
Make plastic printed circuits with a standard laser cutter [video] - nadavami
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z228xymQYho
======
Hasz
What's even more interesting is that this is pretty accessible. Given fairly
common equipment, at least in a hackerspace, you can make ~8 mil traces on
plastic or FR4. Not only that, but you can make them in 3D and with plated
vias.

This dude has some absolutely jaw dropping (sputtering, scanning electron
microscope, waterjet etc) videos on his channel; it's definitely worth
checking out the rest of his back catalogue.

~~~
6nf
Google tells me 'mil' is some kind of abbreviation for 'thou' or thousands of
an inch which means 8 mil = 0.2mm

~~~
gh02t
It's an abbreviation for "mille", same root as the "milli" in millimeter.
Common in electronics for describing trace widths and pitches, even outside of
the US simply because there are lots of parts laid out in whole numbers of
mils.

8 mil traces on a DIY circuit board is pretty good, it's good enough to be
able to do some quite fine surface mount parts.

~~~
grzm
Also common for measuring thickness for films and foils:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousandth_of_an_inch#Contexts...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousandth_of_an_inch#Contexts_of_use)

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mdaniel
I'm jealous of people who have such an elaborate workspace with so many toys
and access to reagents. Still, it's super interesting to see all the
engineering challenges that go into taking something from "works" into "work
reliably"

~~~
bacon_waffle
I agree, the tools available now for tinkering are mind boggling! Of course,
the other component is the time to spend on learning to use the tools, and for
designing stuff to make with them...

With regards to chemistry - a staggering array of chemical supplies can be
purchased from the hardware store, druggist, or supermarket; the trick is
knowing what common name to look for, to get a particular chemical. Searching
online for permutations of what you're looking for, and "household", "MSDS",
or "common name" can yield some good results.

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ethbro
_> [16:45] And when I was getting up to about, you know... test number 66 or
whatever here, it all started to fall into place..._

Quotes that let you know you're doing _real_ home science.

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xt00
One of the advantages of the way FR4 PCBs for example are made is the
following: 1) you can deposit a thin layer using an electroless process 2)
then now that you have a continuous conducting surface you can electoplate to
make a thick layer of copper that is quite strong and durable

Anyway, it would seem like with all this work he could have used the laser to
define a photomask on copper clad board with some photosensitive material
there, then just watch in the iron chloride solution as people have been doing
for ages?

2 layer PCBs are really cheap these days and you don’t end up with vats of
chemicals left over..

Anyway cool stuff, I’ve tried to do similar stuff and has always just found
that paying $50 for a few PCBs is actually much more economical than this type
of setup.

~~~
StavrosK
> 2 layer PCBs are really cheap these days and you don’t end up with vats of
> chemicals left over..

The problem I have is that I have to wait weeks and get a hundred PCBs when I
only want one.

~~~
minxomat
Well, no. Services like JLPCB or AllPCB have a 1.5 day manufacturing time and
both feature express shipping via DHL (APCB for free even). There are tons of
services like these. Even 4 layer lead-free boards don't break the bank. MOQ
is 1-5 on all of these services.

 _Even_ here in Germany, where local PCB manufacturing is usually very
expensive compared to the options above, services like PCBJoker exist, which
are only about 20 to 30 % more expensive.

~~~
StavrosK
DHL shopping is always more than 20 euros for me. I wouldn't call 35 euros for
a PCB cheap.

~~~
minxomat
To which country? AllPCB doesn't charge anything for DHL to the US and Germany
e.g. MOQ is 5pcs.

~~~
jlewallen
I had a good experience with AllPCB recently. They even reached out for
clarification on an extraneous drl file I had included in the gerbers zip
accidentally.

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bayesian_horse
Ingenious method!

