Draw a board

[row-she]

Hi there,

I'm just wondering if anybody else is wracking their brains about if there is a possibility
to just draw on... well basically anything ... with some "magical" special kind of conductive color and then later
on when it's cured apply some solder to it so that the solder runs along the color automatically.

it would be such an easy way to create beautiful circuit boards...

Just wondering...

Thanks & Cheers

[R.G.]

There are a fair number of conductive paints and epoxies. They consist of a binder, paint or epoxy or other sort, filled with finely ground metal whiskers, flakes, or powder. Various colors and so on.

None of them will stand soldering that I know of. And I've looked, over several decades.

The first printed circuit boards really were printed, with conductive goo like I described above. It lost out to the copper sheet and etching process as it was more expensive and limited.

If beauty was a consideration, it might make sense to first make a copper PCB, then paint nonconductive colors on top of the copper.

There is some possibility that you could draw with a high-temp epoxy, then dust the board with powdered copper or other solderable metal. It is possible that you might be able to do this in a way to get the copper dust to stick to the still-sticky epoxy. Once the epoxy set, you could use a liquid flux and perhaps solder paste or some such and reflow it quickly before the epoxy was damaged by the heat.

Never a horse that couldn't be rode, never a rider that couldn't be thowed.

[garcho]

pencil on paper 

[row-she]

Thanks for the information, R.G.,

I know of the conductive paint but also know that it's not heat resistent.
Well I already guessed - if it was possible and easy it already would have been done.

The idea with the heat resistent epoxy and the copper powder sounds interessting though.
Maybe I'll give it a try someday!

(what the heck... maybe I'll even try the pencil  )

Cheers,

Andy

[J0K3RX]

There are some conductive pens that claim they can be soldered to at low temp but they are not mutli colored..

You could draw a circuit with these but again, they are not very colorful... May be handy if you want to make some really small intricate stuff with smd.
http://www.roadrunnerelectronics.com/Wiring-Pencils