You can get plastic pre-coated with conductive materials, like Indium Tim Oxide (ITO) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium_tin_oxide
Cheers, -Brandon Brandon Mathis KD7INF [email protected] On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 4:05 PM, Nathan McCorkle <[email protected]> wrote: > A friend got me thinking about how to draw traces on clear plastic > (acrylic), or for that matter maybe glass. > > I was thinking something like applying photoresist, applying a > mask/stencil that would leave the circuit traces uncoated in cured resist. > Then somehow functionalize the plastic and then electroplate it, finally > removing the photoresist layer mask. > > I bet carbon sputtering would work to activate, but I bet it would > peel/rub off pretty easily, leading to flaky traces that would rip at the > slightest mishap. > > I don't want to consider conductive paint unless it's cheap, in case my > friend wants to make lots of these boards. I guess I don't actually know > how far a bottle or pen of the conductive ink/paint costs. Also it should > be repairable, and I have a feeling that the 'paint' in conductive paint > wouldn't allow soldering. > > If someone points out some cheap-ish conductive goop, and says trying > other methods will take too long, be too toxic or involved, etc... I wonder > if my friend could consider ripping components and painted traces during > repair, then simply re-paint when installing a new part. I think in that > case, he might etch the traces from the plastic using the resist-mask, so > there'd be a channel to fill goop into. > > Quickly googling acrylic electroplating turns up this, which seems like > they're just functionalizing with a basic solution with metal ions (i.e. > KOH or NaOH, K2CO3, Na2CO3) which are readily available. > http://www.google.com/patents/US5268088 > > I don't see anyone on youtube though talking about electroplating plastic > DIY. > > -- > -Nathan > > _______________________________________________ > dorkbotpdx-blabber mailing list > [email protected] > http://music.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/dorkbotpdx-blabber >
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