There are machines that do directly router a board. They don't remove
all the copper, they just cut it free from the surrounding material.
What you end up with is a board that from a distance looks like unetched
but up close you can see the fine lines of missing copper that makes
trace 'islands'.

These machines are great for prototyping and one offs, and could probably
be built by a home user from a solid flat bed plotter and a Dremel (r)
cableflex tool. The routing software would be a pain though...

Robert

Josh Koffman wrote:
>
> I was thinking of this too. I definetly think there would be some sort
> of heat tolerant issues. I also wonder about the avilability of suitably
> substrate. Etching all the copper off a blank PCB just to end up with a
> copper free board to print on seems like a waste :)
>
> Josh
> --
> A common mistake that people make when trying to design something
> completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
> fools.
>         -Douglas Adams
>
> SM Ling wrote:
> > Would it be possible to use conductive ink on a thin sheet of insulator?
> >
> > I only did a 5 minute search, there might be such an "ink", but then there
> > are adhersion and heat-tolerant issues.  Would have to dig deeper when time
> > allows.

--
http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us!
email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body