer: Toner transfer on a watch dial

j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

I’ve done a lot of experiments with toner transfer and etching my own boards. The highest accuracy with the smallest clearance I can achieve is with old inkjet photo paper in my old HP laser printer. I have tried several different photo papers. They all act a little differently, but they all take up far more toner powder from the drum roller. I’m not sure why. It can be a pain to get the paper backing off of some of them, but when it comes to etching, it approaches photoresist levels using the typical overhead transparencies.

Just an idea to throw out there. This looks great already.

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GeneralVincent@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Be careful with inkjet photo paper in a laser printer. In particular, the glossy paper will typically have a coating that may come off in the laser printer due to the heat and pressure the printer uses, and that can cause issues over time.

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wfh@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Thanks for the feedback!

I’m pretty happy with the transparencies tbh. Although on mine, there seems to be two sides, one that gives a fuzzy dirty effect with a lot of stray toner around the actual print (looks like static), and the other side that gives perfectly crisp prints. Unfortunately I can’t really tell the sides apart.

Apart from that small speck of dust that prevented the transfer at the top left of the logo, the sheet came out perfectly clean, the totality of the toner was transferred to the dial. For PCB transfers where you could probably keep the sheet intact (I had to cut mine to fit between the applied indices), that would also mean the sheet would be almost indefinitely reusable.

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