3d Printed Boards

[trad3mark]

After a few years of focusing my work as a graduate architect, I'm now getting back into building pedals as a bit of a hobby. Over the last few weeks, I've just been building simple projects to get me back into the swing of things, and so far so good. That being said, I have an idea that I've been toying with for a little while, and I'm in a position to begin some very interesting prototyping this January.

When I was doing my finals, I invested in a 3d printer, with a print volume of roughly 300x300x300mm. Since it's original purchase and construction, it's been under the knife a lot lately. It's been upgraded with better electronics, better motors, a beefier power supply, and it's getting a new heater and dual extruders early next year. This now presents an opportunity to apply my 3d printer to other hobbies of mine (I already use it for work, prototyping, and some 3d printed jewelry). In this instance, it's pedals. I'm looking at having the board potentially solderless, and printing the board could be done very quickly and cheaply. A big muff type board would print in about 15 mins, and cost about €0.02. My printer is an FDM type machine, meaning printing in metal, or any sort of milling option is financially not viable. There are 2 options for electrical conductance here. The first, which has been tested with good results, is to print the board with channels, and fill them with electroconductive paint. The paint is not that expensive, and goes a long way, so that is a pretty good option I think. The second option is to use an electroconductive print filament. Now I personally haven't tested it, and it's been getting mixed feedback, but this could be an option in the future. That being said, i can't solder to it, so i'm still back to the paint.

So the equipment, and knowledge thereof is there. But I'm still getting in as much info and research before I go to prototype this in january. On that note, I'm trying to see if anyone has any ideas, opinions, or suggestions which I may have missed. This site has always been a great resource of ideas and help, so any observations at this stage is greatly appreciated.

[samhay]

Can you solder to the electroconductive paint and/or print filament?

[trad3mark]

No, cos its plastic. They have been tried and tested with other circuits, ranging from simple ones, to arduino controllers and printer power relays. The way of making connections is the only major concern I have. A layer of electroconductive paint is put into the trace, then the part is glued in place, followed by another layer of electroconductive paint. Not the prettiest of solutions, but it seems to work. If it does, than it could potentially be a good way to improve consistency, which is an element of my own personal builds which I've always had difficulties with.