kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Lorenzo Marcantonio <l.marcantonio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Nov 08, 2013 at 10:03:02AM -0600, Dick Hollenbeck wrote:

> There is conductive glue now.  Solder is not here to stay, necessarily.

Tell me where they sell that glue. Now:D

Questions: a) how do you align sides on consumer printers and b) how do
you handle vias. Unless the process is strictly single face. Not many
things can be done on single face these days...

> > 
> > 2) How low (ohms/unit of length) is low resistance?
> 
> How many of those traces would have resistors in them anyways?  Maybe trace width and
> length becomes the new resistor.  Having a measurable resistance could be an advantage.

That's established technology, actually... thick film hybrids:D

> I just felt like climbing out of the box today.  When folks can print circuit boards and
> and glue down parts, it changes the dynamic of big guy vs. little guy.  Except for patents.

I doubt that would work for high currents and/or high frequencies. Also
flex board (the most similar technology in use) has serious issue with
cracking, especially for ceramics (IIRC Epcos has a capacitor line
exactly for that kind of job).

> > 3) I worked for a company that used silver ink for screen printing
> > circuits on mylar and if memory serves it was really expensive.  Maybe
> > the price has come down substantially.

Shouldn't be *too* expensive... for prototypes and throwaways could beat
a one off board etch.

> > If it is reasonably priced, it would sure beat etching boards by hand
> > using something like PCB fab in box.

It would be at least faster...

-- 
Lorenzo Marcantonio
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