<p>Common 3D printers (read "cheap") may be used to print masks for PCBs (printed-circuit boards) which use PTH (through-hole) components.</p>

<p>But can they be used to print PCBs which use SMD components? I'd like to make boards at least for Arduino-like SMD chips.</p>

[{'answer_id': 323, 'author': 'Tormod Haugene', 'author_id': 115, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/115', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>In theory, I imagine you can, but there are some practical considerations that might need some thought:</p>\n\n<p>If you have a desktop printer with multiple extruders, you could probably print with both one <em>conductive</em> and one <em>structural</em> filament, and thereby build circuits in 3D.</p>\n\n<p>One concern would be the low melting points of most 3D printed filaments, since one would have to limit the heat generated by the mounted components and connections so that the structure of the "board" would not be melted.</p>\n\n<p>Mounting components to the board would also differ from a normal PCB, since you would have to connect the components with the conductive filament without melting the structure of the board. In other words, you probably would have to use conductive filament as "solder", and melt components into place. </p>\n\n<p>Whether you could use typical tools used for mounting SMD components with conductive filament as solder is beyond my knowledge. </p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 337, 'author': 'TextGeek', 'author_id': 40, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/40', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>In addition to the thermal issues Tormod raised, there is a conductivity issue. Present conductive filaments are much less conductive than copper. The power loss may be enough to affect functionality. Also, the lost power goes to heat, making the thermal problems worse.</p>\n\n<p>For bulk materials, "volume resistivity" is measured in "Ohm-cm", which is the resistance of a 1 cm cube of the material, measured from one entire face to the opposite entire face (see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity</a>).</p>\n\n<p>Copper has a volume resistivity of about 1.68 <em>micro</em>Ohm-cm. </p>\n\n<p>Proto-pasta conductive PLA filament claims 15 ohm-cm (<a href="http://www.proto-pasta.com/pages/conductive-pla" rel="nofollow">http://www.proto-pasta.com/pages/conductive-pla</a>). Functionalize F-Electic&trade; claims 0.75 ohm-cm (<a href="http://functionalize.com/about/functionalize-f-electric-highly-conductive-filament/" rel="nofollow">http://functionalize.com/about/functionalize-f-electric-highly-conductive-filament/</a>).</p>\n\n<p>Printing itself significantly raises resistivity. Proto-pasta claims 30 ohm-cm along X and Y, 115 along Z. More intuitively, each cm of length of a 2.5mm wide printed trace, 0.4mm thick, should add several hundred ohms with the Proto-pasta, or several tens of ohms with the F-electric. That may be enough to matter. </p>\n\n<p>It\'s probably worth mentioning that there\'s a specialized PCB printer (the "Voltera") that uses (pricey) conductive ink, and can also dispense solder paste: <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2885188/3d-circuit-board-printer-a-smash-hit-on-kickstarter.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.computerworld.com/article/2885188/3d-circuit-board-printer-a-smash-hit-on-kickstarter.html</a></p>\n'}]
['https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/321', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/281/']