Breadboards are nice, however because the world strikes increasingly more to having SMD as an ordinary, prototyping straight PCBs is changing into extra widespread. Should you’re mailing off to China in your PCBs, it’s shockingly fast for what it’s, however a one-week turnaround isn’t “fast prototyping”. [Stephen Hawes] has been on a quest on his YouTube channel for the best rapid-prototyping PCB answer, and he thinks he’s lastly acquired it.
Now, in the event you’re solely doing single-layer PCBs, it is a solved drawback. You’ll be able to mechanically mill, or laser minimize, or chemically etch your method to PCB perfection, far quicker than the Chinese language fabs can get you a component. If you’d like a double-sided board, nonetheless, vias are each a ache within the keister to do your self, and a rate-limiting step.
[Stephen Hawes] hit on the concept of shopping for a bulk set of PCBs from the standard distributors. The boards will likely be easy copper pours with vias in a grid with only a little bit of etching. PCB Distributors are good at that, in spite of everything, and it’s not going to value way more than uncooked copper. [Stephen] then makes use of the template of this “viagrid” board to put out the circuit he’s prototyping, and it’s off to the races.
Or, off to the laser, quite. In contrast to the fiber laser he confirmed us beforehand, [Stephen] is now recommending a diode-pumped strong state (DPSS) laser, as they’ll blast the copper off with out burning FR4 substrate. Provided that the vias at the moment are a part of the design, every part must line up completely, so his viagrid PCB design has just a few options to lock it in utilizing LightBurn’s “body” function. The DPSS laser barely exhibits up on the copper, however shines brilliantly off the fiberglass, and VIGrid takes benefit of this reality. He’s additionally acquired a 3D printed jig to carry every part in alignment as soon as it’s dialed in, even for working off many boards.
This laser is simply as quick because the fiber laser, providing you with PCBs in minutes. And whereas vias are apparently greatest left to the professionals, through-hole parts can simply be accommodated, with the laser capable of minimize the FR4 on request. All of his lightburn and information for the varigrid PCB are accessible on GitHub. [Stephen] can also be in search of collaborators to see if this method can be utilized with out the very-expensive Commarker laser, and to give you a greater identify than varigrid.
As [Stephen] says within the video, in the event you mix this with a pick-and-place and a reflow oven, you’ll be able to go from design to a working two-layer PCB in about 90 minutes, which is a really thrilling prospect for engineering corporations and maker-spaces alike. Phrases like “game-changing” get thrown round loads, however this simply would possibly warrant it, a minimum of for many who have a necessity for pace and might afford the instruments.
What do you suppose? Is viagrid the rapid-prototyping revolution we’ve been ready for, or is the headline of this text nonetheless topic to Betteridge’s Legislation?
Because of [Keith Olson] for the tip.
