Pressing the 3D-printed stamp into the clay needs some experience. It is important to balance pressure to get the optimal impression depth of roughly 1.5mm without deforming the surrounding areas. The pressed hexagon PCB tablets are dried naturally for a day before metal traces are hand-painted in the impressions.
The hacktivists avoided using a conductive gold paint they initially found, as it wasn’t really suitable for solder bonding, and came from a supply chain that wasn’t verified. Silver was the answer, specifically “a silver paint, commercialized by a German company, that is made with waste silver powder collected by jewelry makers.” More paint was applied to areas where you may expect to solder connections, later.
After the paint had dried, the clay PCBs were ready to fire. The blog wraps up with a detailed set of instructions regarding the prehistoric firing process. One aspect of the process that needed refinement from the hacktivists was the effects of clay shrinkage in the firing kiln. Clay can shrink 5% in firing, so there was a little trial and error in getting the stamp size and groove depth correct in finished PCBs.
Finally, this project is “totally open sourced,” so feel free to copy and share the details in the hacktivist blog. There’s even a PDF available, should you require one. The team also has a GitHub page with programming code, soldering instructions, and 3D printing files available.
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-22/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
bit_user Just curious whether they actually called themselves "hacktivists", or whether that's a liberty taken by the author. "Hacking" doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation, but I think you can't just apply "hacktivist" to every scenario where you might call someone a "hacker", as it does tend to have a more destructive connotation. Reply
IntelUser2000 It's mildly interesting but it's not really usable. Once things need to be commercialized, you need it to be cheap, readily mass produced, and durable. Problems like conflict materials and waste is a human nature flaw issue, not something that'll ever solved by technology. Technology often amplifies the issue, never solves them. Reply
Just Dave bit_user said: Just curious whether they actually called themselves "hacktivists", or whether that's a liberty taken by the author. "Hacking" doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation, but I think you can't just apply "hacktivist" to every scenario where you might call someone a "hacker", as it does tend to have a more destructive connotation. It also doesn't seem especially disruptive. More of a fun builder project. I can't imagine they're deluded enough to think this is actually more ecologically viable at scale than current PCB technology, so it's not going to displace it. Reply
Gururu bit_user said: Just curious whether they actually called themselves "hacktivists", or whether that's a liberty taken by the author. "Hacking" doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation, but I think you can't just apply "hacktivist" to every scenario where you might call someone a "hacker", as it does tend to have a more destructive connotation. Did you even read the source? The group is literally called Feminist Hacking. Reply
IntelUser2000 Just Dave said: It also doesn't seem especially disruptive. More of a fun builder project. I can't imagine they're deluded enough to think this is actually more ecologically viable at scale than current PCB technology, so it's not going to displace it. They would need to increase the precision *greatly* to even support cheap electronics nowadays. I know, because I created 2-layer PCBs before for 1.8mm x 1mm IC with ball grid array successfully many times. Try looking up a cheap USB-C adapter and see how complex the routing is for the microcontroller. Actually for hobbyist we already have an "eco-friendly" alternative. I use a good laser printer that can put out thick toner and a proper thermal transfer paper with a laminator to transfer the toner. Then it's etched using Ferro Chloric acid. But instead of insane waste of keeping and maintaining a huge vat or FeCL acid, I take a table spoon inside a ziploc bag and "massage" the board from the outside. The physical movement overcomes surface tension and is far more effective and needs only a teeny amount of FeCL to work, which later I put in a single sheet of half-sized paper towel and dries to nothing in a day. You get basically a towel that is smudged with completely dry Iron + Copper, because the tiny amount gets completely saturated with etched copper, unlike unimaginable waste with vat of FeCL. I can make a dozen board and the bag and paper towel takes almost no space and is completely safe to store, with no used FeCL to throw away. Plus, a litre of FeCL would last basically forever with only a tablespoon used for a small board. It's also far less damaging on the circuit and thus I get a better quality over putting in a vat. The fancy bubble machines are useless and are money wasters. 5 min of "massaging" does a far better job, no comparison and costing me literal cents plus zero harm to me or the environment. Reply
bit_user Gururu said: Did you even read the source? Yes, I did. Gururu said: The group is literally called Feminist Hacking. The mere fact of someone having a political ideology doesn't make them hacktivists. If they had a political ideology and did some vandalism (or worse), that would make them hactivists. This site has a history of trying to "punch up" article titles, to get more clicks. I try to point out when they cross the line over to something that's misleading (which isn't uncommon). BTW, whether or not you agree with their ideology doesn't make it okay to mischaracterize someone. "Hacktivist" is a loaded term. I wouldn't call someone that, unless they either referred to themselves that way or clearly fit the most established definition. Reply
Gururu bit_user said: Yes, I did. The mere fact of someone having a political ideology doesn't make them hacktivists. If they had a political ideology and did some vandalism (or worse), that would make them hactivists. This site has a history of trying to "punch up" article titles, to get more clicks. I try to point out when they cross the line over to something that's misleading (which isn't uncommon). BTW, whether or not you agree with their ideology doesn't make it okay to mischaracterize someone. "Hacktivist" is a loaded term. I wouldn't call someone that, unless they either referred to themselves that way or clearly fit the most established definition. Ok I see what you are getting at and agree. I guess adding the suffix to it kind of denigrates it in some way by insinuating their motives are political. Reply
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