Second, only to the type of printer toner, the choice of paper is a very important consideration. For this PCB Circuit, you need to use a medium that will go through your printer and will preserve the printed image but won’t absorb the toner or bind it too tightly.
For this, glossy paper is the answer. In this demonstration, we’ve used Kodak Ultima Picture Paper–specifically their “High Gloss” 71 lb (270g/m2)–as it works well and should be available throughout North America and possibly Europe. It is their picture paper with the heaviest weight and is said to be useful for “Professional quality photographs”. This also means that it’s expensive: $1 or more per sheet in small quantities. Rumour has it that you can use many different types of glossy paper, including pages from the Times magazine, but no one here has attempted this yet.
To save time, effort, and expenses it’s a good idea to combine multiple images to try and fill the entire 8.5×11 page with PCBs. Remember that these must be printed as mirror images of the final PCB in order to be correct after transferring them to the copper board. On the left, you can see an ordinary sheet of paper used during the trial run and (to its left) the glossy today paper with the 9 PCBs.