When I came across the Rep Rap project over a year ago, I immediately became interested in how to more fully develop its ability to self-replicate. My initial thoughts centered around providing a sustainable energy source, e.g. solar power, or the ability for a Rep Rap machine to print solar cells. So I went looking on the web for things like powdered copper. There are actually some companies that produce copper ink now. I believe that the copper ink is for use in a conventional or modified inkjet printer head. It would therefore make sense to me to be able to first print an ABS PCB board, and then come back on top of it with a powder nozzle or and inkjet nozzle to overlay the copper ink (in however many layers would be appropriate to the desired amp conductivity), and then to swap the nozzle / printer head for the extruder once again and print an encapsulation layer of abs, or some other thermoplastic on top of the copper ink pathways. Has anyone looked into this? Also, if this is feasible, it would seem the logica next step to design something that could recycle copper wire, and perhaps even pennies into a cheap copper ink. It may even be possible to skip the copper ink, and just experiment with copper powder and some form of resin or epoxy that will set when cooled. Thoughts?
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