[epineh]

I have to say first up that this is not my idea, I'm just following in the footsteps of this fella here :

http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcb/etch/c84-st.htm

The build starts with me buying a perfectly normal Epson C87 Stylus inkjet printer. The mods in the above page describe a C84 printer, which is no longer available new, I just hoped that the C87 was similiar enough to do the same thing.

Anybody following my second router build will know that I have the next three months to build the electronics for it, I won't go into too much detail here, but enough to say that I need to make quality PCB's for my microcontroller experiments and other CNC stuff...after a lot of research, I decided to take the path of modding a printer to fit a blank PCB with a base carrier directly through, involving raising the print head mechanism and associated equipment. The result is being able to print directly onto the board, the ink forming a "resist" layer that will not let the copper dissolve when etching, leaving the required artwork.

AnyHoo, here is the obligatory "before" shot of the printer:

Russell.

[epineh]

Here I have started to remove the covers, as you may have noticed, the paper feed is from the top... not very good for PCB's, they don't tend to bend around the paper guides very well, I can feel some "modification" is needed here

[epineh]

I wonder if I can sell these bits on ebay...lol

[Switcher]

I wonder if I can sell these bits on ebay...lol

Actually you might be surprised, I think they would sell.

My wife dropped a tv on one of my all-in-one printers (not the same printer you have) broke the glass & some plastic.

Try ebay, you never know!
.

[epineh]

Now the procedure is this... the blanks are 1.6mm thick, I have allowed for a 1mm base "carrier" piece, either card or sheetmetal, to use for aligning and transport. This means that the print head assembly needs to be raised by 2.6mm to allow all of this to pass through, simple... maybe not THAT simple...

Here is the first cut, as you can see it is as simple as cutting along the dotted line, lol. I used some insulation tape and plastic pieces to catch the cuttings.

It is a really weird feeling to buy a new printer, then proceed to cut it in half with a hacksaw blade...for me at least.

Thats funny Switcher, I am now kinda thinking of trying to put some of the covers back on, and maybe engrave something on it with my router... like "Genetically Modified" or something like that... hehe

Russell.

[epineh]

It might be a little hard to spot, but the last bit needing cutting is a little tab.

[epineh]

Now I need to "adjust" the height and fix into place, I used some bits and pieces I had lying around, the tin plate is from a washing machine bracket.

Also the head cleaning station had to be lifted to work, not my prettiest work, but once those covers are back on...

[epineh]

Next is the optic sensor for the paper feed, I located it to the opposite side to allow a bit of extra cable, instead of using the little lever setup, it will detect the carrier directly, which will have a little corner cutout to allow easier setup and alignment (I hope).

Its late here now... gotta sleep, need to let the silicone set on the sensor anyway. I installed the print drivers and ink cartridges, it all works fine, doesn't seem to know it has been tampered with...lol

Russell.

[Bent]

Very interesting.
Keep the pics coming.

Bent

[mlaws1172]

Great stuff! Maybe you need to modify and sell some.
mike

[paulC]

Russel
What do you use for ink? Is there something waterproof that you can load into a cartridge or are there waterproof ink cartridges available?

I take it you know about the laser transfer method.
http://www.fullnet.com/~tomg/gooteepc.htm
Paul

[greybeard]

Morning Russell.

Great work. I shall be watching to see where you paint the go-faster stripes :cheers:

John

[damae]

Wow, very cool!

Imagine if one of the printer manufacturers decided to sell a purpose-built inkjet to the PCB etching market... I wonder how big that market is anyway...

Keep up the detailed writeup -- it's easy to follow and inspiring!

[epineh]

Thanks for the comments guys!!!

Mike, dunno bout selling these things, it has been a lot of work, not particularly difficult, just very time consuming, warranty could be an issue...lol

Paul, the ink is called MIS PRO, I think it is simply a better quality ink, for photo printing, normal ink is said to work but not quite as well. The magneta is said to be the better resist... I will just have to try a few test runs. Direct printing is also said to give better (finer) tracks than toner transfer methods, it also cuts down on time and means less work when making PCB's (I am a lazy sod after all!!!)

I have decided to use surface mount components so I need good quality boards.

John, the go faster stripes might short out some of the tracks but I'll put some in for you

Damae, I thought the same thing, it would not be very difficult to make a printer that has an adjustable height, this is all that is needed, ink can be changed by the user, and I'm sure there would be a market for printers to print on thick card, fabric etc (and PCB's of course!!! heh)

Well enough talk, I'm off to make some rails to load the blanks and do some testing, I might have some pics of the finished product soon!!!

Russell.

[epineh]

The first test run didn't go so well, the printer kept spitting out the card, I re-read the original page I linked at the start of the thread and discovered that I hadn't left enough of a header for the printer, it expects a longer delay from the start of paper feeding to a paper signal, all I had to do was increase the size of the cutout and VOILA!!!!

I know I printed a bit more than I should have for an actual board, but you get the idea... not bad for the first run. The photo is a little blurry, but the print is pretty sweet.

The beer bottle you can see is not there by accident, it was EXACTLY the right height for the card to sit on to feed into the printer... don't worry, no beer was wasted in the testing phase of this excercise!!!

Now I have to refine this a little (the beer bottle has to go) I am going to utilize some HDPE I have left over from my E-chain experiments to make a bed and rail guide system, it needs to be setup exactly every time as you can imagine double sided boards kinda need to be a little accurate, the beer bottle just won't give me the required resolution (chair)

Russell.

[greybeard]

Brilliant.
Russell, you're a star and an inspiration.
Mind you, I was expecting the stripes on the side of the machine, not on the pcb. (chair)

Respect
John

[epineh]

Cheers John, I might have a bit of trouble putting the stripes on the machine, there isn't much left that isn't a moving part...lol

It is good fun watching the print head moving back and forth, there is some serious speed there, if the printer ever dies (from mis-adventure?) there is a nice linear encoder, pickup and DC motor that I'm sure will find its way into another project...

Looking at the printer, if you were a little adventurous, you could almost rip out all of the mechanicals and build you own base frame to suit you needs, once it is stripped down, there isn't much left, possibly why this printer was chosen for this purpose in the first place (by others).

Imagine printing your own logo's, text etc. directly onto an electronics enclosure for instance, or pendant control.

Russell.

[greybeard]

Hey Russell, your heading in the direction of Vacpress(I think it was) with a self propelled printer. I can see it now, wandering round the workshop, printing blank verse over your shoes and off down the path, leaving trails of sonnets as it goes......

John

[chich2]

Good one Russ! The quality of the print is perfect. You should produce some real fine PCB's with that baby!!!!!

Chich

[Rhodan]

"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those that don't."

Lol! I bet there aren't more than 10100 people that really understand that here