Ultimate Guide to Inkjet Direct PCB Printing
fullspeceng
Posts: 76
The next Parallax Propeller is supposed to come in SMD only and soldering through hole devices is so yesterday. However, making a PCB board fast and cheap isn't that easy. Making a Homebrew PCB has many advantages such as instant gratification and low cost. There are many different techniques but the fastest/easiest/cheapest way is to use an inkjet printer capable of directly printing on CDs and use an etch resistant ink. You can find answers if you are looking for bits and pieces and willing to try a few things out but until now it has been the EE experimenter's best kept secret.
However, I made it easier and made an idiot-proof step by step guide along with a kit for those that just want to get started and make PCBs quickly and easy without doing any hacking or major modifications. I also made several innovations and improvements such as a special laser cut stencil and finding the best possible ink after many different trial and error tests.
Yes there are limitations and sacrifices but I don't claim this is the only way nor do I claim it is the best way but rather a way that works for sure and easy to follow.
I have written this guide to provide 100% reproducible results. I cover everything from how to prepare the circuit board, how to save the image, how long to bake the board at what temperature to dry it and how long to etch the board in great detail. Follow these instructions and you can have a board in a matter of minutes.
Check out the tutorial www.fullspectrumengineering.com/tutorial.html
Check out the kit www.fullspectrumengineering.com/pcbinkjet.html
Making Homebrew PCBs has never been easier.
However, I made it easier and made an idiot-proof step by step guide along with a kit for those that just want to get started and make PCBs quickly and easy without doing any hacking or major modifications. I also made several innovations and improvements such as a special laser cut stencil and finding the best possible ink after many different trial and error tests.
Yes there are limitations and sacrifices but I don't claim this is the only way nor do I claim it is the best way but rather a way that works for sure and easy to follow.
I have written this guide to provide 100% reproducible results. I cover everything from how to prepare the circuit board, how to save the image, how long to bake the board at what temperature to dry it and how long to etch the board in great detail. Follow these instructions and you can have a board in a matter of minutes.
Check out the tutorial www.fullspectrumengineering.com/tutorial.html
Check out the kit www.fullspectrumengineering.com/pcbinkjet.html
Making Homebrew PCBs has never been easier.
Comments
8mil via, 4mil trace width, 4mil spacing
nor will it do more then 2 layers.
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propmod_us and propmod_1x1 are in stock. Only $30. PCB available for $5
Want to make projects and have Gadget Gangster sell them for you? propmod-us_ps_sd and propmod-1x1 are now available for use in your Gadget Gangster Projects.
Need to upload large images or movies for use in the forum. you can do so at uploader.propmodule.com for free.
my newest product under development(super prop) is 6 layers, via depths of 2..6 and 1..6, i can just barely get everything in.
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propmod_us and propmod_1x1 are in stock. Only $30. PCB available for $5
Want to make projects and have Gadget Gangster sell them for you? propmod-us_ps_sd and propmod-1x1 are now available for use in your Gadget Gangster Projects.
Need to upload large images or movies for use in the forum. you can do so at uploader.propmodule.com for free.
You can always get the form factor later.
You have some awesome form factor boards but those are WAY outside any homebrew pcb capabilities. That's why they buy from you - it's way cheaper than making your own [noparse]:)[/noparse]
On a side note, I have an inkjet printable solder mask product coming out soon. It's UV curable ink and superior but I need to run more tests to make sure it doesn't clog up.
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propmod_us and propmod_1x1 are in stock. Only $30. PCB available for $5
Want to make projects and have Gadget Gangster sell them for you? propmod-us_ps_sd and propmod-1x1 are now available for use in your Gadget Gangster Projects.
Need to upload large images or movies for use in the forum. you can do so at uploader.propmodule.com for free.
The printable solder mask would be a huge leap forward. Even if it clogs after a 'session' it would still be very useful. You could obviously print the overlay as well using that technique.· An ultrasonic cleaner might help unclog.
