circuit board blanks

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BigguyZ

BigguyZ

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I have a ton of old circuit boards that I could easily chop up and never miss. So,I'm wondering how you would go about making one of these blanks? Do you simply heat the board up and wrap around the tube?

Thanks!
 
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Sanding to a thin flexible layer is the instruction I remember. You need very good dust protection & respirator as there are bad things in the circuit boards.
 
Do you heat it up and remove the solder and components? surely at least the big ones like memory and caps and such yeah? Some of these thing would be way too thick for even a monster sized pen.


Go to the local "dollar" store and pick up a dirt cheap giant calculator. Bet there is a good candidate living inside!
 
RAdams said:
Do you heat it up and remove the solder and components? surely at least the big ones like memory and caps and such yeah? Some of these thing would be way too thick for even a monster sized pen.
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I don't use "heat" to remove the larger components. A trusty pair of pliers to remove some of the "heat sinks".I like to keep the (small)"resistors" on the PCB since it gives it a "nicer look".They lie fairly flat to the board. Will post(pic) once the cast is dry. Trying to match it with a chrome Sierra. Size should be ok.
 

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I have had a go at this some time back with not much luck. You must sand real thin remove all the big parts. The bigger the tube the better. Put the tube on the lathe, glue one end to the tube and use a heat gun to bend the board around the tube glue as you go.
Best of luck.
David
 
wood-of-1kind said:
I don't use "heat" to remove the larger components. A trusty pair of pliers to remove some of the "heat sinks".I like to keep the (small)"resistors" on the PCB since it gives it a "nicer look".They lie fairly flat to the board. Will post(pic) once the cast is dry. Trying to match it with a chrome Sierra. Size should be ok.
Click to expand...
The problem with the 'flat' method is that you will be drilling right through the board, leaving nothing but empty PR with a sliver of board on each side.
 
Could you take a good color picture or scan it in color and use that on glossy photo paper to wrap the tubes and get the same effect?
 
snyiper said:
Could you take a good color picture or scan it in color and use that on glossy photo paper to wrap the tubes and get the same effect?
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You could do that, but it will lose the 3D appearance and depth. I think the attractive part of these pens is that it is a real circuit board. I've been able to ID a couple of the boards I bought from Bruce.
 
I asked this question in another post here and got no answers but it looks lioke there are some electronic gurus here. The new circuit board blanks that are coming out are orange in color. Is this a popular color in the circuit board world.??? I ask because people will ask me where the board comes from and I am not into electronics so I would not be able to answer them. Is there actually orange boards and would they be used in computers or elsewhere??? I know Bruce used to make red and blue ones and I have a couple of those but they are truely circuit boards. Not sure these blanks are even replicas of a true circuit board. What do you all think.
 
The the colored part of the circuit board are made up of fiberglass sheets. The sheets are layered and have multiple wire traces on differing levels in the sheet. The fiberglass sheet is very close to G10 fiberglass sheets. Any manufacture can choose what color they use for any device that they are making. Green is the most common color but I have seen blue, red, and orange.
 
jttheclockman said:
I asked this question in another post here and got no answers but it looks lioke there are some electronic gurus here. The new circuit board blanks that are coming out are orange in color. Is this a popular color in the circuit board world.??? I ask because people will ask me where the board comes from and I am not into electronics so I would not be able to answer them. Is there actually orange boards and would they be used in computers or elsewhere??? I know Bruce used to make red and blue ones and I have a couple of those but they are truely circuit boards. Not sure these blanks are even replicas of a true circuit board. What do you all think.
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I think I am a penmaker, not a circuit board analyst. If you have blue, green and orange-let the customer tell YOU where they came from.
 
The color of the circuit board comes from the soldermask the customer asks for. As mentioned, green is the most common, but most vendors have several colors to choose from.

As a circuit board designer, I typically specify the red, blue, black or white for prototype circuit boards and switch the standard green once to goes into production. I simply makes it easier in the lab to find the board the techs are supposed to working on.

On the other hand I have seen some companies ship production boards in colors other than green. Look inside your PC, you'll probably see some clear coated boards.

I love these kits, and have plans to try my luck at casting some of the boards I've designed as well as the inner wire routing layers only.

