Dave should invite startups to his lab. Tearing into a gadget while the original designer comments on the design desicions, compromises, prototypes, manufacturing headaches etc. How cool would that be?
Yeah, but how many hardware startups are in Sydney?
I have never before heard a SOIC pronounced "SOWIC".
I've found that the most common. I usually spell it out myself, S-O-I-C, but have been known to use "SOWICK" on occasion.
The printer is a taste of things to come. If the resolution improves and there are methods to do multilayer, the future will be bright for prototyping. Or maybe one day full in-house volume manufacturing of PCBs will be standard. Silver nitrate is expensive though. Good innovation with the HP cartridges!
One issue using off-the-shelf parts is product life. That is why industrial machines do not use cheapo webcams or consumer cameras for vision. They use lower spec but more costly industrial cameras, like that from Imaging Source or Sony because supply of the same model is close to guaranteed to the next 7 or so years at least. Consumer grade camera have a shelf life of about 6 - 12 months. Similar story for PC motherboards compared to industrial embedded motherboards.
At first I thought: "Has Dave been to Hanover (Germany) in March this year and made a late upload of his visit?" But then he was in front of an unknown building and told about Sidney and so on. Up to this point I thought, that the CeBIT is only present in Hanover, because it's one of the worlds biggest IT fairs so far. It's interesting to know, that such events are also present on other continents.
Funny, that's exactly what I thought as well 
Crude germans. Read the topic and thought the same. But then it was like "Uhm, Hannover looks different"
However, the prototype printer is very impressive. Like the idea to reuse the existing cartridges. Some smart guys.
Dave should invite startups to his lab. Tearing into a gadget while the original designer comments on the design desicions, compromises, prototypes, manufacturing headaches etc. How cool would that be?
Yeah, but how many hardware startups are in Sydney?
We would make the trip down
But then it was like "Uhm, Hannover looks different" [...] However, the prototype printer is very impressive.
Yes, infact. What area did this CeBIT cover in Sydney? Only one hall or more like in Hanover?
I hope, that the printer will also be affordable for some hobbyists. I think some don't like the handling of chemicals when they etch their own boards at home. Isolation milling is a cleaner way, but pricy if you want high precision devices.
Dave should invite startups to his lab. Tearing into a gadget while the original designer comments on the design desicions, compromises, prototypes, manufacturing headaches etc. How cool would that be?
Yeah, but how many hardware startups are in Sydney?
Well even just two would fit the definition of 'start-ups'
The printer is a taste of things to come. If the resolution improves and there are methods to do multilayer
holy crap, I just realized you can print couple layers separately and glue them together later - cheapest multilayer prototype pcb ever
or print one layer, glue new material on top with via holes premade, print on that filling via holes with extra ink to make layer to layer connection, glue new material on top with via holes premade, print on that filling via holes with extra ink to make layer to layer connection, glue new material on top with via holes premade, print on that filling via holes with extra i ... and so on
this thing has so much potential
The printer is a taste of things to come. If the resolution improves and there are methods to do multilayer
holy crap, I just realized you can print couple layers separately and glue them together later - cheapest multilayer prototype pcb ever
or print one layer, glue new material on top with via holes premade, print on that filling via holes with extra ink to make layer to layer connection, glue new material on top with via holes premade, print on that filling via holes with extra ink to make layer to layer connection, glue new material on top with via holes premade, print on that filling via holes with extra i ... and so on
this thing has so much potential
If they have resistive ink like they said you can just make a bridge of resistive ink and print a new layer on that.
Couldn't they just print normal plastic laser toner on top of the silver as soldermask?
holy crap, I just realized you can print couple layers separately and glue them together later - cheapest multilayer prototype pcb ever
or print one layer, glue new material on top with via holes premade, print on that filling via holes with extra ink to make layer to layer connection, glue new material on top with via holes premade, print on that filling via holes with extra ink to make layer to layer connection, glue new material on top with via holes premade, print on that filling via holes with extra i ... and so on
this thing has so much potential
Ho-hum... not sure just filling the holes would provide a secure connection to the different layers... Still if this is true I'm in line for a printer. Would be pretty neat for double sided stuff
Maybe Ariel could comment on this??
Hi !
Regarding to the "3D" PCB printer I left a comment on the Cartesian Co Facebook timeline.
I wrote something like "What about a 3rd cartridge with insulation ink..."
Their response was "We are working on that right now".
Well, the insulation ink is kinda an obvious thing.
But much bigger is the revolution that could come out of it:
Printed PCB with 2 and more layers and even a soldermask on top of them.
I am really looking forward to this technology getting developped further.
As soon as a printer comes to market that can print multilayer boards with the resolution for common SMD parts I am definetly in !
Cheers
Chipguy