Some notes on the laser toner and transparency iron on transfer method...

Press 'n' Peel film

Using this method I had slightly better results than the UV photo etch method. This method involves purchasing the specially designed PCB transparencies. These are usually dark blue in color, and are basically a transparency with a special coating on one side.

The idea is that you print (laser printer) your circuit layout on to the side with the coating. You then put the printed side down on to the blank printed circuit board. Now you get an ordinary cloths iron and gently iron over the top for a set amount of time. You then cool down the board under water and peel of the transparency. The special coating is supposed to release the laser toner after the laser toner heats up enough to stick to the copper board.

If all goes well you should be left with a blank PCB with laser toner tracks stuck to it. The board is now ready for etching, where the laser toner is on the board, the copper will NOT be etched.

However it is not as easy as it sounds. The iron has to be at a certain temperature, and you must iron the transfer for an exact amount of time with a certain amount of pressure. If you don't get the mix of all these things correct, you will have very bad results. Either the toner will not stick to the board properly, or if the iron is too hot you may melt the plastic transparency.