7 ms·
Direct to PCB InkJet Resist Printing (2006)
- opencl 7y agoI'm surprised I've never heard of this before. Toner transfer was always kind of a pain. Now I just prefer milling because it avoids all the nasty acid and lets you accurately drill holes and cut the PCB to size/shape at the same time. Small CNC machines are pretty cheap these days, the one I use cost $130. PCB houses are amazingly cheap and fast compared to just a few years ago but if you don't need multiple layers nothing beats having it done in a few minutes for ~$0.10 per square inch for prototyping.
- jhart99 7y agoOut of curiosity, what cnc machine are you using?
- gaze 7y agoNot OP, but I've had luck making PCBs on my Taig mill. Might want to choose something with ballscrews or at least preloaded nuts or potentially a belt drive. PCBs hate backlash, but don't constitute a high load.
- opencl 7y agoI have the Linksprite engraving machine[1], there are a bunch of companies selling the same design if you search for "CNC 1610" on any of the major e-tailer sites. It's called 1610 because the build area is 16x10cm, there are larger versions called 2418 and 3018. At the price point it's obviously the bargain basement model of the CNC world and the quality is not great. But it works fine for PCBs as long as you don't need super narrow traces, the backlash is surprisingly not terrible thanks to the preloaded nuts. [1] http://store.linksprite.com/diy-cnc-3-axis-engraver-machine-pcb-milling-wood-carving-router-kit-arduino-grbl-assembled-version/ http://store.linksprite.com/diy-cnc-3-axis-engraver-machine-...
- xellisx 7y agoI've found using the vinyl sticker method works pretty well for toner transfer.
- kennywinker 7y agoIsn’t f4 fibre glass particulate not something you’d want in your home? That’s one of the things keeping me away from cnc milling...
- jononor 7y agoFor milling at home, FR2 boards (paper with phenolic resin) are recommended over FR4. We get ours from conrad.de, ships all over Europe.
- opencl 7y agoYes, safety is always important. That's why I put the machine in my garage where there's a dust collection system. Breathing in fine dust in general is not very good for you so dust collection and/or wearing a respirator is generally a good idea when doing any major wood/plastic/fiberglass cutting.
- gaze 7y agoVolkan Sahin, as far as I can tell, is one of the few people to truly master printing from a high end inkjet cartridge as a hobbyist. Really really impressive work.
- asynchronous13 7y agoI used to make my own PCBs at home, and I still really enjoy the technologies that allow making high quality boards from home. I've found for my personal stuff that going through a low-cost fab house is just so economical, and the quality is so good that I usually can't be bothered to do it myself anymore. Still great if you want the learning experience, or if you really need it now.
- utopcell 7y agoThis site is ancient (the printer used is from mid 2000s,) which makes this all the more impressive. PCBs with 1 mil traces are still quite expensive to prototype. OTOH, if you need such thin traces, you also probably need multi-layer PCBs.
- philpem 7y agoNot always. Sometimes you just need a breakout board for a really fine-pitch IC or connector.
- bacon_waffle 7y agoGenuine question: with all the great quality, super fast, and incredibly cheap PCB fab options available now - what motivates making PCBs at home? I totally get that it's a fun process (and back in the day made plenty of boards with toner transfer + sharpie cleanup + ferric chloride), but if there's an interest in better quality product, the commercial solutions are going to be lightyears better and designs meant for them are far easier for others to replicate.
- new299 7y agoI know of no super-fast cheap fabrication option. Turn-around for any of the low-cost/two layer fabs is >2 weeks. That’s significant if it’s a hobby and you want to do a project in a weekend, or iterate over a design quickly.
- justwalt 7y agoI’ve never used JLCPCB for anything too intense, but turnaround has always been 5 days on the high end in my experience. Is it different if you require more layers or more sophistication?
- zaarn 7y agoJLCPCB always requires atleast two weeks for shipping in my experience. And I'd rather test out 2-3 designs on a single day if possible, especially iterative designs. That isn't possible without DIY PCB etching.
- sokoloff 7y agoI typically get orders from JLCPCB in 6 or 7 calendar days from the time of submission, using DHL for shipping to the east coast of the US.
- zaarn 7y agoyeah, but i'm not on the east coast of the US but in Europe. Either way, even a 2 day turnaround would be too much for iterative prototyping or even testing out some ideas.
- VygmraMGVl 7y agoI used a method somewhat similar to this as an undergraduate researcher to cheaply develop patterns on copper-clad kapton for flexible circuits. I used a solid ink printer, which I found by crawling the university network for printers and querying them for their model number until I found one. Then a very nice sysadmin let me use it on a thick sheet of copper clad kapton and it luckily did not jam! One of my few research success stories.