Homebrew PCBs

On May 13, 2006, at 1:09 AM, Tony Smith wrote:

> Drill holes in the glass, bolt a connector to it.  Or insert a  
> piece of
> copper tube as a rivet, same as DIY vias in normal boards.
>
> You could just go and get the adhesive copper foil stained glass  
> people
> use.
>
> Hmm, glue SMD LEDs to the glass, use the pen to make tracks...  Hmm
> again...

My nephew trashed the Sharp calculator I gave him when he was in High  
school, so I took it apart.

Gosh !    It contained batteries, a display LCD, a sheet of plastic  
with circuit traces printed on it, and those traces went from the  
number pad to a microchip that was glued to the plastic.

Interface to the LCD was a strip of rubber impregnated with tiny  
wires so that current from the traces on the plastic sheet was  
conducted straight to the contacts on the LCD.

This was probably 18 years ago, and I was stunned.  No resistors.  No  
capacitors.  No replaceable parts at all, and the plastic sheet just  
clipped into position.

I remember thinking it looked like something Wesley Crusher* would  
have put together as a lark.


*Star Trek Next Generation Reference.