PCB printer

[lowell]

Stumbled upon this. Very cool. But would have to be in large production to afford...although really, price ain't too bad at $2,100.

https://voltera.io

[loudthud]

5.5 X 4 inch board size is kinda small. How much does the silver ink cost?

[tedmich]

Their silver ink is $1478.53 an ounce, a price that would make HP proud! (you could buy 2.33 kg of pure silver for that...)
On the bright side they assume a "simple circuit board" will take only 23 micro liters (!?) so their $99.99 cartridge (2 mL) will make a simple board for $1.18 worth of ink.
I'm guessing the voltage rating is pretty LOW

[Zozobra]

I'd probably get more use out of a simple desktop CNC mill for this kind of thing, well, assuming I learn how to design PCBs anyway...

[J M Fahey]

Unless you have a machine which spits minuscule molten copper drops, "glued metal foilings" will be very poor ,rittle, and impossible to solder, thatīs why the universal "pull unneeded metal instead of adding whatīs needed" works.

Now for quick prototype work, you can direct print ink on copper,use a quick etching process (acid + peroxide) and have ready to drill boards in less than 15 minutes.

If you sharpen your skills in less than 10:

these are all home modified DIY machines, and are based on some epson inks having minuscule waxy or easy to melt particles; you need to hit the just printed PCB with a hot air pistol to melt and fix it to copper, no big deal.

Epson should offer a ready made printer and ink with a heavier contet of wax specially for this market .... although maybe they despise it as minuscule compared to standard printers.

[SoulFetish]

One thing you could try is to get a sign making plotter new or second hand. You can get pen attachments and with a little modification, achieve some fairly good detail and a pretty fine pitch. Then etch the board. Even though I didn't like the results from my first attempts at etching(heat transfer), I've had people bring examples of some really good work. Enough to encourage me to flirt with the idea of giving it another go.... maybe.
I still like the finish product of a professional board, with plated through holes, silkscreen, and a solder mask. That's tough to DIY. If I were to fabricate my own boards though, I would use this technique above or buy the stepper motors and build a mill, and run it off of an arduino and drivers.