PCB Making with inkjet printer

It occurs to me that if you were to fill an inkjet printer cartridge
with a non-water based ink, you could just modify a cheap printer or
plotter and print directly onto the copper and then etch in normal
etchant. Forget about iron-ons and all the other one-off methods. I
can't find any reference to it anywhere. Any reason why it wouldn't
work.

Hi,

> It occurs to me that if you were to fill an inkjet printer cartridge
> with a non-water based ink, you could just modify a cheap printer or
> plotter and print directly onto the copper and then etch in normal
> etchant. Forget about iron-ons and all the other one-off methods. I
> can't find any reference to it anywhere. Any reason why it wouldn't
> work.

I should think that the rather viscous ink that you would need
might block the cartridge holes. However, this method has been tried
with pen plotters using refillable pens. What the ink was I do not
know but would like to as I have a Roland plotter that I might try out
one day.


Cheers - Joe

"Joe McElvenney" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> > It occurs to me that if you were to fill an inkjet printer cartridge
> > with a non-water based ink, you could just modify a cheap printer or
> > plotter and print directly onto the copper and then etch in normal
> > etchant. Forget about iron-ons and all the other one-off methods. I
> > can't find any reference to it anywhere. Any reason why it wouldn't
> > work.
>
> I should think that the rather viscous ink that you would need
> might block the cartridge holes. However, this method has been tried
> with pen plotters using refillable pens. What the ink was I do not
> know but would like to as I have a Roland plotter that I might try out
> one day.

The other problem is the bending of the pcb that would be required or major
printer moddifications. Though you can get pcb that is flexible enough for
the job.

I have tried all the home brew methods people have thought up, and the only
one that worked well was the photographic method. While more expensive, the
results are spectacular and sooooo hands off compared to other methods. (And
they look neat if you use MG Chemical's photosensitive boards which are dark
green.)

For the pen plotter method, I had ok results, however ground planes were
impossible and the track width is limited to 24mils and greater in my case.
It also took long periods of time to plot. The other major problem with this
method is that the etchant tends to eat away at the tracks slightly.

Brett

>
>
> Cheers - Joe
>
>

I remember a few years back seeing an advertisement for a product just like
this in one of the electronic magazines. It was either Popular Electronics,
Electronics Now, or Poptronics. I too, have also inquired about this in the
newsgroup with no success but I know I saw it. It must not be very good or
else it would be more popular.

Josh

"Peter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> It occurs to me that if you were to fill an inkjet printer cartridge
> with a non-water based ink, you could just modify a cheap printer or
> plotter and print directly onto the copper and then etch in normal
> etchant. Forget about iron-ons and all the other one-off methods. I
> can't find any reference to it anywhere. Any reason why it wouldn't
> work.