Ben Krasnow has some relevant videos:
Sputtering ITO <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OEz_e9C4KM>.
Etching Custom LCD <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OEz_e9C4KM>.
Of course he has a pretty beefy vacuum chamber.
Also, full disclosure, I think I have a slight man-crush. :)
-c
Jerry Biehler wrote:
Electroplating to carbon will never stick. Best bet is sputtering
glass with copper and then etching as a normal pcb.
-Jerry
On Wednesday, October 15, 2014, Nathan McCorkle <[email protected]
<mailto:[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
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