Circuits in Epoxy (by )

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:

the circuit side profile

Then I mixed up some resin:

mixing the 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:

resin in the box

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:

Underside of the castingTop side of the castingDetail of the top surface

It's really weird to have one of my sloppily-made circuits that's completely waterproof and ruggedised:

Look, it works underwater!

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:

Propped up so you can see all the LEDs

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.

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