Homebrew PCBs

anybody thinking about these for direct to board resist printing?
http://www.office.xerox.com/solidink//how.html

only problem is finding a used one cheap enough to hack the case
they run $1000+ new and not much less than half that on ebay
(maybe in a few years eh :)

I've seen the output from one ,it lays down enough wax to make
plain copy paper as thick as the heavy glossy photo papers 
just right for slapping down a resist layer on a board

Brian
-- 
"Nemo me impune lacesset"

On Sun, 7 Mar 2004 12:45:24 -0800, Brian Pitt <bfp@...> wrote:

> anybody thinking about these for direct to board resist printing?
> http://www.office.xerox.com/solidink//how.html
>
> only problem is finding a used one cheap enough to hack the case
> they run $1000+ new and not much less than half that on ebay
> (maybe in a few years eh :)
>
> I've seen the output from one ,it lays down enough wax to make
> plain copy paper as thick as the heavy glossy photo papers
> just right for slapping down a resist layer on a board
>
> Brian


I regularly come across "colorstix for tektronix phaser" when i search
ebay for other tek stuff. these sticks are so expensive i do not wish to 
know
what a printer costs..

ST

> I regularly come across "colorstix for tektronix phaser" when i search
> ebay for other tek stuff. these sticks are so expensive i do not wish to
> know what a printer costs..
> ST

the Teks are just relabled Xers ,or maybe its the other way round
they're the same thing anyway

Brian
-- 
"Nemo me impune lacesset"

If there was a way to get the printheads here you could try to 
build your own. 

<http://www.trident-itw.com/solidjet.asp?n=pa&toc=pl&pl=sj>

This company sells high temperature printheads to print
solder onto CSP devices.

<http://www.microfab.com/equipment/printheads.html>



--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Brian Pitt <bfp@e...> wrote:

> anybody thinking about these for direct to board resist printing?
> http://www.office.xerox.com/solidink//how.html
> 
> only problem is finding a used one cheap enough to hack the case
> they run $1000+ new and not much less than half that on ebay
> (maybe in a few years eh :)
> 
> I've seen the output from one ,it lays down enough wax to make
> plain copy paper as thick as the heavy glossy photo papers 
> just right for slapping down a resist layer on a board
> 
> Brian
> -- 
> "Nemo me impune lacesset"

I forgot to also add this paper as well.

<www.lib.kth.se/Sammanfattningar/brunahl030602.pdf>

It has a good section at the beginning on different inkjet head 
designs and technologies.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "javaguy11111"
<javaguy11111@y...> wrote:

> If there was a way to get the printheads here you could try to 
> build your own. 
> 
> <http://www.trident-itw.com/solidjet.asp?n=pa&toc=pl&pl=sj>
> 
> This company sells high temperature printheads to print
> solder onto CSP devices.
> 
> <http://www.microfab.com/equipment/printheads.html>
> 
> 
> 
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Brian Pitt <bfp@e...> wrote:
> > anybody thinking about these for direct to board resist printing?
> > http://www.office.xerox.com/solidink//how.html
> > 
> > only problem is finding a used one cheap enough to hack the case
> > they run $1000+ new and not much less than half that on ebay
> > (maybe in a few years eh :)
> > 
> > I've seen the output from one ,it lays down enough wax to make
> > plain copy paper as thick as the heavy glossy photo papers 
> > just right for slapping down a resist layer on a board
> > 
> > Brian
> > -- 
> > "Nemo me impune lacesset"

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Stefan Trethan
<stefan_trethan@g...> wrote:
...
> 
> I regularly come across "colorstix for tektronix phaser" when i search
> ebay for other tek stuff. these sticks are so expensive i do not
wish to 
> know
> what a printer costs..

Actually you get a -lot- of prints from that stick. It's cheaper than
most inkjets per print.

Steve

Steve wrote:

> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Stefan Trethan
> <stefan_trethan@g...> wrote:
> ...
>>I regularly come across "colorstix for tektronix phaser" when i search
>>ebay for other tek stuff. these sticks are so expensive i do not
> wish to 
>>know
>>what a printer costs..
> 
> Actually you get a -lot- of prints from that stick. It's cheaper than
> most inkjets per print.
> 
> Steve


   And another serious advantage that I know about since a friend had one. 
While the color sticks cost, the black sticks are *free*.  It's one of the major 
selling points of the printer, of course most buy them for the color abilities 
since it costs notably more than a laser.  The free black is just to make them a 
bit more competitive.  Hmm print the traces in color or black?  I wonder.  When 
you find the blacks on Ebay they'll be cheap because of this, most just order 
their free ones but sometimes it's convenient to get more on hand etc and so pay 
a little.  But nowhere near what the color goes for since you can order for free.

   And having had the printout in hand, assuming there wouldn't be other 
printing problems on copper I'm sure it could stand up to etchant.  In fact I 
have a few of the sticks around, I'll mark a line on my next board.  And I have 
some of the Alps ribbons too, so may as well do that one too while I'm at it. 
Star Micronix also had a similar printer to the Alps, and I've got one of those 
ribbons as well.

   The good Phasers are $400-1000 or so depending on model.  But they print 
color well beyond inkjets, so are worth having beyond just boards.  A quite 
broken one that could only still print one color would be useless to most but do 
a heck of a job on a PCB.

Alan

>    And another serious advantage that I know about since a friend had 
> one.
> While the color sticks cost, the black sticks are *free*.


why that?
you get them for free from the company or what?
??? very strange ???

ST

Stefan Trethan wrote:
>>   And another serious advantage that I know about since a friend had 
>>one.
>>While the color sticks cost, the black sticks are *free*.
> 
> 
> 
> why that?
> you get them for free from the company or what?
> ??? very strange ???
> 
> ST
> 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3464865428&category=32787

   Just to give an idea, here's 12 black sticks starting at $10 with the shipping..

And as Steve was saying, they actually last a good time.  They're solid cubes, 
by the time you spread them out in a thin layer over a page they do a large 
number of pages.  They're much larger for some models than others though.

   For the free part, think about it.  You're buying the $1000 printer for it's 
color capability.  Without the free black you still have to buy a $300+ office 
laser for reasonable black printing costs.  With free black and only moderate 
black printing you don't need the seperate laser.  It's just wax and doesn't 
cost Tek/Xerox that much, yet it makes their printer much more attractive to a 
small office.  They make their money on the color, which is what the printer 
really sells for anyway.

   I don't remember all the details but think you had to order, took a few days 
or a week to get the replacement black but you could order ahead of time and 
never be without etc.  Actually looking at the adds on Ebay and remembering a 
bit, there were free blacks included in with the colors for the newer printers 
too.  But pretty sure when you were running low you could simply call and have 2 
blacks sent to you as well, lifetime free black sticks were part of the 
printer's selling features.

   Getting a laser to work will still make far more sense for most, but these 
are neat printers on their own.  Actually I have some wax from them just for 
that, was for looking at melting them with a hot glue gun or similar and drawing 
resist on CNC.  Laser will be 10 times less trouble.  But with the wax the 
phaser's printed pages look as though they are from a magazine even on cheap 
paper, they are very good for color printing.

Alan

> >
> > 
> <<http://www.microfab.com/equipment/printheads.html>http://www.microfab.com/equipment/printheads.html>
  their PolimerJet and MicroJet print heads, attached to a CNC Machine 
(used for drilling) or to a Plotter will work.
Any idea about the price?
Cristian

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