Flexible pcb

[Mosaic]

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a supplier for flexible copperclad PCB material? I have some hobby work to do.

 

[Sceadwian]

Define flexible? I've gotten copper clad from **broken link removed** which is very thin and formable, double sided great for hobby work, and very cheap.

 

[Mosaic]

Yes ..the goldmine stuff looks good at .25mm, I want to try making electronic LED biz cards....i've been looking at trying to embed the battery & components in the card....so the concept is to have a very thin flexible pcb, with all smd components & battery (CR2016 or 2012) mounted as flat as possible. Then to use perhaps 1.6mm thick plastic cardstock as the substrate to bond the pcb (component side) onto. The 1.6mm cardstock will be laser cut to accommodate all the smd components and hopefully I can end up with a relatively smooth 1.6mm thick electronic biz card that mixes both printed text with LED driver electronics. Mounting the battery without a battery holder is a bit of a challenge, but if the laser cut is good it could press fit. Then there is the matter of on/off....perhaps running the PIC at lowish frequency with sleep mode and perhaps some type of capacitively coupled signal from a finger could wake the PIC.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Sceadwian]

https://www.powerstream.com/thin-lithium-ion.htm

Check that out for batteries, won't find anything thinner than that, and the energy density is dramatically higher than a coincell. The main problem being protecting it from damage. Cardstock would probably be a bad idea, considering the thickness you're going for and the fact that you'll want a durable product (especially if you use the thin lithium) you'll want to use a good strong alloy sheet metal like.

**broken link removed**
This was just a quick Google find, I have no idea how strong this material actually is at the size you're using, but full hard 304 stainless is pretty durable (looks damn good too)

If you're only making a few of them consider skipping the PCB completely and just using magnet wire to electrically connect things, coat it with an enamel (like nail polish) to prevent leads from shorting to the case, it'll save you .25mm

Just doing some back of the envelope math If you use the stainless linked above for front and back cover use the thin lithium sandwiched in between, as long as non of your chips are thicker than 1mm you'll end up with a complete package that's 1.5mm thick. Cutting the stainless is trivial because it's so thin, all you need is a band saw and some fine sandpaper to clean the edges up. If you dead bug wire some thinner SMD components (not easy I know) and use the thinnest battery they cell you could creep in at 1mm thick.

 

[taisen]

FPC material

You could probably get some material from Insulectro. Dupont AP or LF material would probably work for you. the flexible material is expensive.

 

[ronsimpson]

**broken link removed**
Capabilities and Design Rules Flex PCB