Re: gEDA-user: PCBs using desktop inkjet

[Peter Clifton <pcjc2@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 2007-04-20 at 13:04 -0500, John Griessen wrote:
> Peter Clifton wrote:
> 
> > 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.
> 
> Hmmm....  the way the metal would have charge on a big capacitance might make the toner jump around as it moves
> from drum to metal surface though....because of the local field changes as the first particles land affecting
> the following ones...   On paper, some particles canceling charge still
> don't let current flow -- the surface holds static charge.

I'm not sure if toner is conductive, or if the particles would behave
like little capacitor plates.

> Has anyone done tests about printing onto metal foil covered paper?  I wonder...
> the signage and plaque making businesses use dye sublimation for foil
> overprinting to get zappy metallic reflective colors...

I never got as far as testing that, but well.... might take the risk...
off to find some bacofoil.

> > Aligning a 2-sided board would be near impossible.
> 
> But printing on two thin substrates might work with the right substrate and a "heavy paper setting"
> on a recent high performance laser printer.....  Then align and laminate them with epoxy like
> multi layer board fabbers do...
> 
> 
> > 
> > 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.
> 
> Wow!  That IS industrious!

We never got as far as modifying the original chassis. What I'd intended
to do, was scan the old metal sheets, then make a new design in CAD>

(Basically, all the printing mechanisms were aligned on a few accurately
positioned stampings in the side-panels, so it should have been possible
to make a new chassis using the department's water-jet cutting machine).

> The news about reduced silver nitrate printing is exciting.  Just think of making a multi layer
> stack out of that...    What if you chose a plastic substrate that ablates well and makes a reducing atmosphere
> as it does?  Then you would have a chance that laser drilled holes could still have an annular
> ring of internal stack layer silver exposed to bondmore silver to!   Voila, the only subtractive part of
> the stack up of connectivity is the laser drilling.   Poof go environmental concerns, up goes locally
> feasible productivity!

Its all quite exiting stuff. I doubt anything will replace solid copper
bars, nuts, bolts and plates in big power electronics though!

Peter




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