Alan,
Ralph had a BBS that I used to visit. I drew up his
ZipZap antenna as a ZIP package. Fax Dahl was software
that would turn Fax audio from my R71a to VGA images.
Later on there was a German Freeware program that would
work through the serial port with only a few resistors
and an opamp. If you do a search for Kleinfax on the net
you may find my diagram for turning a serial board into
a radio fax board. JFax killed my design off! I think
later versions of HamCom did fax too! That was a long time
ago.
After using steppers to spin my drum, I made a spinning
mirror camera like the ones the satellites use. Now I use
steppers to run my PCBMill. I mill circuit boards as part of
my business. There is no cheap way to make a 4" x 6" board. I
stick with the milling process because it works best for me.
John
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...> wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> Yes! I have Taggert's book, and I played around with weather
fax's, but
> AFTER CRT's were common. what is FAX_Dhals? A software package?
>
> 73's,
>
> Alan KM6VV
>
>
> crankorgan wrote:
> >
> > Hi Alan,
> > I built a similar unit for receiving Radio Faxes
> > from around the world VIA a shortwave radio. My unit used
> > stepping motors from a floppy. That's 20 years ago! Here
> > is a picture of the unit. I used some of Ralph Taggerts
> > circuits and some of my own. I went on to design a circuit
> > board that goes in the computer. I used FAX_Dhals.
> >
> > see machine at:
> >
> > http://crankorgan.com/kleinfax.JPG
> >
> > 73s
> >
> > John
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...>
wrote:
> > > Hi Steve, John, list,
> > >
> > > check out Jon E's photo plotter:
> > >
> > > http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~jmelson/photoplot.html
> > >
> > > While it plots to film, I think you can get a few ideas from it.
> > And
> > > there are advantages if you can generate a good film, such as
> > exposing
> > > as many boards as you want from it.
> > >
> > > But yes, I DO like the concept of mechanical etching! And the
> > software
> > > to do the isolation tool paths is very interesting to me
> > (programmer).
> > > As well as the controller it's self!
> > >
> > > I don't know the linear speed of Jon's photo plotter (perhaps
it's
> > that
> > > the film is faster then the photo resist), but I'm surprised it
> > couldn't
> > > be made to work. A laser out of an HP laser printer? Then
you'd
> > need a
> > > mirror to get the light over to the "pen lens" and down to the
> > board.
> > > Put the hole laser thing on the XY carriage? Yeah, that could
work!
> > >
> > > Perhaps we'll get a little more info on the HP, and someone can
try
> > some
> > > experiments on exposing the resist on a board with a laser!
And who
> > > cares if it takes a long time? Controlling the size of the
> > laser "dot"
> > > on the board with an aperture would be the tough part. I'm told
> > that
> > > commercial photo plotters use an aperture disk, which is a set
of
> > > "films" with an appropriate mask.
> > >
> > >
> > > Alan KM6VV
> > >
> > >
> > > Steve Greenfield wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Yep, far too long to expose, and the problem of "blooming". UV
> > > > laser, anyone?
> > > >
> > > > That sounds do-able! It would just require modifying a pen
with
> > one
> > > > of those carbide point marking pens. I think you could
probably
> > > > just spray something like one coat of black fast drying
laquer to
> > > > scratch through.
> > > >
> > > > And one of the things I've always liked doing to boards I
make is
> > > > sign them. Couldn't do that when I made some with the vinyl
> > cutter.
> > > >
> > > > So the only issues are paint that will scratch away cleanly
and
> > > > that it leaves a wide enough opening after etching.
> > > >
> > > > Steve Greenfield
> > > >
> > > > --- crankorgan <john@k...> wrote:
> > > > > Hi,
> > > > > Nobody liked my light on a plotter idea. I was told the
> > > > > light source would have to move too slow. The board would
take
> > > > > way to long. Ok, I use Mechanical Etching bits myself. But
what
> > > > > if you coated the whole board with resist. Then you put a
sharp
> > > > > point in the plotter. Have the plotter do isolation paths.
Then
> > > > > the board goes to the acid.
> > > > >
> > > > > John