On Mon, 6 Apr 2009 15:05:14 -0400 Jason Dixon <ja...@dixongroup.net> wrote:
> > For Do-It-Yourself PCB's, you *really* want postscript support. > > Color support is not necessary, and you can easily get away with > > finding a free, used, office laser printer. As odd as it might > > seem, some of the old laser printers are actually "better" in the > > sense of they were built to last and you can still get parts for > > most of them. > > > > Network support is very nice to have, and makes your life a lot > > easier, but isn't a show stopper since you can almost always use a > > small "print-server" device. I've had *decades* of success with HP > > LaserJet I, and LaserJet II-P printers, although I would not > > suggest the former for PCB work due to resolution. Yes, I know > > they're ancient, but they work. > > If the above is correct (and I believe JCR) then I can highly > recommend the Brother HL-2170W. It's inexpensive and has worked > great for me with OpenBSD. Comes with wireless *and* wired > networking. > > http://www.brother-usa.com/Printer/ModelDetail.aspx?ProductID=hl2170W If I am recalling things correctly, the "issue" with the original LaserJet I (if you could find one) is that without a memory upgrade it can only do 300dpi across 25-33% of a "letter" sized page. Yes, I know it seems terribly odd, but that's the way it worked. You sent it a page at 300dpi, and it would only print the first part of it. If the same page was sent at 75dpi or 150dpi, the whole page would print. You will probably never be building extremely high-speed PCB designs in your garage, so a resolution of 300dpi or better should suffice. Even the axis-based mixed-resolution printers (i.e. "600x300" Horizonal/Vert) should work fine. The things I like about my XEROX DocuPrint N17 are: 1.) 1200 dpi resolution 2.) a paper path for thick card stock 3.) network interface 4.) postscript support (multiple levels) 5.) duplexing 6.) very cheap to run If the real reason for buying a laser printer is PCB work, then there are some laser printers with a perfectly straight card-stock paper path where you can actually run the PCB material directly through the printer. I've seen them but I can't recall off the top of my head what brands/models can do this. You need to realize laser printers are *not* the only way to do PCB's, and some of the inkjet printers are at least equal if not better for this task. http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/08/how_to_direct_to_pcb_ink_jet_r.html (MakeZine has a number of other Home-PCB articles) Some people argue that using inkjets is more accurate than laser printers since the possible human errors in resist mask alignment are eliminated. Also, with inkjet printers, you can even do "silkscreens" of sorts on your home built boards. "Fashion Is My Only Conscience" ;-) Lastly, if you're not in a rush, or if you're working on high-speed designs, you should talk to your local PCB fabrication house. The silly part is many of their customers do not use the entire "blank" so your small design can easily be tossed in an unused corner of the blank and be manufactured in parallel with orders from other customers. This is really cheap to do, since without your order, the wasted space on the blank would be tossed out. The cool part about this is you can get multi-layer (>2) PCB designs --something you can't do at home-- done very cheaply if you're patient, as well as get the benefit of DRC testing, X-RAY analysis, Bed-Of-Nails (aka "clamshell") testing, ... As long as you can "Tape-Out" your design into a supported format (i.e. gerber), your local fab house will most likely be *real* friendly since it will save them wasted materials, and of course, they just never know where the "little business" you offer may lead in the future. -- J.C. Roberts
