How-to: DIYDTG

June 6, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 130 Comments

For those unaware, the little acronym above stands for Do-It-Yourself-Direct-To-Garment printing. In layman’s terms, printing your own shirts and designs. Commercial DTGs can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 which for the hobbyist who only wants a few shirts is ridiculous. So you would think this field of technology would be hacked to no end, but we’ve actually only seen one other fully finished and working DIYDTG. So we took it upon ourselves to build a DIYDTG as cheaply and as successfully as possible. Continue reading “How-to: DIYDTG” →

CES Update: CES Badges

January 9, 2010 by Devlin Thyne 8 Comments

In a previous post we had given one of our badges out to [Bre Pettis] at the MakerBot booth. We have been called the “Skull Guys” around CES and were stopped multiple times by people that did not know of this site. [Bre] got an extra of the size we are wearing around. [Leo Laporte] received the very first prototype which he promptly placed in his mouth. The badges are made from natural ABS plastic in [Devlin]’s CupCake CNC machine. There will be a post-CES follow-up with the release of the STL files to make the badge on Thingiverse as well as a step-by-step breakdown of the build process.

Direct-to-PCB Inkjet Printing

September 2, 2009 by Phil Burgess 33 Comments

inkjet-pcb

Full Spectrum Engineering has offered up a tutorial for their inkjet direct PCB kits that repurpose direct-to-CD capable inkjet printers (such as the Epson R280) to print etch-resistant ink straight onto copper clad board. This is easier and less error prone than some iron-on methods, especially for two-sided boards. Just print (no need to reverse the design), dry on a hot plate or in a toaster oven for a couple minutes, and your board’s ready for etching!

Homebrew methods exist for all of this, but for those who would rather move ahead with their design than spend time scrounging for the required bits, the kits offer a pretty good value. They can also meet you halfway…say if you’re only lacking access to a laser cutter and just want the CD stencil…all of the parts are available individually or as a complete set: the resist ink cartridge, the stainless steel board-holding stencil, and a supply of double-sided copper clad boards precisely sized for the stencil (3.5 by 2.5 inches). The small board size is well within the limits of the freeware Eagle Light Edition software.

Concerned about gunking up your nice inkjet with non-OEM ink? You can dedicate hardware to the job without breaking the bank. Many of the compatible printers are of the “free printer after rebate” bundle variety that can now be found inexpensively on Craigslist or eBay.