Old PCB to Jewelry

Electronic waste is one of the biggest problems of modern world. We can take advantage of electronic waste to give a second life by creating pieces of jewelry, accessories that are useful for daily life. This project is about recycling scrap old PCB's into usable jewelry. The raw material for this project can be any electronic waste, such as integrated circuits, transistors, resistors, LEDs, or any other type of burned component,

- Scrap printed circuit boards, preferably desoldered

- Epoxy resin

- CNC machine for better cut shapes

- accessories for the jewelry

Can Use Any Useless PCB, preferably desoldered to make the cuts of the forms with the CNC machine.

For a better CNC cutting process, the PCB should preferably be without soldered components.

Cleaning the circuit boards can be done with isopropyl alcohol.

We can cut any shape with the CNC machine, from basic shapes such as circles or squares, to butterflies or hearts.

We control the CNC machine through Easel-Inventables web interface: https://easel.inventables.com

This interface allows us to import images or use their utilities.

First, the dimensions of the board should be specified, including the thickness of the board.

Different shapes can be placed to cut in one batch.

The depth of cut must be specified to match the thickness of the circuit board.

Configuring the CNC machine accordingly, in our case we use a CNC 3018 with a V-Shape, 1/8 bit.

Once the board is placed and the working cero specified, through the CARVE button in the Easel interface the cutting process begins.

For a better finish, epoxy resin can be used to cover the pieces, giving them a shiny appearance.

We use an epoxy resin that requires a catalyst in a ratio of 50-50. Mixing should be done carefully to avoid bubbles. An anti-bubble additive can also be used.

With the epoxy prepared, a syringe can be used to cover the pieces, taking advantage of the surface tension to apply an even layer of the resin. The resin used requires approximately 2 days to fully dry.

Once the resin is dry, we can assemble different jewels, like necklaces, or earrings.

The rest of the PCB can be used as a book separator.