Combined with inkjet printable conductive polymers you could then also do multi layer circuits with as many layers as required. That area is really heating up at the moment. I'm collecting conductive polymers and metal laden suspensions waiting for the inkjet side to be possible.
Actually I have a parallax propeller ejecting ink out of a Xaar 128 inkjet head which can also do solvents.· We have some great products for XYZ gantrys built to make a 2d xy or 3d·printer.
The problem with the Xaar is it is $400 just for the head.
Hopefully we can sell a few of the Epson parts to keep the research going.· Materials are quite expensive when you play with state of the art chemicals.
The overlay printing is no problem right now with the current pcb resist ink.· It won't wash off.· It's yellow which is pretty close to white.
I don't think an overlay is very important to a DIY board.· It looks nicer but you can always just a print a copy of your design.· I don't even pay for overlays unless it's a product I'm going to ship to someone else.
If you want to try the printable soldermask, I can sign you up for the beta test.· The ink will be in the $100-120 range per cartridge (but good for several hundred boards) once it is finished as it is super expensive but I will give it to you greatly subsidized for your comments.· You need a strong UV light source to cure it.· Sourcing something cheap is something else I am working on.· Right now I have a huge mercury lamp and it cures in under 10 seconds.
I would still get fab house to make production runs but would save a lot of time if i could build prototypes here. my bigest problem is needing very tight tolerances.
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propmod_us and propmod_1x1 are in stock. Only $30. PCB available for $5
Want to make projects and have Gadget Gangster sell them for you? propmod-us_ps_sd and propmod-1x1 are now available for use in your Gadget Gangster Projects.
Need to upload large images or movies for use in the forum. you can do so at uploader.propmodule.com for free.
Question.....
is it impossible to do the process the way it should be done.
conductive ink on a plain fr4 or equivalent, rather than the "reverse" process of removing the electrical conduction which is not required.
Mike
You can probably mix carbon black with the UV curable ink to form a conductive trace but that's not going to be anywhere as good as copper. I know they have silver conductive solvent based ink in those pens so that might work but it's a lot of experimentation and it gets expensive because you need to buy a new printer if you destroy the head.
Also a properly designed PCB board has a GND plane on the top and bottom so it is mostly copper. I do like the additive process as you can skip the etching process but the etching process is pretty easy as I have shown in the tutorial. Just get a ziplock bag and throw in some ammonium persulfate and some hot water. 25 mins later you have a pcb and throw out the ziplock bag.
As I mentioned I have some good experimentation going with the Xaar heads controlled with a parallax propeller so maybe in the future but we need to pay for development costs somehow so hopefully there is interest in this product.
You can still use the lasercut stencil and 3.5x2.5 pcbs even if you change the ink however [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Post your questions and read the hints in our forum: http://www.fullspectrumengineering.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=6867ebb4381adfdc44f877307aca3baa
sounds like progress
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2354850,00.asp
Mike
The sell a UV laser that will vaporize the copper and drill the holes. Probably set you back $30k-100k+ however.
$100 Inkjet printer still cheapest way to go.
since you dont know what the current capacity is, how can you be so judgmental.
most electronic interconnects only need microamps until the output,
maybe they will do milliamps to drive LEDS at least
check out the photo. notice the PCB ?
http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/10/26/xerox-developers-a-silver-ink-that-can-be-used-to-wearable-or-throwaway-electronics/
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24 bit LCD Breakout Board coming soon. $21.99 has backlight driver and touch sensitive decoder.
If you have any analog circuitry (motor control/ADC/DAC) then it will probably give you problems.
Even if conductivity is excellent and comparable to copper, the article says the ink melts at 150degC.
Leaded solder melts at 180C and non leaded usually around 220C. You can make RFID tags but not that useful as a PCB if you can't solder to it.
Still I think any sort of science is cool so kudos to the researchers.
I still think a UV laser machine would be very cool. I saw an ad on google for it. I will post it if I can find it.