Robert Shanks wrote:
>
> >*>How about using an inkjet to print on UV sensitised laminate, and then
> >*>expose it using the inkjet print as a mask. This will get you around the
> >*>water based ink problem if it works.
> >
> >This should be tried. Good idea.
> I've used a Sharpie pen mounted in a SweetPea plotter to make boards before.
> 1-  I wonder if you could drive a print head with a Sharpie attached to it?
> (print head movement Y axis - board movement X axis)
> 2 -  What I really wonder is, could you expose an UV sensitised laminate
> with a laser pen attached to a print head...  ?

It's actually easier to move around a piece of fibre. You put the
laser at one end, and the flat fiber on the plotter in place of a
pen tip. Works a charm (according to some long lost web site I read).
(and and LED works just fine too).

If you want a really fine spot you can use a disposable camera lens
to focus the beam to an even finer point.
Be aware that laser diodes do not emit a round beam.
It is oval shaped and requires special optics to
get a fine gaussian beam. On the other hand you could just blast
it through a pin hole to get something appropriate to the scale
a DIY board would handle.

When using light for writing, you MUST modulate the beam intensity
with the plotter velocity information to get a uniform exposure width.
(Been there, done that with Tektronix 4662 flat bed plotter)

R

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