Homebrew PCBs

hi to all..

this moment i finished my inkjet printing experiments.
for all who aren't familiar with the topic:

the target was to use acrylic floor polish in a inkjet printer cartridge and
print it as a resist directly to the pcb surface.

i tried the hp400 and hp51626a cartridges.

i had several used of them, all were clogged a bit.
in one i finally made a "access hole" to get the metal filter out and
inspect the head, and apply solvent to it directly.
i got it not to operate with all jets, some are still disfunctional.
but it makes always a print with more than the half of them, making text
good readable.

with time i really got sick about trying to clean them up further (this is
not easy).

so i decided it is time to put floor polish in the one working partially.

i put polish in, colored with some ink, not a single drop of it ever got
through the head.
i put the cartridge in and from the beginning id was like glued clogged.


believe me, all was right, (pressure, ink actually at the head).

it simply is not working and i don't want to experiment further.


i'm wondering if anybody ever got this really to work and if yes i'm
wondering which head he used, and which polish, and if undiluted or not.


the past days i also faced the disadvantages of this method.
if only one jet is clogged you have every some millimeters a fine gap all
over your pcb tracks.
this is quite bad if you want them to act as conductors.


so please, if anyone knows what's wrong (and actually has done it with
results) please let me know, otherwise i can clearly say i have given up this
method.

i finally learned a lot about printers, and printing heads by taking them
apart.

(does anyone know if hp uses the conductivity of the ink as the heating
element?
in one head i took apart and inspected at x25 microscope i only saw two
electrodes in each jet with a small gap.)



anyways... i think it was worth a try.

regards
stefan

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