> So the only two things I'm unsure about how to do right now:
>
>  - How to get/make and work with ITO (mask glass with photoresist,
> expose to template, develop, coat with ITO, remove resist without
> removing ITO - or can you silkscreen/print/draw with ITO?)
>  - How to get/make liquid crystal material
>
> Any ideas, pointers, or tips?  Custom LCDs are cheap in large
> quantities, but not for short run and proof of concept projects.

You can get ITO coated microscope slides fairly cheaply and in quantity
from various lab/medical supply houses. They're used to heat the slides
when studying little critters that don't like the cold, or to watch
heat-activated chemical reactions.

I had an idea a while ago that I could use ITO-coated microscope slides as
circuit boards, by selectively coating parts with copper, and even leaving
sections of bare ITO to act as resistors.

Just engrave away the ITO you don't need. (same as the home-made circuit
boards some people are making)

Now that my CNC Mill is up and running, I should possibly re-investigate
this, although I'll need a high-speed spindle and engraving style cutters
to do this properly. Or maybe it's time to build that cutting laser head
from old CD/DVD burners. :-) I wonder if ITO is opaque to infrared?

Now that I think about it, you could probably etch away the ITO you don't
need using simple acids. You'd have to check on the chemistry. The glass
would be completely resistant.

For a really cheap way of masking areas with resist, do you know about the
trick of 'iron-on transfer' of toner from a laser-printed pattern? Just
print out the pattern, press the printed side against the surface to be
coated, and iron the back of the page. There's an art to it, but I've read
a few people doing this to make normal copper PCB's.

Indeed, with self-heating slides, this might be easier. (since the main
trick is that the toner still be evenly molten when you peel away the
transfer)

As for making liquid crystal... haven't checked into it for a while, but
there was supposed to be a version made from soap and isopropyl alcohol.
Probably has a very poor polarization coefficient, but remember that most
liquid crystal solutions are often quite nasty and poisonous organic
chemicals, and not the kind of stuff you want to be handling without
serious lab safety. Any organic chemists on list?

-- 
Jeremy Lee BCompSci (Hons)
 The Unorthodox Engineers
  www.unorthodox.com.au

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