EX1 by Cartesian Co. – 3D Printing Circuits

http://blog.smitec.net/posts/ex1-by-cartesian-co-3d-printing-circuits/

by smitec • 13 years ago

32 9 13 years ago

blog.smitec.net

glorps• 13 years ago

this is effing brilliant.

aaronsnoswell• 13 years ago

This looks awesome!

diydsp• 13 years ago

I guess this is less messy than copper prototyping (acid etching/gantry ablation/vectorboarding), but silver is more expensive, ~100x.

Also, -1 for "help start the home PCB printing revolution." Hobbyists have been making home PCBs for longer than I've been alive. It's not a revolution. Not that many people really want to do this. They could right now with copper, but the range of useful things you can build at home is limited, because having a circuit board is only 1/10th of the problem. Further, prototype services like http://oshpark.com offer high-quality services, including double-sided boards.

joezydeco• 13 years ago

I was really hoping there was a way to get vias on these boards, or perhaps the machine 3D-printed the substrate as well and put the vias in that way.

orlandcst• 13 years ago

Yes, but saying that they only solve "1/10th of the problem" is a bit unfair -- what exactly qualifies as the remaining 9/10ths?

isaacb• 13 years ago

This is interesting, but not really much more practical than etching (albeit cleaner). It's a neat proof of concept and that's about it.

542458• 13 years ago

Wait - there's no 3D to this, is there? It would be more accurate to call this "Printing Circuits" than "3D Printing Circuits".

pbsurf• 13 years ago

For this to be truly useful, there needs to be a way for traces to cross (usually accomplished with multiple layers plus vias). It seems it would be possible to add a second, insulating ink to print between traces at crossing points.

ChuckMcM• 13 years ago

This is pretty awesome. And it is the first time I've heard of someone doing this with precipitate chemistry which seems really clever.

It also brings a lot of questions to the table which, when answered, will push electronics prototyping to a new place.

First is signal integrity issues. Getting some electrons from point A to point B is cool, getting them there along a path that consistently has the same impedence is a bit harder, do able though with sufficient control.

It's fortunate that many of the inkjet patents have expired, that kept this approach pinned up for years. I look forward to these guys getting funded and moving the prototype PCB market from a pint of etchant and a copper plated board, into something more advanced.

EX1 by Cartesian Co. – 3D Printing Circuits

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