Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "mycroft2152" <mycroft2152@...>
wrote:
>
> 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.

What a co-incidence! ;')

> 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.

I'm not surprised. The ink has several solvents in the carrier, the
actual ink is only a fraction of a percent. It contains some agents to
keep the ink from drying too quickly, so that the heads don't clog
constantly. I think glycerin is used both to slow drying, and to
thicken it so it doesn't keep spreading in the paper.

Inkjet ink can take days to dry.

> 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.
>

Next step after this is mostly perfected, printing on aluminum! Super
duper customized full color front panels, anyone? Harden the ink and a
layer of clear overcoat.

Dang, all this time I've had this type of ink in my printer. Closest I
got to copper was accidentally printing on the wrong (uncoated) side
of a transparency, it just beaded up. It looks like (as in TT) that
prep of the copper is an important part of the equation.

Steve Greenfield