Silk Screen Ink for reference designators

[dlhlabs]

One item that has come up in discussions after initial use of our V-One is being able to print reference designators on the board using a non-conductive ink. I see where people have used various inks in cartridges, however it would be preferential from a usability and a warranty/support standpoint to purchase the ink already packaged and temperature characterized from Voltera. Please let me know if there are any plans to introduce such a product.

[freezedream]

I’d be really interested to find out more about this, too.

[MikeL]

Just so I’m on the same level you’re looking for essentially a non-conductive marking material that’s been approved for use with the V-One?

We don’t have anything currently planned but it’s certainly not the first time this has come up. I’ll be happy to bring it to the materials team.

That said for most applications use of conductive ink for things that would otherwise be silk screened is generally the best option.

I’d be curious about the effectiveness of using printed features as reference for some other system do the the variability of prints. Do you have a bit more info on the application? The more info I get on this stuff the better.

[dlhlabs]

We considered that. It would require us moving the silkscreen layer in Altium down to a copper layer and being sure to move it back to an ink layer before ordering production boards from our board house. Also the silkscreen text would have to be moved around to avoid shorts, which could be difficult in a dense design. Something such as a water-based silkscreen ink (like the skateboard silkscreen ink I’ve used on enclosures) would be a possibility.

I suppose I could order empty cartridges and try my ink, but I don’t want to damage a brand-new machine. Something that you have tested and certified would make management feel a bit more comfortable. It it was a personal unit, I would jump right in.

Essentially this would give us the ability to print the board just as it would be in a production setup, with silkscreen overlapping conductors. Doing this would be impossible with conductive ink.

[MikeL]

Gotcha, thanks for the additional info. I’ll let my guys know.

That said the only concern with using your own material would be if you ended up getting any into the calibration switches which is true of any material (including ours). In terms of dispensing just rule of thumb would be if you can screenprint it you should be able to dispense it, though you may need to do some setting tweaks to make it work.

If you do end up trying your own materials and hit a snag feel free to message me through in in-app chat with pictures of your calibration pattern or any print results and I can help with tweaks to improve the results.

[Marten]

Silkscreen / non-conductive ink feature has been requested several times here now.
Every time someone askes for this they are told to go and experiment by their self.

I have tried this experimenting myself and ordered another dispenser, cartridge pack, nozzles in different sizes and three different ‘heat curing’ paints online and in my local arts&crafts store.
My results so far:

• Viscosity issues: ink leaking out of the nozzle, ink being dispensed irregular, ink spreading out on the board.
• Clogged nozzles, although the paint was heat curing, they would also already air cure in the nozzle up to a point that it couldn’t be dispensed anymore or even be rinsed out, ruining the nozzle.
• After baking, poor adhesion to the board.

After spending many hours without improving results or even an idea what to try next, I lost my motivation to continue experimenting.

Here someone suggested to use UV curing nail polish:
https://community.voltera.io/t/silkscreen-white-ink-option-enable/143/9?u=marten

I might still give that a try at some point but I would really appreciate it if Voltera used their knwoledge and previous research to find a suitable ink. Once they have found a proven good product and offer it in the store I would be happy to buy that:upside_down_face:

[scottcun]

@Marten, for the ink leaking out (Viscosity issues), you should check out Voltera’s latest blog post How to Build A Product in a Lockdown. Matt and Rena (members of Voltera’s Material Science team) worked to address similar leakage problems with conductive ink.

If you solve the adhesion problem with UV curing, perhaps you can leverage what they did for conductive ink to address the nozzle leakage.