The Voltera V-One Makes Circuit Boards In Minutes

Building circuit boards is fun but difficult. While you could do it at home with a some etchant and some clear plastic, Voltera hopes to make the entire process much easier with their V-One circuit printer.

The creators, James Pickard, Jesus Zozaya, and Alroy Almeida all studied Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo and got together to solve the problem of rapid prototyping.

“This eliminates the frustrations all hardware developers have faced with traditional fabrication processes and can cut development time from months to days,” said Almeida.

“At previous jobs, we didn’t have the time or budget to wait two weeks for circuit boards to be manufactured and shipped to us. As hobbyists, we couldn’t afford the high set up fees charged by fabrication centers. We got the idea for a circuit board printer around the same time that 3D printers were starting to revolutionize the mechanical prototyping space, and wanted to create something similar for electronics prototyping,” he said.

The company will be assembling the printers in North America and they are currently working with potential customers to assess exactly what they need in home PCB printing. They are aiming at selling the product to universities, maker spaces, and hardware start-ups.

“The Voltera V-One goes beyond printing single layer circuits on paper. We’re the first to be able to print two layer circuits onto FR4 (the industry standard substrate) with a product of this size and cost. But it doesn’t stop there… the printer is also cable of dispensing solder paste and baking the board to attach all the small components,” said Almeida.

The company launched on our stage at Hardware Battlefield in Las Vegas and will begin shipping next year. Now all we have to do is learn what a transistor does.