[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

[greybeard]

Morning Russell.

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

John

[roughrider]

just glue copper sheting to papper then run ittrough a lasser printer glue the print out tothe board then etch like normal do it all time saves troubleand wasted time withink jets ,laserdont run when the ink gets wet.
orbeen told iron on tranfer paper works to never tried that yet.
could aford 200dollars worth of copper shim materal but not 3 dollars worth
of iron on tranfer paper/

[erlyrisa]

hi .... I once designed a 'ink jet' cnc machine....

this one though was hopefully tobe used as a doule sided routing and cutting machine.

-to make it you will need 2 inkjet printers of the same model (to get double sided)

--note: that the y axis drive is left as is, and all that is done that the x axis drive which normally feeds paper is turned into a rack and pinion setup...

to make the rack, roll the gear back and forth onto the endgrain of mdf then emmers in epoxy on the result,, gaing a mdf epoxy composite rack.

[hotgrips]

There is a book from Amazon.com on printing your own PCBs. It is published by Tab Electronics called Build Your Own Printed Circuit Board by Al Williams that includes a CD-ROM and guides you with over 200 pages. Find it at the webpage: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...Go.x=10&Go.y=7

Also there is a book called Making Printed Circuit Boards By Jan Axelson (324 pages) that I bought at the local BORDERS bookstore.
Also a company in Burbank Calif. called Direct PCB Designs will print small runs of them. You do have to create the artwork or hire them to do it to your schematic. Dan Ikoyan there is very knowledgeable. They did some work for me in SMT, (surface mount technology), built the prototypes, and they looked very professional and worked perfectly.

On another topic, I have a question:


I have a CNC machine that has a common computer type 3.5" floppy drive. It doesn't have a USB port. Is there an adapter to allow me to use a different portable media like a digital camera's xD, SD, CompactFlash, etc. The problem of course with the 3.5" floppy is it only has storage of 1.44 mb in file size. The floppy drive has a hard-wired hookup (thru a connector). Can that connector be used with another type of input, like a CD drive, a digital camera media reader, etc? Can that connector be patched to a 2nd computer which has a USB port? (I have a few old computers kicking around with USB 1.1 ports)
Recently I attended the EASTEC machinery show in Massachusetts and spoke to the sales rep from the manufacturer of my CNC. I inquired about upgrading to a control that would have more file size capacity. He said that their newest control which would cost $12,000 to purchase and have them install, only has a 3.5" floppy input, but also has a USB port which: "They will activate for $700. extra cost". I pointed out that if it already has a USB port, why do they charge extra to allow me to use it. He smiled and said that is how the industry works, you have to pay extra for more capacity. I pointed out that you can buy an entire computer for $400. and anyone that buys a CNC machine knows that, so why do they insult the intelligence of everyone by charging $700. to turn on a USB port? He said: "Because we can, some buyers don't care, they just buy it if they need it, regardless of the cost"

I checked with other exhibitors and the story was the same everywhere. One company had a printed price sheet that listed a 1 GB Compact Flash portable media for $1000. I asked him why anyone would buy theirs for $1000. when they could buy the same thing at Wal-Mart stores for $25. He just laughed at my question. It would be nice to advertise in the CNC machinery magazines selling a relatively simple conversion kit that would inexpensively solve this universal (CNC machine shop) problem.

Is there a way to take the wires that feed the 3.5" floppy drive, and convert them to accepting input from a much larger media like a digital camera card reader.? I doubt there is a new media out there that will slide into the old 3.5" floppy drive that has much more than 1.44 mb of storage, at least I haven't heard of it.

[karl1]

You might have some sucess with this combo drive:
1.44MB 3.5" (Mitsumi) Combo Floppy/USB 2.0 7-In-1 Card Reader -> $35.
I found it at http://www.kc-computers.com/, but I'm sure a big box computer store would carry it. It should be a direct replacement for your floppy, plus gives you the card reading advantage. Good luck!

[John3]

RE: Flash Disk / Floppy conversion below,

You may want to look at the "Flash Path" products, these are 3.5" floppy format adapters that you slide modern compact flash memory cards into so they can be read in an old fashioned floppy drive. I used one of these to get digital photos off a memory card before I had a computer with a USB port.

-John

On another topic, I have a question:


I have a CNC machine that has a common computer type 3.5" floppy drive. It doesn't have a USB port. Is there an adapter to allow me to use a different portable media like a digital camera's xD, SD, CompactFlash, etc. The problem of course with the 3.5" floppy is it only has storage of 1.44 mb in file size. The floppy drive has a hard-wired hookup (thru a connector). Can that connector be used with another type of input, like a CD drive, a digital camera media reader, etc? Can that connector be patched to a 2nd computer which has a USB port? (I have a few old computers kicking around with USB 1.1 ports)
Recently I attended the EASTEC machinery show in Massachusetts and spoke to the sales rep from the manufacturer of my CNC. I inquired about upgrading to a control that would have more file size capacity. He said that their newest control which would cost $12,000 to purchase and have them install, only has a 3.5" floppy input, but also has a USB port which: "They will activate for $700. extra cost". I pointed out that if it already has a USB port, why do they charge extra to allow me to use it. He smiled and said that is how the industry works, you have to pay extra for more capacity. I pointed out that you can buy an entire computer for $400. and anyone that buys a CNC machine knows that, so why do they insult the intelligence of everyone by charging $700. to turn on a USB port? He said: "Because we can, some buyers don't care, they just buy it if they need it, regardless of the cost"

I checked with other exhibitors and the story was the same everywhere. One company had a printed price sheet that listed a 1 GB Compact Flash portable media for $1000. I asked him why anyone would buy theirs for $1000. when they could buy the same thing at Wal-Mart stores for $25. He just laughed at my question. It would be nice to advertise in the CNC machinery magazines selling a relatively simple conversion kit that would inexpensively solve this universal (CNC machine shop) problem.

Is there a way to take the wires that feed the 3.5" floppy drive, and convert them to accepting input from a much larger media like a digital camera card reader.? I doubt there is a new media out there that will slide into the old 3.5" floppy drive that has much more than 1.44 mb of storage, at least I haven't heard of it.

[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

[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.