Direct to PCB InkJet Resist Printing

Epson Photo R220 by Bora Dikmen

{this printer has a CD/DVD printing tray which can be used with very little modification to print a smaller PCB. Direct to PCB InkJet Resist Printing In CD/DVD printing trays}

I managed to modify Epson Photo R220 for direct PCB printing and used MISPRO yellow ink for it. I am drying the ink with my hot-air station at 400 C. It is quite clean and fast. Printing and drying is finished in 3 minutes.

I etched the PCB with Fe-Cl3.

But before printing, you should bath the PCB about 1-2 minutes in acid (H-Cl + H2-O2) to become purple-brown in color. This creates a soft surface and ink will be printed very smoothly as if it is printed onto a paper. Otherwise, ink is populated on some areas, waved in color and not evenly distributed on the PCB. This is the original contribution of mine I think :-)

Results are not as good as Volkan's results but satisfactory. There is no problem with 8 MIL traces. Problems occur if dust in air drops on the printed image while it is still wet. If printer is located in a clean box, I think every thing would be OK down to 6 or even down to 3 MIL traces.

R220 is very very easy printer to modify, since its printing head height is adjustable. I recommend it to you.

I used this one below pre-filled with MISPRO yellow. (Believed as the most etch resistant ink)

http://www.inksupply.com/spongless_carts.cfm MP-T0484-SLC $10.95

Even with MIS PRO ink, you should head clean your printer (printer does it for you) if 2 days passed. It clogs the printer head in 48 hours!

{ed: the covers come off easily, and the height of the print head can be manually adjusted to fit even standard PCB stock. Although the printer is not designed for pigment based inks, the MIS PRO yellow seems to work well enough to be useful. As mentioned, the heads will clog in about 48 hours and must be cleaned to start working again. Longer periods of disuse may cause clogging that is harder to clear. Try to seal the heads against thier resting pad when not in use. }

tristan.devans says: "Just ran an 8x10" piece of 1/32 through my modified r280 last night! 1/32 does work by just raising the set screws to their max positions. Thanks for the help!"

Comments:

• steve@sapo.pt " good work
  can you show mor detail about the process if this printer and some images plese"

Questions:

• der.runge@gmail.com asks: " Hi,
  cause of high shipping costs to foreign countries. has anyone tried to use durabrite ink instead of mispro yellow?
  
  "
• giacomobovio@tin.it asks: " May I have more information about how to modify R220 printer ?
  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and thanks for your help.
  Giacomo"
• kmale@dascor.com asks:

  OK...got the printer apart, but I keep coming up with the status monitor asking for the CD/DVD tray to be removed and the door closed....where's the interlock???? And how do you align the PCB's for second side printing, or a second pass for solder mask and silk screen layers????

See also:

• http://www.delorie.com/pcb/pbm2escp2.zip DJ Delori wrote a utility to control his Epson Inkjet printer when printing PCB films. This program reads PBM files (you'll need netpbm to convert to this from other formats) and produces a binary ESC/P2 file which can be sent directly to a high resolution color Epson printer (mine is an R280). It assumes 2880 DPI resolution, and includes these features:
  • option for mirror imaging (left/right).
  • option for reverse imaging (positive/negative).
  • option to select which ink(s) to use (yes, c+y+m+k is possible, if your film can handle that much ink).
  • options for fast draft and quality draft on plain paper.
  • options to position the print on the film.
  • always uses full coverage (100% drops) regardless of ink choices.
  • weave algorithm chosen for accuracy, not color quality.
  • includes compile-time options to adjust the registration between ink nozzles.

  The only limitation is that it needs at least a 1" margin on the top and bottom to allow for the weave algorithm to accurately cover those parts of the image.

• http://www.eserviceinfo.com/downloadsm/36821/Epson_R%20290.html Epson service manuals for this and related model printers.

Interested: