[sdiy] PCB making

[Batz Goodfortune]

Y-ellow Adam 'n' all.

At 10:15 AM 1/2/07 -0700, Adam Schabtach wrote:

>If you're interested in making your own PCBs, I suggest spending some time
>reading the message archives of the Homebrew PCB Yahoo group. The main
>tricks are finding a paper that works well with your printer (I use Epson
>Glossy Photo Paper) and using a laminator from an office-supply store rather
>than a clothes iron. Also see
>http://www.pulsar.gs/PCB/a_Pages/1_Menu/overview.html for a good description
>of techniques and a source of specialized paper.

I stand corrected. The idea of using a laminator is a brilliant one. Were I 
not all PCBed out, I might just go for that idea. But while we're at it, I 
perhaps should make mention of RepRap.

For those who haven't come across this yet, RepRap stands for "reproducable 
Rapid Prototyping." By a mob calling themselves the open-hardware project. 
Basically they show how to make a simple 3D-plotter or mechanical stereo 
lithography machine. From that you can make the plastic parts to make a far 
higher resolution version but the electronics used in the first one are 
transferable to the second. All the software is open-source. The side 
benefit is that the head unit can take a milling bit and one of the things 
they do with them is mill their own prototype PCBs.

There are two basic styles of RepRap. One that acts like a 3D mill, and the 
other is like an Icing Anointment Utensil. (Thanks to the late Mr. Zappa 
for that one) Except that instead of depositing icing, the head deposits 
molten plastic. All the principals are fairly simple and many will be well 
known to this community.

The nice thing though is that it is extremely versatile and you can make 
stuff  directly from a CAD drawing that would be otherwise difficult to 
achieve this side of a million bucks.

I can't find the links at this hour of the morning but if you search for 
RepRap or Open Hardware you should find it.

Hope this helps.

Be absolutely Icebox.

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