Homebrew PCBs

To be fair, I didn't immediately recognize that this was a $25k industrial
laser system.  Still, I wonder if a simpler device could be fitted with such
vacuum solution.

-Andrew

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 3:47 PM, Andrew Villeneuve <andrewmv@...>wrote:

> This tutorial claims to have solved this problem by using a laser engraving
> machine with a vacuum system, and doing the engraving starting away from the
> vacuum outlet and working toward the vacuum:
>
>
> http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-PCB-Prototyping-using-a-Laser-Cutter/
>
> It notes that if you failed to get all the paint off on the first pass,
> then the second pass will ruin the first one.
>
> I had nothing to do with putting this tutorial together - I just recall
> finding it a few weeks ago.
>
> The machine used in the tutorial is a Epilog Legend 36 EXT.
>
> -Andrew
>
>
> On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 2:40 PM, <kimvellore@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> The Chinese laser engravers have gone down in price.. I have seen some as
>> low as $1500.
>> The problem I see with the lasers are, they work by burning off the paint
>> and most of the paints I have tried leave behind a residue which needs a
>> solvent to clean up which also removes the original paint. With the residue
>> the copper does not etch well, it has always been a hit or miss on the
>> boards I tried. I would like to see a boards done using a laser and also the
>> details of the type of paint used so I can try it out once again.
>>
>> Kim
>>
>>
>> --- On Mon, 5/3/10, Andrew Villeneuve <andrewmv@...<andrewmv%40gmail.com>>
>> wrote:
>>
>> From: Andrew Villeneuve <andrewmv@... <andrewmv%40gmail.com>>
>> Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Resist ink pens
>> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com <Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>
>> Date: Monday, May 3, 2010, 11:28 AM
>>
>>
>> Bob,
>>
>> I've seen several tutorials on the laser engraving approach, which seems
>> to
>> work very reproducibly.  Naturally, these all came from shops that had
>> access to an industrial laser engraver for other reasons.
>>
>> small-shop laser engraving machines have started to emerge on the market
>> in
>> the past few years - I've seen one as low as US$4,000.  Well outside of my
>> budget, but compared to some of the CNC milling approaches that I've seen
>> discussed here, it's actually very viable.
>>
>> I've not specifically seen any of these low-end machines used for PCB
>> etching, though I wouldn't imagine there would be a problem.
>>
>> -Andrew
>>
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
>>  
>>
>
>


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