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Stenchill: 3D Printable Solder Paste Stencil Generator

stenchill.com

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Re: Stenchill: 3D Printable Solder Paste Stencil Generator

#5

Post by Animats »

aleph-z wrote: post #4

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.

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

Re: Stenchill: 3D Printable Solder Paste Stencil Generator

#8

Post by themmes »

giantg2 wrote: post #2

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?

The opulo.io LumenPnP project does that, he has added a syringe to deposit solderpaste to his pick ‘n place machine.

Re: Stenchill: 3D Printable Solder Paste Stencil Generator

#9

Post by raphman »

aleph-z wrote: post #4

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.

There are quite a few people who own a 3D printer but not a laser cutter. And not everyone can or wants to use an external service.

Re: Stenchill: 3D Printable Solder Paste Stencil Generator

#10

Post by rajnathani »

giantg2 wrote: post #2

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?

For very thin stencils, I doubt plastic 3D printing or even laser-cutting plastic works, as such thin plastics would deform rather than remain flat-ish rigid like steel stencils.

Also for 3D printing solder paste, this technique is called solder jet printing. But it isn’t very popular in the industry (despite being less wasteful) due to it being slower than stencil solder printing.

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