Homebrew PCBs

No, I didn't look at any of the Canon printers. 

The Lexmark however has an even better solution than changing heads.

It has a rubber cup the head sits down on when the head is parked to prevent drying. I would fill that cup with ammonia
water and the head didn't clog until I let the ammonia get too low to touch the head. The ideal solution there
would be to fit a tube into that cup and pressure wash the head when it was parked. The normal inkjet
clean before printing cycle flushes out any residual solvent from the surface of the head.

Or a sponge wiper could be put in the path of the head so that when it moved away from the cup it
moved across the sponge to wipe any solvent.

The Lexmark printers are cheap too! Plus the carriage is light enough to mount on a Y axis. The only
remaining problem is to make the Y move the correct distance with each step of the existing stepper
motor. 

The wax printer is something that should be investigated. What about the dye sublimation printers like
the Fargo Primera line that used a wax cartridge in 3 colors. Those were waterproof as a standard feature.

later,
Larry E.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Steve Greenfield 
  To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2002 4:46 PM
  Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Inkjet printing PC boards


  I notice Canon isn't on your list. Most of the Canon printers are
  built so that although you normally replace just the ink carts, you
  can remove and replace the heads as easily as replacing a
  cartridge. I don't expect the inks to hold up in water or etchant
  any better.

  However, it would mean 1. no flushing between carts, just have two
  sets of heads and 2. remove and place in the holder you get with a
  replacement head, perhaps with a drop of water in the part that
  seals around the print nozzles to keep them from clogging.

  My Canon BJC6000 has a straight through paper path. I doubt it
  could handle 1/16th inch PCB, but I have some PCB that is as thin
  as thick cardstock. The heads can be set for cardstock, too. I'm a
  bit leary of testing this with my only inkjet, as you can imagine,
  as I use it for photo printing. I'm going to keep my eyes open in
  the thrift stores for another Canon with straight through paper
  path.

  Something I suggested before: what about those Alps-based CD
  printers? The ones that print wax thermal directly onto a CD?
  Modify it slightly to take a square PCB. Only concern is pinholes.
  And if that occurs, it might be solved by a short bake cycle.

  Those printers aren't cheap, but I can see many advantages over
  other methods.

  Steve Greenfield

  --- Larry Edington <ledington@...> wrote:
  > None of the standard Inkjet inks that I tried would even stand up
  > to water much less etchant.
  > 
  > Epson 1520, Epson C80, HP 1000C, Lexmark Waterproof, Generic HP
  > refill, Generic Epson refill.
  > 
  > None of these would withstand ferric chloride or ammonium
  > persulfate etchant. 
  > 
  > A shocking thing I found out is that Sharpie ink which I've used
  > for years to touch up boards when etched
  > with ferric chloride just floated away in my ammonium persulfate
  > etchant.
  > 
  > later,
  > Larry E.


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