Homebrew PCBs

I tried it with mylar film as I described previously and that worked but
they were huge lines (>.5mm).  Mostly I was trying to make my stencil and
found the mylar got stuck by accident).

Have you tried using the TherMark as a solder resist?  I think it will work
really well for that as it is supposed to be way harder than epoxy.  I
ordered a sample and will try it with my laser.

I think it might be possible to use the TherMark then sand it off with a
belt grinder but that seems like a hassle.

I still have my inkjet printer kit for doublesided small boards.  All my
components are now SMD so I need the soldermask to prevent runaway solder.

My laser has a belt drive XY gantry.  It is actually pretty heavy duty and
easily mount an inkjet head.

I've been thinking about making a low cost commerical inkjet XY printer for
this purpose but I don't think there's much demand.

HP's developer program is now open to the public with a $1000 licensing fee
so no need to hack anymore and the HP 45 offers a UV curable ink (expensive
at $2-3/mL) through a 3rd party.


On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 10:21 AM, Kim Vellore <kimvellore@...>wrote:

>
>
> I have been playing with laser trying to make PCB' but have not come up
> with
> a effective way, the toner transfer seems to be faster and easier than
> laser. CE mark and thermark wont work, because you cant remove the marking
> for solder points. I have tried painting and rastering the paint off but
> the
> problem with burning paint or any other material, it leaves some burnt
> residue which cannot be cleaned off without removing the paint esp. if the
> gap between traces are fine, giving you a jagged edge when etched. I am
> still looking for folks coming out with innovative ideas to make it work. I
>
> have a Epilog TT 45 W laser.
>
> Kim
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Henry Liu" <henryjliu@... <henryjliu%40gmail.com>>
> To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com <Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 11:36 PM
> Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Cool results with CO2 laser
>
> > There's been some videos where you can ablate completely black spray
> paint
> > with a CO2 laser.
> >
> > The solder mask stuff is different because there's no way it's coming
> off.
> > It's chemically bonded to the copper according to thermark.
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 11:59 PM, Stefan Trethan
> > <stefan_trethan@... <stefan_trethan%40gmx.at>>wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> This is like the second law of thermodynamics - In the end you will
> >> always end up with thermal transfer ;-)
> >>
> >> Anyway, if it is more precise then that's good, but you wrote
> >> initially one has to remove the material between traces after cutting
> >> with the laser. Isn't this weeding very time consuming with complex
> >> boards? Isn't there a danger that the trace material is lifted away
> >> too?
> >>
> >> I wonder what would happen if you coated the PCB with toner or
> >> stereolithography powder. Could you burn on the pattern and blow away
> >> the remaining dust?
> >>
> >> ST
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
>
> >
> > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and
> > Photos:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>
>  
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]