This is a topic that comes up many many times.
I'm going to try a new approach as this printer is silly money.
Ricoh SG 3110DN A4 Colour Gel Printer | eBay
It's prints the image directly onto the surface of the board with wax than can then be etched.
For £95 it's got to be worth a try, I've wasted more than that with failed etchings, exposures, toner transfers etc etc.
The resolution looks absolutely stunning. I'll post a few pictures of my results when it arrives.
I'm going to try a new approach as this printer is silly money.
Ricoh SG 3110DN A4 Colour Gel Printer | eBay
It's prints the image directly onto the surface of the board with wax than can then be etched.
For £95 it's got to be worth a try, I've wasted more than that with failed etchings, exposures, toner transfers etc etc.
The resolution looks absolutely stunning. I'll post a few pictures of my results when it arrives.
IMHO:
Head for the kitchen and act like it's grease stuck to a frying pan.
(e.g. use a scouring pad and detergent)
Plan B: To get most of it off; place the board face down on a few sheets of paper towel and heat it with a clothes iron or something. The wax should melt and soak into the paper.
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Er, I don't know what the eBay ad says but the ink is viscous gel, not wax. Also, I'm not too sure how you are going to pass a rigid board through a printer that doesn't have a straight feed path. To the best of my knowledge there is no ridged media support. If I'm wrong I'd love to hear about it, but I'm in a position to know quite a bit about Ricoh products
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jkuetemann - I've been studying the manual for the printer and you are quite correct.
It prints onto special sublimination paper then you can transfer that onto anything solid using a heat press.
Much like the toner transfer method except that this process is specially designed to transfer the image from the paper onto the solid surface.
I've had to buy a heat press as the iron just doesn't get to 400 degrees F for the transfer process.
As long as I can get a reliable repeatable process I'm not too worried about the cost. At the moment I'm paying over £150 for prototype boards which is OK for one offs but gets expensive very quickly.
It prints onto special sublimination paper then you can transfer that onto anything solid using a heat press.
Much like the toner transfer method except that this process is specially designed to transfer the image from the paper onto the solid surface.
I've had to buy a heat press as the iron just doesn't get to 400 degrees F for the transfer process.
As long as I can get a reliable repeatable process I'm not too worried about the cost. At the moment I'm paying over £150 for prototype boards which is OK for one offs but gets expensive very quickly.
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150 pounds????????????? Surely not. There are a few companies doing PCB pooling, outsourcing manufacture and then mailing the cut-outs to the individual customers. Last year, I had four boards (all the same and 50 by 75 mm) done for $40 Australian.
There is a fellow from Romania (I think) who advertises cheap boards on the forum. I think he is "msdesigner".
Abs
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I never got on with making my own pcbs. It rarely worked was messy and time consuming ending up with a amateur job.
I found a Chinese pcb supplier who turns the pcb's around in 2 weeks to my door. He is very cheapo, about 1/3 of the cost in the UK.
I get great professional looking pcb's and have never had a pcb fault.
I would try acetone (nail polish remover) to remove the wax. It works wonders on laser toner.
Anyone watching this topic will realise that I have several experiments going on at the same time. I'm just waiting for the post to catch up with my ordering to progress each one.
I've found that my Epson R800 will quite happily print onto copper, or any flat board for that matter.
What I need now is some kind of water soluble primer to coat the copper board with so that the ink will stick and not run.
On the net I have read that a weak gelatine solution might work.
It has to produce a starch like film on the surface of the copper that will absorb the ink but also must be able to be washed off to revel the copper to be etched.
The primer that has absorbed the waterproof pigment needs to remain.
Seems like an impossible quandary.
I've found that my Epson R800 will quite happily print onto copper, or any flat board for that matter.
What I need now is some kind of water soluble primer to coat the copper board with so that the ink will stick and not run.
On the net I have read that a weak gelatine solution might work.
It has to produce a starch like film on the surface of the copper that will absorb the ink but also must be able to be washed off to revel the copper to be etched.
The primer that has absorbed the waterproof pigment needs to remain.
Seems like an impossible quandary.
A possibility, I don't think it is porous though, in fact isn't it the opposite ?
I've just tried Dylon starch spray. It layers on the starch too thick so you have to wipe most of it off but the ink did stick to it without running.
OK, I didn't leave it to fully dry as I'm only experimenting but the pigment and the starch washed off under a running tap.
I've just tried Dylon starch spray. It layers on the starch too thick so you have to wipe most of it off but the ink did stick to it without running.
OK, I didn't leave it to fully dry as I'm only experimenting but the pigment and the starch washed off under a running tap.
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Would machinists ink work? It's a coloured ink that's sprayed onto metal surfaces. It goes on very evenly from a spray can however it must be available just in its raw state. If that could be printed onto a PCB via a print head and it wasn't soluble in the etch you would have a viable printing system. After etching you would just clean off the inked areas with a solvent. Machinists ink dries very quickly when sprayed.
Unfortunately not, the ink just flows down the grooves caused by roughening the surface.
But, what if he doesn't want cheap boards, but high quality instead? I used Pad2Pad and typically pay $110 or so for 6-8 boards, depending on size. These are double sided, 1oz copper, full solder mask, through plated holes and silk screened. I don't think it's terribly expensive for the quality I get.
£150 - YES !!!
The company that I use is in America. The cost for 2 x boards (their minimum) is approximately £80. Then add P&P and Handling - approximately £30. Then the criminal bit is UPS then add a further UK handling charge of approximately £30 which includes Import Tax.
I appreciate there are cheaper options but these guys are VERY quick, I usually get the boards two to three days after ordering.
The company that I use is in America. The cost for 2 x boards (their minimum) is approximately £80. Then add P&P and Handling - approximately £30. Then the criminal bit is UPS then add a further UK handling charge of approximately £30 which includes Import Tax.
I appreciate there are cheaper options but these guys are VERY quick, I usually get the boards two to three days after ordering.
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