You can now print your own circuit boards. Check out this cool Voltera, a circuit board rapid prototyping platform:
Circuit Board Printer
Print dual layer PCBs on FR4 with 10mil space/trace. Our 20mΩ/sq sheet resistance and conventional soldering makes prototyping a breezeSolder Paste Dispenser
Forget stencils. Pop your board in and dispense solder paste onto printed OR traditionally fabbed boardsReflow Capabilities
With a 550W heater watch your components reflow and skip the hassle of hand soldering altogether.
Via Make (video).
Check out the video after the break.
$1500! Wow.
Don’t bother with there site if you have limited bandwidth/data. It is just a lot of bandwidth wasters; Video and big pictures that tell you absolutely nothing! I didn’t watch the video above but it is probably a better bet, though still wasting bandwidth/data and time, to tell you what they could give you in a few simple bullet points.
Looks like a cool product but can it’s PCB’s compare with those from fab houses.
Does it drill holes? Plate them?
Solder masks?
Silk screening?
I am not in a rushed environment and can wait. unless it can match the quality and features of having a board made through seed studio or OSHPark, it isn’t worth the money and lack of features/quality for me just to get it sooner.
The paste applying and re-flow could still be very useful however.
-Nick
What kind of unit is “20mΩ/sq”?
Refers to resistive inks used in thick/thin film ceramics. Each ink comes in grades calibrated in ohms/square. So you print the resistor geometry to the closest ohm value slightly less than the target and laser trim it to nominal. Here, the ink in the conductor, so they want really low ohms/sq.
Square what?
Dear t, just google “ohms/square”!
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheet_resistance
You won’t see the unit in normal embedded design. It is more often seen in VLSI design.
@Nick: No drill and no plated hole. However it does print an isolating substance that you can use as a soldermask. They use that to stack conductive layers on top of each other. I guess you can use a different color to print a silk screen.
Let it drill!
Instead, I’m still sort of looking for a PCB mill/drill that works well and costs under $500 not including the laptop. I prefer not being chained to proprietary consumables. Any ideas?