I want to know the resistivity.

3D Printing
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1

I want to know the resistivity.

If this stuff is actually comparable to a normal circuit trace then this is kind of a big deal.

You could print the enclosure scribe the traces onto the inside of the printed enclosure, place the components inside, print the rest of the enclosure around the circuit. (Enclosure is maybe the wrong word, because it also performs the function of the circuit board)
http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?u=/watch?v%3DPYWvc6LZy1s%26feature%3Dshare&a=Ph_YaJeNvP5aw3x53_F-QA

2

@Analisa_Russo should have some details.
According to their video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfNByi-rrO4#t=60 , an approx. 6 or 7cm long trace has a resistance of about 20 Ohm, which should be good enough for digital low-power circuits to work reliably.

3

I wonder if it’s any different to the stuff in silver trace-repairing pens?

4

@Sanjay_Mortimer , that is sort of the topic of my thesis. I’d really appreciate any specifications for the silver ink since I am working on a comparison sheet of the different conductive inks, pastes, glues and other non-solid conductive media.

5

@Matteo_De_Donatis the kickstarter includes a video of their synthesis process, if that would help at all.

6

Sadly I don’t see this for real life use. I’m not using a piece of paper to run a sprinkler system, automate my home, etc.

This is good however maybe teaching little 5-6 year old’ BUT not much else. Perhaps I am the bad guy but I think using real world equipment and etched or mfg PCB’s are the best way to learn what you’re going to use in the future.

7

I think it’s great for prototyping. It fits the same niche as solderless breadboards, but with more flexibility.

Of course you won’t put a breadboard in a final system.

8

@Nick_Parker I don’t know how you can compare this with a breadboard but I don’t think they’re niche as a lot of HW I know at one point was built on top of a Breadboard, except for those who have onsite PCB printing capabilities (e.g. Microsoft, Motorola, etc).

I just think the people who this is for, younger audience likely doesn’t understand circuitry to begin with and literally have to draw your own. To make a LED light up, big deal, put two wires wrapped around POS/NEG and tap a battery, done. Motors, sensors, etc is another thing.

Perhaps if they can make it where you can fill your ink jet printer with this and print out paper circuits? Now that I can see being a real use case for prototyping.

Don’t get me wrong, I think competition and new inventions should constantly be produced.

9

I just think the people who this is for, younger audience likely doesn’t understand circuitry to begin with and literally have to draw your own.
@Lance_Seidman

Uhhh, sup? Younger audience speaking. Today I’m building circuits to convert step/dir signals from a sweet little FPGA based mill controller to phase signals for the stepper motor controllers in an antique CNC mill.

It’s a bit of a temporary hack to get the mill running so that I can build a camera gimbal for the quadcopter I built, which a friend of similar age needs for his indie film project in January.

I’m using a solderless breadboard to do this because I don’t have a working mill to make pcbs on. If I had this pen, I could probably do this much more tidily.

To me, the fact that you can’t see the use for this pen in prototyping makes me think you don’t understand circuitry to begin with.

10

“To me, the fact that you can’t see the use for this pen in prototyping makes me think you don’t understand circuitry to begin with.”

@Nick_Parker It’s safe to say and pretty obvious you just don’t know me at all. I am sure at one point if you used an Xbox controller, you’ve used circuits I/my team has built that helped rumble it (no I didn’t own the company, just worked for in Shenzhen out of High School in which they had a prototype and we had to make it cheaper and smaller).

You’re naive to think the younger audience has built circuits nor even know what positive or negative means by definition let alone for electronics. I can vouch for this (probably means nothing to you as it shouldn’t) cause I teach Raspberry Pi and Arduino classes here in Vegas to 4-15 year olds (oddly usually cuts off here) and even grown men (22-68) to be completely fair.

So, you saying you’ve built this and that (I would only assume to be true as I did the same at 11 on real bread boards (literally you cut a loaf of bread on) and failed a lots of times), what percentile do you really think you’re in? You’re smart enough to know less than 5% at best.

Also, I don’t have a way to print/mfg. pcb’s either (except for sending out to have mfg for a client), perhaps you misunderstood what I wrote. Especially where I state: “a lot of HW I know at one point was built on top of a Breadboard, except for those who have onsite PCB printing capabilities (e.g. Microsoft, Motorola, etc).”.

Look close, it says “EXCEPT”, which would mean not all nor a majority as I am mentioning Fortune 500 companies but also stating a lot of hardware at one point has been “built” on top of a breadboard.

Besides, these pens aren’t anything new. Sure some take a few moments to dry, get a hair dryer if you’re impatient but conductive (silver, copper, etc) pen’s already exist as mentioned in the video- just this writes literally like a Pencil. But you know what else is conductive like a Pencil? A PENCIL.

Most Pencil’s contain Graphite or some mix of it, still making it conductive. In fact, ABS in what you use for 3D Printing is conductive, which we have used for Wearables. You just don’t really hear much about it.

Again, I really think you didn’t get what I was saying. I hope me repeating/restating my previous comments helped but if not, by all means fire away, I always like a good conversation with meaning.

11

Yeah sorry about the personal attack. I just don’t see the need for negativity here. Sure, it’s no where near novel as they admit in the kickstarter, but it makes hand drawn circuits easier to use, and that’s a good thing IMO.

As for the whole youth issue, I really think we should just drop it because I doubt @Sanjay_Mortimer cares and neither of us is likely to convince the other.

12

Their kickstarter page says “The written lines achieve a conductivity of 50-100 milliohms per square per mil.”

Also interesting: “It also writes for a while (60-80 meters).”

13

@Lance_Seidman think of this circuit scribe mixed with home 3d printers, and you’ll see why it’s a nice and welcome invention