Making printed circuit board (PCB) with Peachys UV Laser

Hello @ all

Just an idea.

Maybe you know that PCBs are made with UV Lighting and ACID for destroing the copper particular.
I think that this is one more usecase for the Peachy with uv laser.

Like in this Video - proof of conzept with laser ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9WxdGmGvyY

or the traditional way for understanding how to...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31ufQV9rh84

And the best ... afterwards you can print the housing for your PCB too ;-)

What do you think ?
Is peachys Laser able to do this in right scale and intensity?

BB Max

The Peachy laser is not powerful enough to do that. A more interesting prospect (with less risk to eyesight) is to smear the PCB with the UV resin and print the pattern. The resin would hopefully adhere to the board and form the resist. Not sure whether the resin would form a suitable resist in terms of not allowing the etchant to undercut and not sure how you would get it off. But if it does work, this would be a brilliant way of making PCBs.

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Originally Posted by mike_biddell

The Peachy laser is not powerful enough to do that. A more interesting prospect (with less risk to eyesight) is to smear the PCB with the UV resin and print the pattern. The resin would hopefully adhere to the board and form the resist. Not sure whether the resin would form a suitable resist in terms of not allowing the etchant to undercut and not sure how you would get it off. But if it does work, this would be a brilliant way of making PCBs.

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That is what the video is doing. It is not cutting the copper, you can't cut copper with lasers. It is "cutting" the photo resist.

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Originally Posted by Mjolinor

That is what the video is doing. It is not cutting the copper, you can't cut copper with lasers. It is "cutting" the photo resist.

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I'm not suggesting cutting anything..... my idea is to solidify the resin as the resist pattern

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Originally Posted by mike_biddell

I'm not suggesting cutting anything..... my idea is to solidify the resin as the resist pattern

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So what is the peachy laser not powerful enough to do?

Hi again,

I also dont think that the peachys laser power is the neckbottle.
Also if its not so strong the longer we let the beam at one point the energy and uv emitting is kumulating the effect.
I think we can say the longer it is the stronger it is.
Its just to destroy the uv sensitive filmlayer, it dont has to burn it down or mill it away.

But maybe that you are right with eycare issue, maybe the copper is reflecting the beam and hits someones eyes.

I think the whole point is about calibration for exact measure and scale.

Also a point could be layout conversion from pcb design software and slicing software model ....

If you just want to expose UV coated board, (not cutting the resist off), the Peachy should be able to do that relatively easily. I will certainly try that when I get my Peachy..... it's an interesting prospect.

The PP29 was able to expose photo board ready for developing and etching, http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...-With-A-Peachy. The biggest problem was hysteresis in the mirrors but that should now be solved with in the V1.

Oh Cool,
THX 4 the Link, so it can be done :-)

Thanks for finding that Pete, cant wait to see how the V1 + imporved calibration software will make this work even better.

@mike_biddell
curing resin as a resist is a great idea, that way you dont have to pay extra for the UV sensitive boards.
I hope someone trys it and if you do I would recommend trying a supper low shrinkage resin.

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Originally Posted by rylangrayston

Thanks for finding that Pete, cant wait to see how the V1 + imporved calibration software will make this work even better.

@mike_biddell
curing resin as a resist is a great idea, that way you dont have to pay extra for the UV sensitive boards.
I hope someone trys it and if you do I would recommend trying a supper low shrinkage resin.

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Rylan

I'll be happy to give it a try, as an electronics enthusiast, I make a lot of boards. Will u be selling the resin?

Mike

Hello,
Im thinking about mikes methode ...
I never worked with 3d printable resin, so maybe its a dumb question.

But how will we get the resin off the copper after eching without hurting the board?
Isnt it very sticky?

KR

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Originally Posted by sk1303

Hello,
Im thinking about mikes methode ...
I never worked with 3d printable resin, so maybe its a dumb question.

But how will we get the resin off the copper after eching without hurting the board?
Isnt it very sticky?

KR

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It certainly isn't a dumb question. I was just going to try various solvents until I found one which dissolved it..... maybe acetone. But maybe Rylan or one of the beta testers knows what dissolves it????

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Originally Posted by mike_biddell

It certainly isn't a dumb question. I was just going to try various solvents until I found one which dissolved it..... maybe acetone. But maybe Rylan or one of the beta testers knows what dissolves it????

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I think isopropyl works, I remember reading that's how you clean them off after using the form1.
I'm guessing any alcohol will work.. Ethanol

Thank you..... as a pcb enthusiast, it's the first thing I'll try when I get my Peachy. Photo board can be difficult to get the exposure right and is relatively expensive. This method (if it works) should work every time. Bit worried about how good the adhesion will be and therefore whether the etchant will go under the cured resin. I have iso-propyl in stock so will try that first :-)

I have to say, if it is effective, PCB production alone will be one major reason for buying a peachy.

will we sell a resin that will work for this?

Only time and experimentation will tell, and it is very likely that some other third party resin will work better.

as for how to get the resin off... after the etching is done, I think it might come off quite quickly with a scraper. Isopropyl dissolves uncured resin but not cured resin.
perhaps eventually our flex resin could work for this, it might peal of like tape would.

If it does work effectively.... I will have a massive grin :-)

You may not need to remove the resin , or at least not all of it. If it is thin enough maybe you can solder through it. If it would serve as a solder resist or at least as a sealer, maybe a Dremel tool with an end mill or something could be used to just remove it from the solder pads.

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Originally Posted by benallgor

You may not need to remove the resin , or at least not all of it. If it is thin enough maybe you can solder through it. If it would serve as a solder resist or at least as a sealer, maybe a Dremel tool with an end mill or something could be used to just remove it from the solder pads.

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Great minds think alike.... I was thinking exactly that, just remove resin from the pads

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Originally Posted by mike_biddell

Great minds think alike.... I was thinking exactly that, just remove resin from the pads

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Even if you want to remove it from the entire board I'm sure it can't be too hard with the right solvent (dependent on the resin used). I know many plastics can be easily dissolved with acetone but have no idea if acetone will dissolve cured UV resin like those from MakerJuice.