Vinyl Plotter Copper PCB?

[PolyPill]

I've seen mention of a thin copper sheet with adhesive on one side you can cut in a vinyl plotter and use as PCBs. I guess you can solder to it......

I have a friend with a plotter and it would be perfect for prototyping things quickly.

Has anyone heard of this? Does it work? Where can I order this stuff?

[AndyOne]

How does the adhesive stand up to the heat of soldering? I think this may be a big drawback as it is likely that the film will come loose when soldered to.

Andy.

[PolyPill]

I don't know, I just read about it, that's why I'm asking, it sounds too good to be true but you never know.

[snuff]

I too was looking into this. I have seen a site while surfing and found you can buy just the copper sheets and the plane clad boards. But i have since abandon this and was trying pulsars TTS (http://www.pulsar.gs/1_PCB/a_Pages/1_Menu/Overview.html) but it just doesnt work to good for me. i was also thinking about putting the copper clad right into the plotter and making an adapter to hold a sharpie and just draw the circuit onto the copper clad. maybe i will try Press-N-Peel (http://www.techniks.com/) next.

if your friend has good software and scanner he can scan the schematics and cut them out, then just weed, mask, stick it to the copper clad and etch. dont make the tracks too small though (its way too hard to weed), i would say no smaller than .024 - .016". this is how i use to make my pcb's and they looked great!

BTW: if he has a wide format thermal printer (for making signs) i see no reason why you cant just stick the copper clad into the printer and print the image onto the copper clad. i think i will fix printer and try that route.

[PolyPill]

After further investigation and contacting companies we got a free sample of some copper that we cut with a normal cutting blade, I had thought I might need a carbide blade but it worked really well without it.

One problem we ran into was the adhesive couldn't hold up the the heat of soldering, but we're ordering some high temp adhesive, like 1500F, I think that should hold well.

He doesn't have a thermal printer, just a lower end cutter, but he can draw out anything in vector form that I give him. Usually does race car graphics.

On a side note, if anyone wants to buy custom stickers I can put you in touch.

[ZAGNUT]

One problem we ran into was the adhesive couldn't hold up the the heat of soldering, but we're ordering some high temp adhesive, like 1500F, I think that should hold well.



how about the sticky copper foil used for tiffany style stained-glass? don't know how strong the adhesive is but it doesn't seem to mind some pretty heavy heat.


dave