: Ordinary laserjet printers for PCB etching, resolution? Recently I've discovered a method for transferring a toner from a piece of transparent paper meant for ordinary laserjet printers to a PCB

Posted in: #Dpi #Laser #PrintDesign #Resolution

Recently I've discovered a method for transferring a toner from a piece of transparent paper meant for ordinary laserjet printers to a PCB which makes it a perfect photo resist. All you need is to apply a 70/30 acetone and ethyl alchohol mixture on the paper after printing on it and putting the PCB to be etched on it and letting all dry.

Now you are probably thinking this is a electronics engineering or chemistry question, but it is rather a question for people who understand the actual capabilities of laserjet printers beyond the advertised specifications.

What is the lowest practical resolution for a single line one can expect from an ordinary 1200 DPI laserjet printer, no marketing?
The thinnest lines I managed to print on the paper were roughly 0.05mm (50 micron) when measured through a microscope. Ideal solution would be 30 microns. Is that achieveable with standard home/office laserjet printers?

The Samsung printer I have (SCX-3400) doesn't provide any info in the print settings about the DPI settings and does some filtering on the image before printing so I am unable to test the actual raw capabilities.

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