Machine compatibility |
ink jet printer; laser cutter; vinyl cutter; laminator (up to 120C, 240F) |
|
Printable | printable coating on one side |
full-color printing; conductive ink printing; circuit pens such as Circuit Scribe |
Dimensions |
8.5" x 11" sheet |
One 8.5 x 11 sheet. (This product is also available as a 17" x 34" roll: |
Thickness |
.2mm (approx 8 mils) |
Comparable to an overhead transparency in thickness (but cloudier in appearance). Thinner than 65lb cardstock. 8 mils = 8/1000 of an inch |
This translucent material is designed as a substrate for flexible printed circuits. It has a specialized coating on one side which enables high-precision printing of conductive ink by ensuring that the ink adheres to the coating without dispersing or smearing.
PET is safe for use with a laser cutter and can also be cut on a vinyl cutter. You can print a template on it, use a Circuit Scribe pen to draw a circuit, and then attach Circuit Sticker LEDs to complete your circuit. You can also attach surface-mount LEDs to the ink using conductive glue. Printed electronics manufacturers frequently crimp sockets to this material in order to connect wires or through-hole components to the circuit.
Producing a circuit with conductive fabric tape instead of ink can result in a sturdier circuit, as the tape can be bent and even creased, whereas ink traces can crack and compromise the electrical connection. As above, components can be attached to your circuit using conductive adhesive (such as Circuit Sticker LEDs), conductive glue, or crimp contacts.
If you really want to solder your components, you can apply metallized foil tape to the circuit substrate and use reflow soldering to solder surface mount components to the tape using low-temperature solder paste. You have to be quick, and keep the temperature below 240 degrees.