[oroplata]

Repurposing inkjet printers for other uses is becoming common - re-jigging them to do t-shirt printing, etc.

In the electronics field, many people are using the laser printer "toner transfer" method for laying down a mask before etching the (cooper on fibreglass) pcboard, but getting good results from this method is difficult.

I am beginning a project for building an inkjet-based machine that will print a resist pattern on the PC Board, and that can also be used to lay down other layers (solder resist, and layout information).

The problem is, standard inkjet inks are not good for resisting the etchant (in my case it will probably be HCl+H2O2).

What I need help with is coming up with a combination of (2, 3 or 4) liquids that can be loaded into the ink cartridges of the printer, and when mixed on the substrate (when being sprayed out of the inkjet head) they combine into a compound that sets hard (possibly with heat if need be) and is impervious to the etchant. Can't be so hard that you can't remove it from the copper track with steel wool afterwards though!

The beauty of the inkjet is that you can play with the exact quantities of each fluid by changing the colour that the printer thinks it's printing.

Any bright ideas?