Stenchill: 3D Printable Solder Paste Stencil Generator

Discussion (3 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

giantg2•about 2 hours ago

This looks great! I've ordered stencils and do 3D printing... kicking myself for not thinking of it.

On the other hand, it gave me a great idea. What if you could 3D print the solder paste right onto the PCB using a tool that swaps out the hot end?

aleph-z•about 1 hour ago

I mean, why not laser cut a mylar sheet? That's an existing method and works well for 0603 footprints and similar, and is also quicker.

Animats•about 1 hour ago

Yes, that's the usual approach. Mylar sheets for short runs, stainless steel sheets for production. 3D printing in PLA probably won't have enough dimensional accuracy for fine pitch boards or boards of any size. The demo shown is a very small coarse pitch board.

The thickness of the stencil matters, because that determines how much solder paste you are laying down. This approach is going to produce thick stencils.

There are CNC machines for laying down solder paste. Here's one.[1] It does a few more jobs, too. The various CNC desktop board-making machines are still too expensive for most hobbyists, though.

[1] https://www.voltera.io/products/v-one

Stenchill: 3D Printable Solder Paste Stencil Generator

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Discussion (3 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews