Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] 2D printer-real parts

Joe,

This particular reference seems to just use the same technology as
photoresist PCB making and you could easily do the same using the spray-on
photoresist lacquers. To do what you suggest and use a printer to make
chemically etched parts you would have to go one of two ways. Firstly, you
could try to find an ink which would be resistant to etching chemicals and
put this in inkjet cartridges. It would have to be something like a thin
shellac solution although this would probably harden in the cartridge long
before you could use it! I'm sure if this was easily possible, someone in
the PCB production brigade would have done it by now.
The other way which springs to mind and which could, perhaps, be more
practical, would be to use a high intensity UV source and fibre optic to
work on metal coated with photoresist. Mount the end of the fibre(s) on the
printer carriage and lead them away to a high intensity UV lamp - perhaps a
kind of arc lamp? (dangerous source if not well shielded!). It would
probably be difficult to get the exposure correct as you only really have
the light intensity to work with but, in theory, it should be doable and you
could then just develop the coating with NaOH and etch like any PCB.

Ian
--
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Vicars" <jvicars@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com>
Sent: 11 October 2000 16:03
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] 2D printer-real parts


> I am fascinated by Photo Chemical Machining, and the possibility of
> doing this at home somehow converting an inkjet.
> Start with laminated sheets of almost any metal and then the burn
> away the laminate with a 2d printer. Then drop the metal in acid and
> you've got parts. Tiny and intricately detailed up to about .050"
> thick.
> You could make wheels or strips for quadrature encoders ALL day
> long. You could also make PCB which I know has been discussed before.
> Check it out!
>
> http://www.mansfieldgraphics.com/
>
>
>
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