> From: Scott Stephens <stephens@ENTERACT.COM>
>[cut]
> The significance of this is:
> 1. Print a reverse circuit image (toner around trace) on the foil.
>
> 2. Copper plate the aluminum foil. Very cheap, fast & simple (if not dirty)

How do you do this?  Please elaborate.

>
> 3.With adhesive, glue the foil to a substrate. No doubt the hard part.
> I'm thinking of perfboard (I hate drilling!) Mylar (MULTILAYER BOARDS!!!
> Tooo coool!) or shitty old G10.

What adhesive do you use?  It would have to stand the heat of soldering,
and possibly the Al etchant (NaOH I presume).

>
> 4. Etch the aluminum off, resulting in copper traces remaing behind.
>
> No more expensive Mylar sheets & half transfered ironed toner. But best yet,
> by using multiple sheets, you might be able to do decent multi-layer boards.
> Via's would be made by punching holes before laminating the foil to the
> plastic. Copper traces extend over the hole, which would get filled with
> solder paste. I can't wait to try it!
>
> But don't blame me if you mess up your toner drum, I bet Al foil will
> scratch it up real good. And a neg. image will use lots of toner. But should
> still be far cheaper, easier, and more powerfull than current iron on crap,
> which never worked well for me.
>

I wonder if there is some form of paper which is conductive enough to
electroplate.  This might solve the scratching problem.  Then you would
also need a way of dissolving the paper.

Perhaps annealing the Al foil would soften it a bit.

Regards,
SJH
Canberra, Australia