Scott
 
Hi as mentioned above the color is the solder mask and many colors are available.

The ones made by Berea are not decal replicas. They are made with real components not sure if the pattern is from a functional PCB board.

As far as making your own as mentioned be VERY careful there are LOTS of nasty stuff inside them. Make sure you protect yourself the dust is very fine you should have a full hood with ventilator. We're talking lead, fiberglass, not to mention grinding your fingers off.

I am still working on a process that will make these more available in different colors and for some different kits. BUT I am still a few months away.

.
 
I doubt these are (were) functioning boards. If you notice, there are no plated holes. Traces end with a small circular pad (known as a via) but the hole is missing. There are also areas of exposed pads that have no obvious purpose. I'm guessing someone experimented with some scrap boards and then designed this "circuit" to be used for the purpose of penmaking.

What I would like to do is figure out a way to mount a small battery with in the tube and design a board with little leds that flash or stay on. That would be a neat little project.

Scott
 
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OK, I took an old wireless router and took out the PCB and tried sanding it down... It was hard to get it sanded evenly accross the PCB, and I sanded through a few spots. Then, when I thought it was flexible enough, I tried wrapping the board around the tube, and the board split in several places.

I took the other half and tried heating it with a torch, and I obviously need to find a more gentle method of heating, because it darkened the board and it still wasn't pliable neough to wrap.

Any hits/ tips? I have an old SB Audigy and SB Audigy 2 that I'd like to make into boards, but I don't want to waste them on a mess-up like I had.

Thanks!
Travis
 
Glass Scratcher said:
instead of a torch, maybe an electric heat gun?

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=heat+gun
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Hey, I got me one of those for window plastic. That might be better. I'll try that.

Take 2 will be on an old cable modem. Then I'm thinking my old Sony Receiver.... The.... I dunno. A video card? I had a TON of old boards, but sadly I threw them out last year b/c they were "worthless". It's always after you get rid of something that you finally have a use for it.
 
toomanysplinters said:
What I would like to do is figure out a way to mount a small battery with in the tube and design a board with little leds that flash or stay on. That would be a neat little project.

Scott
Click to expand...

Sounds interesting and probably would not be a hard task for larger pens. The Smiths at Aluminock have come up with a way to place a battery inside an arrow shaft so the nock lights up upon impact. He and his brother came up with the idea as electricians and made a killing on it in the hunting world.
 
Bending PCB "Laminate"...

Attached are a few pictures of an inner layer PCB laminate. The sheet measures only 0.005" thick and could make for a very interesting base material for my first pen casting project. As you can see by the pictures, this material will easily wrap around a slim line tube.

As for working with an assembled board, if you have a thickness sander, you could make a sled that holds and supports the assembled board while you gradually sand the thickness down.

Scott
 

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toomanysplinters said:
Attached are a few pictures of an inner layer PCB laminate. The sheet measures only 0.005" thick and could make for a very interesting base material for my first pen casting project. As you can see by the pictures, this material will easily wrap around a slim line tube.

As for working with an assembled board, if you have a thickness sander, you could make a sled that holds and supports the assembled board while you gradually sand the thickness down.

Scott
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So I'm assuming that's a single PCB layer, prior to it being added to more layers of a PCB and having the components being added? That's cool, though I like the idea of having the old surface mount components stil being on the PCB...

I wonder if there are suppliers that would provide just an inner layer or top layer of the PCB to users? For cheap, I mean. ;)
 
BigguyZ said:
So I'm assuming that's a single PCB layer, prior to it being added to more layers of a PCB and having the components being added? That's cool, though I like the idea of having the old surface mount components stil being on the PCB...

I wonder if there are suppliers that would provide just an inner layer or top layer of the PCB to users? For cheap, I mean. ;)
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Yes, that's exactly what it is. The blackened area was done with a sharpie from the back side of the material. I will try another section using some black die.

As for your second question regarding getting this material. You can probably get some scrap from a vendor, but there may be confidentiality concerns on the part of the board shop.

I'm working on trying to create some design that can be replicated on a panel and I have a good relationship with a local vendor that might be willing to this for me "cheaply".

I just need to find someone to cast them (or find the time to try it myself).
 
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