Sigh....
You missed the point again, Steffie.
Once you have identified a property, and have a tool to measure the effects,
the tool can be used to optimize the property, ie, the application of the
wetting agent.
It's not surprising that diluted ink also works. Ink formulations have a
number of wetting agents, humectants, binder and dyes or pigments. Using
diluted ink as a wetting agent is a gross waste of money.
Volkan's efforts are truly amazing. Your results may be lacking due to any
number differences in your technique. The most obvious is the printer/print
head used and the modifications made., the ink droplet size and velocity at
impact are obvious differences.
Your experiences add to the pool of knowledge that will allow everyone
working on the inkjet printing of pcb's to ultimately make this a viable
technique
Myc
On 10/2/06, Stefan Trethan <stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
>
> Yes, the thing is, this is easy to over-do.
> If you apply too much, say propylenglycol, you'll get ink running all over
> the place.
> BTW diluted ink (from a failed print not 100% cleaned) has the same
> wetting effect.
>
> I don't see puddling as the primary problem. The primary problem for me is
> i need vast amounts of ink to form a working resist, while Volkan somehow
> seems to get by with much less. So he can do amazingly fine structures
> while i can only do wider spacing. If i could use less ink the puddling
> would go away by itself.
>
> I don't have the time at the moment to work on this, today i made three
> boards with inkjet which i needed, but i still don't get the fine lines
> Volkan has.
>
> ST
>
> On Mon, 02 Oct 2006 17:49:37 +0200, mycroft2152 <mycroft2152y@...>
> wrote:
>
> > Jam5411's recent EUREKA moment with using the Simple Green wipes on a
> > inkjet printed pcb got me to thinking. There has been a lot of
> > discussion on the best method to clean pcb's. But in fact, we were
> > really discussing the correct method to "prepare" pcb's. A 'totally
> > clean' pcb just may not be best.
> > The Simple Green wipes left a slight film that affected the surface
> > tension of the ink/copper interface and resulted in better inkjet
> > printing. My guess is that the "brake fluid" and the TARNEX have the
> > same mechanism of leaving a slight invisible film on the copper. There
> > are probably many other compunds that would work.
> > I looked for some Simple Green wipes locally, but could not find any.
> > But based on the MSDS sheets, the wipes used some standard cleaning
> > solvent. These solvents or similar are used in most 'spray cleaners'.
> > So checking under the sink, I had both Windex window cleaner and an
> > Orange Fresh" spray cleaners. (On a side note, the Orange juice
> > industry found a way to make money off the waste pulp and rinds of the
> > orange. They steam distill off the "bitterness" of the rind which is
> > used as an evironmentally friendly solvent.)
> > One lab test to measure surface tension is to place a drop of liquid
> > on the surface and measure either the angle of contact or diameter of
> > the droplet. The test can give quick and dirty comparisons of the
> > relative surface tensions. I decided to give it a try.
> > My first step was to thoroughly clean the copper. I used a green
> > scouring pad with an abrasive sink cleaner (COMET), rinsed it very
> > well in water, then follwed by a double rinse in 70% isopropyl
> > (rubbing) alcohol and a final rinse with 91% isopropanol.
> > I then cleaned one strip with the Orange cleaner and a second area
> > with Windex and wiped them dry. The third strip was the control.
> > I then carfully applied very small drops of MIS Yellow ink using a
> > fine wire. Being carefull to keeep the drop size and application force
> > constant.
> > It was amazing, the strips with the cleaners had drop diameters at
> > least twice that of the control area. The chemicals left by the
> > cleaners significantly changed the surface tension. The results with
> > both cleaners was similar.
> > This means that we can control the wetting out properties and reduce
> > the puddling without adding anything to the ink itself.
> > As I'm writing this, the thought crossed my mind that this may be
> > applicable to Toner Transfer also. The toner is in a liquid state and
> > must properly wet out the copper. I'll probably give a try on my next
> > run of pcbs.
> > Myc
>
>
>
>
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