A 3D printer that does printed circuit boards

There are a lot of 3D printers on the market but not many are like the Voxel8 we cover in this short video. 3D electronic devices get made via co-printing of thermoplastics and a highly conductive silver ink. The silver ink can be printed and cured at room temperature and is 5000x more conductive than conductive pastes and filaments currently used in additive manufacturing, says electrical engineering lead Kyle Dumont. The flow writing materials is controlled by an on-board pneumatic system. The 250 micron nozzle is translated to precise 3D locations within the build volume. The build plate is auto-leveled by measuring the Z distance at multiple locations.

[kennethhudson]

Can you imagine having your own semiconductor business from home?

[AgentMI]

It’s cool that it’s possible to 3d print whole mini drone with the already integrated circuitry without the need of making a separate pcb and additional parts. You can almost have the whole thing as a solid object but it would be impossible to fix the circuits if the go bad.

[SirLoinOfHamalot]

If this could be implemented to a SLA or SLS printer, than that would be amazing. Also have a CNC add on to be sure the printer can do anything it has to for that guaranteed working PCB

[AlexRodriguez-dlcb]

when you embed a pcb how do you keep the wires out of the way of the nozzle while printing like in minute 1:16?

[WillieStubbs]

I would be a little concerned about the spike extruding up from the traces.  If the next layer of plastic knocked that spike over onto another trace then the circuit would short out.  You'd probably want to pause it there and knock off any spikes before continuing the print.  All in all excellent technology and great ability to add layers.  Once the technology allows printing actual components then the sky will be the limit.  It would be wild to download a spectrum analyzer file and print a $60, 000 spectrum analyzer for $100 of materials.

[TriPham-jb]

If improve inkjet print head to handle gold ink then we can print finest microchip or PBC no problem

[cu]

Really interesting, it would be a nice idea to be able to"print" the traces onto a board, position the components and then throw it in the oven to bake everything in place.

[andyspoo]

If that component gets hot, it'll melt through the PLA, so not that good. Technically, it doesn't print circuit boars, it just melts solder. Not exactly the same thing.

[fss]

a tip, print the solder over a wet paper pulp, that would work.

[EQUID]

Corporations would love to see this advance to its highest level to create all their products 100% sealed and finally get rid of right to repair lol.

[williamhart]

nice stuff print a case for a sbc with controls and touch and display connectors in the case as one until cool

[kohr]

This is why you hire someone to present your product .. 🙄 um um

[_who_cares_]

Now i know why its called _printed_ cirquit board.