- Not sure about exposure time (for my lamp).
- Not sure about UV light position and height required.
With these you just have to experiment, I'd suggest putting the board fairly close to the lamp (20-50mm or so).
I suggest you take one longish strip of photoresist PCB and put something on top of it that blocks UV light, then expose the strip while moving the UV blocker away at predefined intervals (say, every 10 seconds). What you will end up with is a PCB exposed in steps for different exposure times (10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s etc.), then just pick the exposure time that gives off the best result.
- Not sure if my mask pattern is opaque enough (to UV light).
If it's a normal transparency sheet it should be fine. Printing to these with a laser printer works but this depends on your printer. Large areas of black might get overexposed but this depends on your printer. If your quality of black is bad you can print two sheets and align them on top of eachother.
- Not sure about correct proportions of caustic soda to water
I have been using a 3% solution of NaOH (KOH works too) which seems to work well.
- Not sure about time to leave the board in the caustic soda - whether I'm going too far developing.
You just basically move it around in the solution until it seems developed (black stuff comes off the board), usually it develops quite quickly (under 30s) but this depends on your solution. If your solution is too strong or you develop it too long it will strip off all the photoresist if you keep it in the solution too long. A solution not concentrated enough won't successfully develop the board (again, 3% solution seems to work well). Washing the board under a faucet afterwards works well. You can continue developing after taking it away from the solution. You can actually even continue developing after etching the board a bit, just remember to wash the board. Putting the board in the etching solution shows you pretty well where the board has photoresist and where it doesn't, the copper exposed to the etching solution goes to this "dull" color/texture in under a minute in the etching solution.
- I also dont know if a developed pre-sensitized board stays so, and wont fade as its left in daylight over time. How long before normal daylight affects a pre-sensitized developed board?
A board with the plastic shield SHOULDNT be affected by daylight but to be sure I'd keep them in a place shielded from light (like a drawer).
Btw. I'd suggest you try to expose your boards with a 11W fluorescent table lamp (the ones with a "U"-shaped lamp, they should be pretty common and cost like 10e from Ikea). Put the lamp quite close to the board (like 50mm close, and have a thin plate of glass over the board to keep the mask close to the board). You can get suitable plate of glass from picture frames (again, Ikea is a good place to get these), just make sure its real glass and not plastic. Expose for 12-15min (I've used 13,5min for my boards and setup). I have been using this method succesfully for a long time. Won't work for large boards due to the lamp being so narrow but for small boards it works well.
First, what you call paper isn't paper, it's a type of plastic! There's a possibility that it will melt if you try to transfer it using clothes iron.
Next, the document for the board doesn't mention that it's covered by anything, but if it actually is and you really want to use toner transfer, you'd need to get rid off the cover using developing solution. If you manage to get the real datasheet for the board, you should be able to get recommended solution there. I just use 10 g of NaOH in 1 l of warm water.
You also need to expose the board as well. First a quote from Wikipedia:
Photoresists are classified into two groups: positive resists and
negative resists.
A positive resist is a type of photoresist in which the portion of the photoresist that is exposed to light becomes soluble to the
photoresist developer. The portion of the photoresist that is
unexposed remains insoluble to the photoresist developer.
A negative resist is a type of photoresist in which the portion of the photoresist that is exposed to light becomes insoluble to the
photoresist developer. The unexposed portion of the photoresist is
dissolved by the photoresist developer.
You need to get documentation for your board or try your luck and determine if you need to expose it before developing or not. If you do need to expose it, just leave it in the direct sunlight for a few hours and then drop it in the developer. After it's developer, rinse it in water and the photoresist should be gone.
If the other side is not coated, I don't see a reason why it wouldn't work well for toner transfer.
After that, you need right paper, right clothes iron (or laminator) and right printer. That's why there are so many recommendations! Different combinations of those will provide different results.
I haven't experimented with magazine paper yet, but from my experience the thicker and glossier paper is, easier it will be to transfer the toner from the paper to the PCB. Also you need a good heat source to transfer the toner from the paper to the PCB.
In my experience, if you don't know what you need, go for FR4. Currently it seems to be the "default" PCB material.
Finally, since you said you don't have any resources locally and aren't in a rush, consider ordering a done PCB. It will be probably be cheaper than complete investment of making the PCB yourself.
Best Answer
You are most likely using low quality laminate and too high transfer temp. As you see the paper has turned brown which is a sign of you temps being too hot. I make my PCBs by heating them for 5min on cotton setting of the iron. Try cutting the board and transferring each one independently, not all at once, helps with etching too. Apart from that I can see that you have very good transfer paper, the traces look great!