3d Printing a circuit board

This idea came up to me, when I saw your two headed 3d printer. The basic idea is to use one of the head to print the plastic board and the other head to print a thin layer of solder .

Both surface mount and through hole devices can be used on such a board.

WORKING (AS I IMAGINED )

First the Head 1 prints the plastic part of the PCB, leaving small thin dents on the surface where the copper should go.

Second Head 2 with solder as its input , melts and puts a thin layer of solder where the copper should be.

So now we have a base with a conducting path. This should work as a simple PCB.

This is just my idea, more inputs are welcome, to better it, one day we could be able to print arduino(s) out a 3d printer.

regards

antoinec over 11 years ago

Seems like a great concept to me. But then you shouldn't use regular PLA or ABS because I reckon the plastic would melt when the hot solder is put on top of the plastic.
Regards
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colecago over 11 years ago

Solder has like no strength and won't stick to the plastic. The first component you try and solder on would ball up and destroy the solder trace. You are probably better off printing some type of conductive epoxy and then use the same type of stuff to glue the leads to the traces.
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