Here's a variation on your idea that may work well.
Some inkjet printers (e.g. the Epson R320) will print on CDs. They already
have the straight-path and clearance built-in. By using a CD shaped
circuit board, or a board that approximates the CD carrier, the printer may
be fooled into printing "Resist" directly onto the board!
On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 11:08 AM, DmitriA <rcdd@...> wrote:
>
>
> Sorry for shotting down an otherwise great idea, but having played with
> these laser diodes quite a bit, specifically in terms of cutting with
> the beam <http://elabz.com/category/laser-cutting/> , I would have to
> say that there is just not enough energy in the beam of a regular,
> off-the-shelf DVD or even Bluray burner to evaporate paint off a
> copper-clad FR (or any other solid material for that matter). Copper
> transfers heat away from the laser ablation point too well, in fact just
> about any non-porous material does. That's why most of the stuff you'll
> see cut with these laser diodes is foam.
>
> Additionally, as others pointed out, the optics of the drive are
> designed to be focused at a point in a middle of the CD's thickness and
> even though the lens do adjust floating on the electromagnetic mount,
> the adjustment would most likely be not enough to focus on the surface
> (plus the pain layer thickness) instead.
>
> But I do like the idea in principal and I am planning on upping the
> energy quite a bit by installing a 1W laser diode (IR or blue) and
> trying paint evaporation again. It may just work on a thinnest (0.7
> mil's the thinnest?) PCB I can find...
>
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Boman33" <boman33@...> wrote:
> >
> > Here is a crazy idea that might just work:
> >
> > A first requirement is being able to cut out a PCB the to look just
> like a
> > CD. It needs to be accurate and typically a lathe would be used.
> Apply a
> > layer of paint or other protective coating over the copper.
> >
> >
> >
> > Pop it into a CD burner that has the Light Scribe or whatever it is
> called
> > feature to mark CDs. Take the layout and convert it to a JPG and use
> the
> > marking software to place it on the CD. Several small SMT PCBs will
> fit on
> > a CD. "Write" the picture to the "CD" and hopefully it will vaporize
> the
> > paint. Afterwards etch the boards as usual.
> >
> > If the power is controllable, it might also be used to expose a
> photoresist
> > as an alternative.
> >
> > Bertho
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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