Hi,
The home made 3D printers (Reprap, Makerbot, etc) seem to use an extrusion orifice of between 0.1-0.5mm.
Beware this is not necessarily the diameter of the plastic filament left on the substrate as it all depends on the extrusion rate of the plastic and the speed the head moves and the height of the nozzle from the substrate or previous layer. If the extrusion rate is too high for the head speed, or the nozzle height is too low, then the extruded plastic spreads out sideways, making a thicker line.
Also adjacent lines may not fully fuse together. Often there is a gap between the two lines on the surface of a substrate (imagine sausages lying next to each other - there will be an air gap between them because sausages are round and the plate is flat). This could lead to undercutting when etching a PCB, leaving rough edges at the ends of tracks.
From what I've seen, the finer nozzles clog up regularly and are a pain to clean.
Commercial machine can do finer widths, but I've noticed on ABS models I've had made that there are often microscopic voids between layers. It looks like adjacent tracks haven't totally fused or have been laid down too far apart, presumably due to the software cross-hatched fill algorithms.
If you have a CNC mill, you could try putting a Rotring pen in the chuck and use it to plot the pattern with water proof drafting ink.
I briefly experimented with this idea, however the only ink I had didn't wet the copper surface very well. I think I need to experiment with coatings to promote wetting and adhesion....
Cheers,
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From:
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Rick Watson
Sent: Friday, 16 August 2013 03:17 AM
To:
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.comSubject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] convert inkjet printer into wax printer
I'm more interested in starting with putting down a resist, then normal
etch from there. What's the finest PLA or ABS line the extruders in use
today will put down? I've been thinking of messing with putting an
extruder and heated bed on my CNC mill anyway.
--Rick
On 8/15/2013 9:16 AM, Mark Lerman wrote:
>
>
> Silver inks are expensive, but copper inks are much less expensive
> and are available commercially. Multiple layers are readily achieved
> with a 3D printer. The machine I have (Ultimaker) uses a Bowden tube
> to carry the plastic filament to the printhead. This could easily be
> modified to carry liquid ink. I think the real problems would be
> things like soldering and mounting components to these inks. It might
> be workable, though, and would be an interesting way to spend a few
> months.
>
> Mark
>
> At 10:00 AM 8/15/2013, you wrote:
> >Mark,
> >
> >Sounds like removal is not an issue.
> >
> >How liquid tight would the 3D mask be?
> >
> >Given that a 3D printer gives us a third dimension to the mask, I wonder
> >what else can be done with it on the circuit board. What would be
> very cool
> >is if the 3D printer could form the traces on a piece of fiberglass. I
> >recall an old process that could put down fine wire and cover it with
> glue.
> >
> >Rick
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>
> [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>]
> >On Behalf Of Mark Lerman
> >Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 6:50 AM
> >To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>
> >Subject: RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] convert inkjet printer into wax printer
> >
> >Rick,
> >
> >A heated bed is no real problem - I built one that works pretty well.
> >But I'm not sure the wax won't stick to the copper directly.
> >I hadn't thought about removing the plastic. PLA, which is the plastic
> >I've been using, has only one solvent I know of, Tetrahydrofuran,
> which you
> >can get on ebay. Heated Benzene is also supposed to work. However, by
> >switching to ABS, you can use acetone to dissolve the plastic easily.
> >
> >Mark
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >------------------------------------
> >
> >Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and
> Photos:
> >http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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