Circuits in Epoxy (by alaric)
Continuing from my previous experiments in epoxy casting, this time I decided to cast a circuit in epoxy, as that's my eventual goal.
So I made a test circuit with four LEDs and their series resistors on a large piece of stripboard, with unnecessarily long leads on everything and a few different orientations of components, in order to check whether shrinkage is an issue at the kinds of scales I plan to work at:
Then I mixed up some resin:
And poured it into a business card box and placed the circuit in. I chose the business card box since it looked like the same sort of plastic the proper moulds at resin-supplies were made of, and that's supposed to not stick to the epoxy:
Luckily, it seemed that the epoxy does indeed not stick to this stuff, as it came out easily, leaving a perfectly clear surface, with no damage to the electronics:
It's really weird to have one of my sloppily-made circuits that's completely waterproof and ruggedised:
We had to prop it up with one end out of the water so you can actually see that all the LEDs are lit, though:
I think I'll still need to experiment with silicone moulds, though - as I'm unlikely to find boxes of the right plastic in the precise sizes I want.
Electronics | alaric | 
Thu 19th Mar 2009 3:15 pm
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