The way we’re going about making circuits has been rapidly changing in the past few years, and it’s largely thanks to conductive inks. These ultra-thin, ultra-lightweight inks can be inserted into thin objects or even printed on paper, totally eliminating the need for bulky framework. Circuit Scribe started out as a Kickstarter project and is now available via retail outlets, and it’s spent the past couple of years proving just how awesome it is.

The concept behind Circuit Scribe is easy even for non-technical folks to understand. Instead of wires, soldering, and a lot of specialized knowledge, you can draw circuits on paper with the non-toxic, water-based ink. Circuit Scribe sells modules that you can snap onto your creations with magnets to make working lights, sound modules and even a small motor.

Although you can use it to make some pretty rad toys and gifts, the Circuit Scribe is important on an even larger scale. It’s among the first generation of similar products that allow anyone to make electronics without a whole lot of prior knowledge. The process of using Circuit Scribe to make things actually leads to the learning (rather than the learning leading to the making) which is a fun, engaging type of education.

As far as functionality goes, the Circuit Scribe system is far easier to use than some of its competitors which are bulkier and can take hours to dry. The Circuit Scribe pen lets you draw and then immediately use your drawing to make something fun. People who are interested in electronics and engineering careers will still need to learn traditional methods as well, but conductive ink gives you the kind of instant gratification that just makes you want to keep playing and learning.

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The Rabbit Proto is a huge leap forward in the way we use 3D printers. Rather than printing a shell of an electronic object and requiring the guts to be inserted later, the Rabbit fits onto the head of your RepRap 3D printer to print circuits right into the object.

Using a 10cc syringe to inject lines of conductive ink, the Rabbit lays down circuits inside of the object as the RepRap printer is making it. The Rabbit Proto is a print head add-on that just plugs into your existing RepRap printer, so if you’re already 3D printing your own stuff at home this will just add an amazing new layer of usefulness to your printer.

The video above shows a video game controller being designed and printed, circuitry and all, on a RepRap fitted with the Rabbit Proto. In this case, the syringe is filled with Bare Conductive ink – but the creators encourage people to use novel materials in the print head add-on.

The Rabbit Proto team demonstrated one unusual printing material in this video: peanut butter. You can buy your own Rabbit Proto pre-made from the group or find instructions for making your own on GitHub.

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Next time you need a new keyboard, you might be able to pull it right out of your filing cabinet. Creative firm Novalia has created a fully functional keyboard that can be printed right onto a regular sheet of photo paper. The method they’ve devised would be able to print electronics at the rate of 100 m/minute by using metal plates embossed with the required circuits to carry conductive ink.

The conductive ink imbues the paper with the power of capacitive touch. It runs on a small watch battery and connects to your tablet or smartphone via Bluetooth. While you won’t be able to print one out on your office printer, the keyboard can be printed with conventional methods such as screen printing, flexography, and offset lithography. The printing equipment and processes that would make the keyboards are already in use making products like shampoo bottles.

A single semiconductor chip is the brains of the keyboard, which can be made using inexpensive materials like cardboard and plastic in addition to paper and conductive ink. The low cost of the materials leads Novalia to predict that their keyboard will cost an exceptionally reasonable $10. Even more exciting is the fact that the technology could be used to make other super-thin electronics such as touchscreens or trackpads.

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Electronic waste is a huge environmental problem that is only getting worse as we rely more and more on our gadgets. For as many electronic devices as we use every year, however, there isn’t much of the circuit boards that can be salvaged and recycled for use in other gadgets. The National Physical Laboratory has developed a circuit board that falls apart in hot water, effectively making the components reusable.

The reusable boards can be used for traditional rigid electronics as well as flexible gadgets and 3D objects. The components hold tight until the time that the gadget is ready to be recycled and the board is stuck into a bowl of water. After the polymer layers dissolve, the components can easily be scraped right off of the board. In this way, around 90 percent of components can be salvaged and reused. Regular circuit boards, by comparison, only incorporate about two percent recyclable components.

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It’s hard to ignore the inherent beauty in circuit boards. These essential bits of technology were designed for performance, not aesthetics, but they have a certain appeal that makes them look a lot like art. Artist (and electronics repairman) Steven Rodrig saw not only the beauty of printed circuit boards (PCBs), but the terrible wastefulness in throwing them away.

Disturbed by the amount of tech items being tossed into landfills, Rodrig decided to rescue those with PCBs and turn them into lovely, unique works of art. He sculpts everything from insects to a painstakingly detailed toilet using the instantly recognizable green boards with their colorful attachments.

It would be simple to appreciate Rodrig’s sculptures only for their beauty and ingenuity alone, but they are even more impressive when you take into account the number of discarded circuit boards he saves from the landfill every year.

Rodrig’s work, known as PCB Creations, cultivates a type of artificial technological life that is much more than the sum of its humble parts. The artist uses the features of the PCBs themselves to enhance the shapes and finished appearance of his sculptures.

These odes to expired technology have been praised by technology lovers and environmentalists alike, and now even the world of fine art is getting on board. Rodrig’s sculptures are in the permanent online collection of Manhattan Arts International and were recently featured in an international exhibition.

The post Teaching Old Tech New Tricks: Recycled Circuit Sculptures first appeared on Gajitz.