Resistive materials are widely found in Printed Circuit Boards and electronics today. The most common is the film resistor, but also sensors, heaters, strain gauges and potentiometers.
Decide to create an application around resistive materis, we asked our materials guys to formulate a resistive ink we could use with our SV2 printer.
- Want to print embedded components? This ink is compatible with our existing conductive ink and insulating ink.
- Want to print a resistor with a specific value? Certainly possible - you can create any sized resistor above the sheet resistance we have specified (5.5 kohm/square)
- Do you want to create a flexible PCB that doesn't have parts flying off when it is bent? Print a resistor that flexes without a hitch.
- Want to print a strain gauge or a heater? Absolutely possible - just upload your pattern that you made in KiCAD or EAGLE as a conductive layer.
- Want to better protect your sliding contacts from damage? Use the power of carbon and inkjet printing to reduce the mechanical damage.
Maybe there's a use here we missed - well, let us know.
A lot of work went into making the formulation work. The carbon on the ink tends to cover the thermal element in the cartrige, creating issues during printing.
One that was sorted out we managed to get our first print.
We can print, so now it's time to create some application. While we got tons of ideas, we decided to go for something that would put a smile in or face... flexible LED array ? Anyone?
Here's what we ended up with. This was tons of fun for 12 hours of playing in the lab.
