I spent a lot of time both with a Phaser wax printer and with direct
printing of resist using an Epson printer. While wax is a great
resist, the Phaser was impossibly difficult to modify and more
importantly, the Phaser firmware had it cleaning the printhead and
drum many times. Apparently the wax causes a lot of clog problems.
Likewise the Epson printer. The ink clogs the nozzles on a regular
basis, requiring a lot of cleaning to keep the nozzles clear. You
end up spending way more time screwing around with the printer than
doing anything useful.
What might work very well is using a 3D printer to deposit plastic on
the pcb directly. I have a 3D printer and will try it and post the
results. If it works, a relatively simple XY table could be easily
implemented, or you can purchase one of the really inexpensive 3D
printer kits. As a bonus, it could also drill holes. And, if one
wants to get truly creative you might be able to print conductive
material directly on FR4, eliminating the etch. Most of the 3D
printers can accommodate a heated bed that can "cure" conductive inks.
Of course, if you are building a cnc, you might want to use it to
route the pcbs and be done with it. I also have a pretty good cnc
mill designed for pcbs. I don't use it much because it is slow,
noisy, requires multiple tool changes, creates a lot of dust (use a
vacuum system), and often produces defective boards, mainly because
the pcb has to either be held very flat, or be "mapped", requiring
even more sophisticated equipment ($$$).
Mark
At 10:50 PM 8/14/2013, you wrote:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfCatc1HieE
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>This gentleman turned an inkjet printer into a wax printer. He removed the
>ink reservoir and attached a heated reservoir to hold the wax. View 44:45
>to 46:55 to see the results. I feel the problems he encountered could be
>reduced or eliminated if the head was heated too. It looks really
>interesting. What do you think?
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>Jeff
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