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Using RepRap to make a RepRap curcuit board

Posted by Kaldosh 
Using RepRap to make a RepRap curcuit board
December 13, 2010 06:16AM
Hi I'm new here. When I first learned about RepRap, one of the most dissapointing things I heard was that it can't make everything it needs, only the plastic parts.
So it got me thinking... and I believe I may have a way to at least make the circuit boards... the metal bars will have to wait.

The main way I make my own curcuit boards is to use a laser printer, print onto paper, then iron the toner onto a blank (full-copper) board to cover and protect some areas, then dunk it in "acid" (etchant), which disolves all the unprotected parts; then you scrub off the toner, and viola! you have copper remaining only where you want it.

So here is my idea:
Use a reprap to extrude plastic onto a blank pcb to cover the traces, dunk it in etchant, then pull the plastic off.... tada! reprap circuit board.

But a few details I wasn't sure about:
-minimum resolution required of the board vs the nozzle? (some of the board you could just enlarge to whatever size you want, but matching to pins on chips has a required size)
-if the nozzle fine enough and consistent enough to make good traces?
-would the extruded plastic even stick to the copper well enough?
-could it have different heads to drill the board and heads to pick-and-place to insert the components into the board, then solder them in place?
-could you make a rep-rap that can hold a pen well enough to sign for the delivery of the rest of its components which it automatically ordered online, for the complete skynet experience?
Re: Using RepRap to make a RepRap curcuit board
December 15, 2010 12:27PM
"it can't make everything it needs" -- yes, but what can? All known living creatures need vitamins.

A RepStrap and a Mendel have already made PCBs for a child Mendel -- with two very different custom toolheads.
See "Automated Circuitry Making" [reprap.org]
for photos and details, and for information on yet other creative techniques people have thought up.

It appears that all the software necessary to convert PCB design files to appropriate RepRap motions have already been been written and tested on those two toolheads.
But it has not yet been tested on a standard plastic extruder toolhead printing onto standard copper-clad PCB substrate.
Please try it, and tell us what worked and what didn't work.

"minimum resolution required of the board vs the nozzle?"
There is no "the board" that all RepRaps use -- they use a variety of boards, some requiring much finer resolution than others.
I think the finest-pitch part on the majority of boards is 0.80 mm pitch (~32 pins/inch) -- such as the 32TQFP ATMega168 in the Fabio board or the 44TQFP ATmega644PA used in some other Arduino-compatible boards.
In principle, the 0.5 mm hole in the standard extruder should be able to handle that ... perhaps a smaller hole to compensate for die swell.
Some RepRaps are controlled entirely by boards with all-through-hole components, which are 2.54 mm pitch (0.1" pitch, 10 pins per inch), which is easier.

"could it have different heads"
A few RepRaps have more than 1 head, but that is still highly experimental.

"could you make a rep-rap that can hold a pen"
Yes, see "UniversalPenTouchProbe" [reprap.org] and "DrawingPlottingHead" [reprap.org] .
Re: Using RepRap to make a RepRap curcuit board
December 23, 2010 03:58PM
ultimachine has a video of them pen plotting a RAMPS shield using mendel, I think
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