Making a circuit board with the laser cutter

[Brian Wagner]

From the Adafruit blog.  Completely doable at LVL1.  Who will try it first?

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2013/05/07/making-2-layer-circuit-boards-with-a-laser-cutter

[Brad Luyster]

Paul's already tried it.

It works, but the black spray paint atomizes when hit with the laser, and tends to redeposit on other parts of the board, leaving a crummy mask.  Toner transfer will result in higher-fidelity traces.

On Tue, May 7, 2013 at 9:03 AM, Brian Wagner <br...@tegrasys.com> wrote:

From the Adafruit blog.  Completely doable at LVL1.  Who will try it first?

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2013/05/07/making-2-layer-circuit-boards-with-a-laser-cutter

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[Christopher Cprek]

I've wondered if it's possible to reverse the laser scan. I think the redeposition of the paint happens because the laser scans away from the fan intake, blowing the atomized paint back over the previously lasered area. If etched in reverse (towards the fan intake), it would laser any redepositions too. 

[Jeff Johnson]

Or if repeated low power passes would clean off the deposits, assuming that the amount atomized would be less each time.

[Brad Luyster]

Ah yes, Zeno's laser etched PCB.

[Joseph]

Anyone tried the vinyl cutter yet?

[Greg Miller]

You might also try different types of paint. A lot of the spray
paint out of a can is mostly dry before it reaches the target which
results in a very weak bond. Something you brush on would probably work
better, and actually let it cure, not just dry before using it. I would
also imagine certain types of paint and pigments would burn cleaner than
others. Black pigment is often made of ash or charcoal and probably
isn't the best thing to try to re-burn.