Homebrew PCBs

When I dropped off my youngest daughter back a t college after Easter 
Break today, i got a chance to use her Epson C66 printer with 
Durabrite ink.

I had "conveniently" brought along a couple of sheets of thin pcb 
material. This material was scoured with a scotchbrite, but not etched 
with Tarn-x.

I just printed some text onto the sheets to check the durability of 
the ink.

The print quality was very good, but I noticed that on closer 
inspection afterward it must have been set on draft quality. I could 
see the individual ink lines making up the letters. but I proceeded 
anyways.

After air drying, I tested a spot with a wet swab, the ink came off 
easily. The I prceeded to use a hair dryer to heat the pcb to the 
point where i could not hold it. After letting the pcb cool, I tested 
the printing with a wet swab again, it was durable! I then ran the 
printing under very hot water for a few minutes and it held.

Of course, then put samples in 2 different etching baths, both FeCl 
and the H202/ Muratic acid. I could see that the printing was holding 
up, but when I pulled the 2 boards from their respective baths, there 
were only slight pieces of images left. Definitely not what I expected.

After swearing a bit and thinking about it, i realized that Ihad my 
first experience of undercutting. The very fine lines of the draft 
quality seemed to be etched away from underneath the resist.

The overall result was not acceptible, but it shows promise. It shows 
that the ink will adhere to the copper and be relatively permanent in 
waterThe prep of the copper is important as is the heating to 'cure' 
the ink. 
The next step is to try a pcb layout with reasonable solid lines.

Unfortunately, the printer (and my daughter too) are about an hours 
drive away.

TANSTAAFL!

Myc

PS. Soap and hard rubbing with the wet sway would remove the cured ink.