Homebrew PCBs

I spent a lot of time both with a Phaser wax printer and with direct 
printing of resist using an Epson printer. While wax is a great 
resist, the Phaser was impossibly difficult to modify and more 
importantly, the Phaser firmware had it cleaning the printhead and 
drum many times. Apparently the wax causes a lot of clog problems. 
Likewise the Epson printer. The ink clogs the nozzles on a regular 
basis, requiring a lot of cleaning to keep the nozzles clear.  You 
end up spending  way more time screwing around with the printer than 
doing anything useful.

What might work very well is using a 3D printer to deposit plastic on 
the pcb directly. I have a 3D printer and will try it and post the 
results. If it works, a relatively simple XY table could be easily 
implemented, or you can purchase one of the really inexpensive 3D 
printer kits. As a bonus, it could also drill holes. And, if one 
wants to get truly creative you might be able to print conductive 
material directly on FR4, eliminating the etch. Most of the 3D 
printers can accommodate a heated bed that can "cure" conductive inks.

Of course, if you are building a cnc, you might want to use it to 
route the pcbs and be done with it. I also have a pretty good cnc 
mill designed for pcbs. I don't use it much because it is slow, 
noisy, requires multiple tool changes, creates a lot of dust (use a 
vacuum system), and often produces defective boards, mainly because 
the pcb has to either be held very flat, or be "mapped", requiring 
even more sophisticated equipment ($$$).

Mark


At 10:50 PM 8/14/2013, you wrote:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfCatc1HieE
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>This gentleman turned an inkjet printer into a wax printer.  He removed the
>ink reservoir and attached a heated reservoir to hold the wax.  View 44:45
>to 46:55 to see the results.  I feel the problems he encountered could be
>reduced or eliminated if the head was heated too.  It looks really
>interesting.  What do you think?
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>Jeff
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