14 DAY TRIAL // It's one thing to assemble an electronic device from prefabricated parts and another to make everything from scratch. Permitting the latter is the goal of Voltera. A Canadian company that has just launched a very interesting crowdfunding campaign.
Interestingly enough, the campaign is already past half the funding mark, despite it being barely one day old. It goes to show just how popular the concept is.
And that concept is for a 3D printer that can create printed circuit boards. Those basic but oh-so-fundamental parts at the basis of all electronic devices.
To make a long story short, Canadian company Voltera, based in Ontario, has launched a crowdfunding campaign for the V-One PCB 3D printer.
The V-One 3D printer
The additive manufacturing machine can create complicated two-layer circuit boards by alternating conductive and insulating ink.
Altogether it measures 390 x 257 x 207 mm / 15.35 x 10.11 x 8.14 inches and has a print area of 138 x 102 mm / 5.43 x 4.01 inches.
The maximum PCB thickness is of 3 mm, while the minimum trace width is of 0.2 mm. More than precise enough to create some really interesting circuit designs. Or rather give physical form to whatever designs you come up with in the virtual space.
Speaking of which, the V-One 3D printer can be fed Gerber files in order to create FR4 boards. The ink cartridges are connected or disconnected in seconds, and there is a single button that needs pressing in order to kick off a print run.
First the conductive layer is printed, after which the second layer is added, complete with a mask added to the spots where traces overlap (the software automatically detects those intersections).
Availability
Since this is a crowdfunded project that just went up, you shouldn't expect it to ship for some months. Even early bird pledges of $1,199 / €1,061 will only see deliveries done in September 2015. Everyone else will have to be patient until January 2016. Also, they need to pay four hundred dollars more.
Still less than the retail price, however, which will probably be of around eighteen hundred, or maybe two full grand.
The V-One PCB 3D printer will be accompanied by several template boards and files, with others being developed.
