Printing the Paper Copy

Negative or Positive, Mirrored or Not Mirrored

We need to determine if the paper copy should be the negative (color inverted) or positive (color not inverted) of the layer's digital image. The PCB process leaves copper in the unexposed areas so we ultimately want the film to be the positive of our digital layer. Although, the conversion from paper to film results in the film with the negative of the paper. Thus, we want to print a negative image on paper so the film will show the positive.

We also want to make sure that when we expose the top and bottom layers everything lines up. This means we need to print the the top layers as regular images and the bottom layers as mirrored images. In KiCad's Pcbnew select File -> Plot and under "Options:" select "Mirror" to create the mirror image.

To print the inverted image a program like photoshop, GIMP, or Inkscape is required . Copies of GIMP and Inkscape exists on the "Hank" computer in the APL.

Create paper art

The UO copy center adjacent to the craft center in the basement of the EMU (adjacent to EMU falling skies) accepts high-resolution B&W images in png format. They have a delivery time of a few minutes and a cost of ten cents for a B&W page printed at high resolution onto fine surface photo paper.