Re: gEDA-user: PCBs using desktop inkjet

[Peter Clifton <pcjc2@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 2007-04-20 at 09:58 -0500, John Griessen wrote:
> Tomaz Solc wrote:
> 
> > I'm more interested in how you would mount any kind of device on such a
> > circuit. You probably can't solder anything to paper or plastic film.
> 
> The silver is no problem to solder to.  There are now just being offered some
> R&D inkjet printers with very accurate positioners and ability to handle
> flat thick boards of FR-4, etc.   They just start at $30K US and are
> mostly custom built with different options...
> 
> DJ and I briefly discussed how you could modify a laser printer to accept thick flat boards
> and I realized you probably can't get the xerography process to work on a good conductor
> metal surface...no charge patterning by HV and light drawing.    But modifying a
> commercial throw-away inkjet to handle FR-4 would be very valuable to use  with the
> silver/ascorbic acid additive conductor printing method!


I thought about this, and decided that it would work. The charge
patterning is on the toner drum, and the process uses a HV charge
underneath the paper to attract the toner off it. You could energise the
FR4, perhaps the bottom of it.

Aligning a 2-sided board would be near impossible.

At one stage, I had a laser printer stripped into pieces, we needed to
re-design and cut new chassis side-plates to hold the guts making the
"paper" path flat.

Of course, as with all interesting projects - there was never time to
finish it. It never really got past the investigatory stage.

Peter




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