Comments on: Direct-to-PCB inkjet printing

By: lwr20

lwr20 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:37:04 +0000

@mew: have you considered using the vinyl as the etch resist? Though perhaps weeding it would be too much of a PITA.

By: mew

mew — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:44:40 +0000

sure, agreed on all points.

“if you have a laser cutter”: yeah, getting there. someday.

“use a syringe solder paste”: yeah, been there. that’s why I like the idea of printing the paste.

actually, pondering mods to a vinyl sign cutter/plotter to lay down paste. Resist too, why not?

– mew

By: fullspeceng

fullspeceng — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:21:17 +0000

If you have a laser cutter, a mylar stencil takes about 30seconds to make. Aligning it with <.5mm pitch takes much longer then making it.

For 1 off board, just use a syringe solder paste. With 22 gauge tip, you just squirt it in lines and it balls up on the traces when heated. A lot less clean up.

Stencils are for faster production not accuracy.

By: mew

mew — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:06:07 +0000

What would be awesome is to print w/ solder paste like this onto an etched board. Beats having to make stencils for one-off boards.
– mew

By: Simon Carrington

Simon Carrington — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:00:49 +0000

I love this site guys….. Well done.

Simon.

By: Riyas.c

Riyas.c — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:45:33 +0000

thank you introducing about the pcb dirct printig

By: Anthony Smith

Anthony Smith — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:13:40 +0000

Tutorial for their inkjet direct PCB kits looks interseting.
It producing some good techniques for ink jet cartridges.
Thanks for this post.

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:54:28 +0000

Would it be possible to use something like this to print on silkscreens? If I could print a screen and use it immediately I’d be pretty happy. It sounds like a non-water soluable ink that can act as an etch resisit might have all the right properties for printing on screens.

Now to find a way to get the screen to work in the printer… that’s a different story.

By: scotty

scotty — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:47:57 +0000

Well… we shall see. Just ordered the full kit, 20 extra boards, extra ink cartridge, and the printer is on it’s way from newegg.

By: Funky Gibbon

Funky Gibbon — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:53:18 +0000

oh i also tried permenent endorcing ink, it was too dense to go the the ink cart

By: Funky Gibbon

Funky Gibbon — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:52:29 +0000

What Type of ink is it, i’ve tried normal inkjet ink and it’s water soluble, no use for this method, BTW i’ve tried this method b4 using a HP400 pinter it has a straight through paper feed, so no awkward bending, board goes straight from front to back, works better with .8 mil boards, 1.6mm boards wont go through without hacking the printer to peices

By: uldics

uldics — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:41:12 +0000

Has anyone experimented with different “ink” to slip from etching and copper at all? Could be much cheaper and faster. To mix some solution, which hardens well and can be soldered to.

By: cgmark

cgmark — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:22:16 +0000

@drone
No need to order etching chemicals. Visit your local hardware store and you can get a gallon of muriatic acid ( normally used for bleaching concrete) for about $5 and then pick up a bottle of hydrogen peroxide at a drug store for $1 . When ready to etch mix two parts peroxide to one part acid. Etches fast and better than the powdered stuff.

By: full spectrum engineering

full spectrum engineering — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:13:42 +0000

We consulted with James at Massmind before putting out this kit. The main problem was lack of a step by step instructions for a specific kit.

There are many improvements and hacks you could do but not all of them work and few are easy.

Configuring the print settings and using something free and popular like Windows Paint opens this project up to the mass population.

Not everyone wants to take apart a printer just to print a PCB.

If you do want to hack it, we have rewritten Epson firmware to do a lot more control. We also have Xaar head type products in development that can eject a lot more fluids than the cheap Epsons and can supply for beta tests if there is interest (Xaar heads are $400 just for the head however).

As for resolution, it is detailed on the step by step tutorial: we can get 12mil with 10mil spacing in our sleep. I can get 6/6 with very careful etching setup. I’ve heard of other people going 4/4.

This is way better than toner transfer but you need to play with it if you are pushing those limits. It’s certainly easier and faster. Especially if you want to align it on both sides.

By: uC

uC — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:12:26 +0000

Prior art: http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcb/etch/r220-BD.htm

With a little more technical detail. I do like the little stainless steel insert.