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Another 'Draw Your Own Circuits' System at SXSW (Video)
While Timothy Lord was at SXSW, he chatted with Yuki Nishida of AgIC and learned about the company's conductive ink products. But AgIC wasn't the only company at SXSW showing off conductive ink. You could also meet the Electroninks people and see their Circuit Scribe product, which had a Kickstarter campaign a while back that raised $574,425.
This kind of product seems to be attractive to the kind of people who fund Kickstarter projects, and this bunch seems to have good resumes and some interesting, well thought-out products. There is apparently room in the 'draw circuits and learn electrical basics' market for both AgIC and Electroninks -- and probably for another dozen competitors, too.
This kind of product seems to be attractive to the kind of people who fund Kickstarter projects, and this bunch seems to have good resumes and some interesting, well thought-out products. There is apparently room in the 'draw circuits and learn electrical basics' market for both AgIC and Electroninks -- and probably for another dozen competitors, too.
because the ink layer is so thin, these circuits have an incredible amount of resistance, even with really fat lines.
I have one of these pens and it is a fun novelty, but not useful for practical circuits. The metal content isn't high enough. It's better applied to art projects and for kids teaching where you can show them a lot of circuit concepts in a very visual manner. That's where I felt this product would excel. If you drag a lead to a lightbulb over a 10" line, depending on how thick it is the bulb will be completely out either in a few inches or with a fat line over the whole length.
A version where you squired a lot more of the material with a thickener out of a mustard type squeeze bottle would get you some more functionality. But it's fun for the kids.