Pre-made copper clad substrates are created from fiberglass laminates, epoxy
resin, and woven glass cloth that are then coated with copper. Unfortunately, these
commercial substrates are too thick to use, so I’ve created
this method to make my own.
We’ll start with raw fiberglass laminate (also known
as circuit board material), which is usually labeled
G10 or F4, and available from most plastic supply
stores (Figure 19.2). Some of the material is so thin
you can see through it, almost like a light fog, and the
colors range from off white and amber to pale green.
I find this to be a wonderful base for experimental
inkjet printing because it’s stiff and it’s thin, available
in 0.01" thickness. Because it stays flat, it will feed
through desktop printers with a back feed slot like the
Epson 3880. In this process, you’ll use the Chapter 17
technique for printing using a template so that the
printer recognizes and loads your substrate.