I managed to modify Epson Photo R220 for
direct PCB printing and used MISPRO yellow ink
for it. I am drying the ink with my hot-air station
at 400 C. It is quite clean and fast. Printing
and drying is finished in 3 minutes.
I etched the PCB with Fe-Cl3.
But before printing,
you should bath the PCB about 1-2 minutes in acid
(H-Cl + H2-O2) to become purple-brown in color. This
creates a soft surface and ink will be printed very
smoothly
as if it is printed onto a paper. Otherwise, ink is
populated on some areas, waved in color and not evenly
distributed on the PCB. This is the original
contribution of mine I think :-)
Results are not as good as Volkan's
results but satisfactory. There is no problem
with 8 MIL traces. Problems occur if dust in air
drops on the printed image while it is still wet. If
printer is located in a clean box, I think every thing
would be OK down to 6 or even down to 3 MIL traces.
R220 is very very easy printer to modify, since
its printing head height is adjustable.
I recommend it to you.
You know that inks in acetate pen (we call it as
"correction pen" used before etching in positive 20
process) is water and etc resistant. Did anyone tried
it? I want to make a try but I am afraid of clogging
problems that never recovered with such ink.
Even with MIS PRO ink, you should head clean your
printer (printer does it for you) if 2 days passed. It
clogs the printer head in 48 hours!
I promise, I will send pictures and details in future,
but now I have no time for them.
Sincerely,
Dr. (This is my nick in my friends)
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