Hi all, maybe a simpler/DIY MID-proces ( [www.lasermicronics.com] ) is a good way for home-making PCB's and some other sophisticated parts by laser-activating and galvanic metallizing the surface? For this you extrude a plastic (possible with ceramic too) doped with some non-conducting metall-organic particles. By heating with an IR-laser (maybe from salvaged DVD-drives with 200 millWatts, or for higher power: i found a 8Watt-laserdiode with attaches glass-fiber for 300Euros) you crack the embedded particles, so they went conductive. Then you put the part in a galvanic bath and pure metall grows on the activated/drawed areas, so you receive real metallic trays as needed for PCB's. Another point is the 3D-possibility of the process - you can activate a complex 3dimensional surface as easy as a plain sheet, so it's no problem to place conducting tracks or wider areas on curved or uneven surfaces. With repeating this process with fabbing, activating and galvano-enhancing you can make traces, through-vias or multilayer-PCB's with a reprap and attached laserdiode-head ... Viktor https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?70,11931,11931#msg-11931 Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:14:34 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?70,11931,12104#msg-12104 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?70,11931,12104#msg-12104 ronanwarrior Plastic Extruder Working Group Mon, 19 May 2008 11:02:08 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?70,11931,11931#msg-11931 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?70,11931,11931#msg-11931
maybe a simpler/DIY MID-proces ( [www.lasermicronics.com] ) is a good way for home-making PCB's and some other sophisticated parts by laser-activating and galvanic metallizing the surface?

For this you extrude a plastic (possible with ceramic too) doped with some non-conducting metall-organic particles.

By heating with an IR-laser (maybe from salvaged DVD-drives with 200 millWatts, or for higher power: i found a 8Watt-laserdiode with attaches glass-fiber for 300Euros) you crack the embedded particles, so they went conductive.

Then you put the part in a galvanic bath and pure metall grows on the activated/drawed areas, so you receive real metallic trays as needed for PCB's.

Another point is the 3D-possibility of the process - you can activate a complex 3dimensional surface as easy as a plain sheet, so it's no problem to place conducting tracks or wider areas on curved or uneven surfaces.

With repeating this process with fabbing, activating and galvano-enhancing you can make traces, through-vias or multilayer-PCB's with a reprap and attached laserdiode-head ...

Viktor]]> VDX Plastic Extruder Working Group Tue, 13 May 2008 02:57:48 -0400