Making PCB with 3D printer and permanent marker 

I have an hp7475a plotter that I used for this exact purpose like 5 years ago.

You just make the trace widths 50% (iirc) wider, then you have the same resistance values as a copper trace of equal layer thickness. Or even easier: keep your original PCB layout and just increase the aluminium layer height by 50%. It's not a problem. The problem is joining things (ie: components), as far as i can see soldering aluminium is a big pain in the arse. Copper is a relatively scarce resource, i've become a bit worried about the possibility of the planet reaching peak-copper. IIRC there's only enough copper on the planet for every person to have a couple of kilograms each, it's going to be a problem, it will become especially noticable when we try to electrify the entire world's car fleet (which will happen / is happening already). Best to get ahead of that curve and avoid the problems. Aluminium electrical wire is already in heavy use for civil electrical distribution, because (even tho they use 50% more material than copper) it's more lighter weight than copper and is a lot cheaper. Also i'd say that drain cleaner is a lot safer for the environment than ferric chloride, not to mention cheaper and easier to source. There's advantages and disadvantages, but in the long term we may not have a choice. So... best start getting some techniques hashed out now.

+Lord Pyrex seriously I always feel overwhelmed at the amount of things to make

Tell me about it

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Lord Pyrex Exactly

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Just found it in 2022, what have you made with your 3D Printer?

+iceberg789 I thought the same !! using the fine tip to remove excess permanent ink is brilliant !

That's what Ben Heck did. Spray paint is definitely the way to go if you're dead set on wasting your time like this.

Sorry, I just got a Ender 3 pro myself, and am hoping to use it for PCBs, why is it that this is better than a laser? I was under the impression that laser is the way to go?

@@contrabass8126 Laser is better, this is cheaper

@@contrabass8126 Laser is better. Higher DPI. 1200dots/inch gives you really god resolution and optically exposing will give you the best transfer.

you can use photosensitive PCB material and use a Laser on that one ;) but I am sure u've found videos on that topic until now :p

interesting idea, i might have to try that.

far quicker..too, this isnt 3d printing its just computerized etching

I don't think it's possible, mainly because you need very high precision, 100% coverage of the area which is not etched, and the printed layer must be very thin. PCBs can be quite complicated, and I think it would need a lot of manual touch-up work afterwards. It would also be far more expensive... comparatively. As for the speed, well... that depends on your settings and controller.

What do you mean manual touch-ups? Does a 3d-printer extrude inconsistantly? Regarding thickness - how thin is the average 3d print head nozzle? It seems smaller than pcb traces.

Most are 0.4mm these days as standard, but I suspect also that such thin lines may struggle to stick to the copper surface properly, without some kind of adhesive, although large solid etched patches might stick okay due to the increased surface area. This is still a common issue on every 3d printer I know of, and you'll see on many forums that people go to great lengths looking for something to help their parts stick - for example, Frog tape, Pritt stick, PVA and water mixture in a spray bottle. Non-gloss ceramic works wonders due to its porous surface, such as the back of a bathroom tile. But yes it can be quite inconsistent such as going around sharp corners or just a single track peeling off where someone's fingerprint grease was left on a corner! Sufficient cleaning with isopropyl could prove me wrong, however, which I'd like very much. A better solution may be to just clamp a finer marker pen to the CNC head and invert the print somehow.

The spring-y CNC end mills like that are called drag engravers. You'll probably want a diamond-tipped one.

Agree - would much more sense Also, not sure what the commands are in gcode, but I'd go looking for the Z axis instructions for the pen up/down. In HPGL is PU & PD - if you remove those from between the contour lines that are associated you'll be amazed how much run time it saves. There's signage software out there which allows you to create a concentric router path which instead of being a series of concentric shapes is actually one continuous path along concentric shapes, I used to use software called Casmate Pro for doing logos for diamond drag engraving (which is effectively what you're doing) which produced much faster run times. ;-)

It's all in the tutorial via the link in the decription.

+Gabriel Rd smaller trace. I think the the tip of the pen is quite large for delicate trace of SMDs and QFP etc.

Lâm Đặng OK, thanks. I might try out your method to see how it goes.

how big is your pen point?

Yes, I have a similar PCB and it's fiberglass that has been plated with a thin layer of copper on one or both sides depending on the board you buy. Obviously for simple circuits the single side board is cheaper.

There's only one copper plate on this pcb. The engraving is just scratching away the marker and then the chemical etches away the exposed copper. Problem is this sort of chemical is extremely hazardous, and it's easier to do this with a 2D printer anyway, so kind of a waste of time. If you want to use a 3D printer to make a PCB just have it remove the copper directly.

Søren Reinke For smaller projects? www.dx.com/p/neje-fancy-dk-8-laser-box-laser-engraving-machine-laser-printer-for-diy-cellphone-case-384215#.VZKU4vlViko

Daniel Matthews That was my thinking too.

+Søren Reinke doesn't have to be just a 3d printer it can be a x,y, plotter as well

+Nicholas Finch in the mean time I have actually gotten a 3D printer 😊 but I'm planning on building an xy plotter just for fun. What software did you use?

+Søren Reinke you can try this one professormarlonnardi.blogspot.com.br/p/cnc-caseira.html in brazilian portugues (sorry!)