• Getting PCBs made is often the key step in taking a dodgy lab experiment and turning it into a functional piece of equipment. • However, it can be tedious to wait for PCBs to ship, and that can really slow down the iterative development process. • If you’ve got a 3D printer, though, there’s a neat way to make your own custom PCBs.Enter PCB Forge from [castpixel]. • The concept involves producing a base and a companion mold on your 3D printer. • You then stick copper tape all over the base part, using the type that comes with conductive adhesive. • This allows the construction of a fully conductive copper surface across the whole base.
Article Summaries:
- New Tool Makes 3D Printed PCBs, Fast
Castpixel has released PCB Forge, a software tool that lets users design PCB traces in a vector editor, export an SVG, and generate a 3D‑printable model. The process uses a 3D‑printed base and companion mold; conductive copper tape is applied to the base, then the mold presses the tape into recessed traces. After removing the mold and sanding excess copper, the board is ready for soldering. The method eliminates chemical etching and routing, offering a quick, low‑cost prototyping option for simple circuits, though it is not suited for high‑speed, multi‑layer boards.
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