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<DIV>CNC machine builds like those shown are why I was considering building
one. I think technology has moved forward, just like 3D printers.</DIV>
<DIV>73, terry, n4tlf</DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=beatnic@comcast.net
href="mailto:beatnic@comcast.net">Alex Fraser</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, January 02, 2016 1:38 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=tacos@amrad.org href="mailto:tacos@amrad.org">Tacos</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: PC board milling?</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
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face="Comic Sans MS">We live in amazing times! You can assemble a CNC
machine for light duty cutting like a tinker toy!<BR>That is a good article with
some nice links. I've known about the aluminum extruded rails for a
while, but never played with them.<BR><BR>Martin wrote on 1/1/2016 2:45 PM:
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>I've never heard of DIY plated-through holes.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>Of possible interest - <A
href="http://hackaday.com/2015/12/30/sourcing-your-cnc-tools-in-2016-buy-them/"><A
class=moz-txt-link-freetext
href="http://hackaday.com/2015/12/30/sourcing-your-cnc-tools-in-2016-buy-them/">http://hackaday.com/2015/12/30/sourcing-your-cnc-tools-in-2016-buy-them/</A></A>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>Martin W6MRR</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_extra>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Fri, Jan 1, 2016 at 6:44 AM, Rob Seastrom <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:rs@seastrom.com" target=_blank><A
class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated
href="mailto:rs@seastrom.com">rs@seastrom.com</A></A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex"><BR>EDM
sounds awfully interesting. That might be just because I<BR>generally
find the DIY EDM machines to be pretty fascinating. I don't<BR>know
how fine a scale they work well at though - will they cut pads<BR>for the
smaller SMT stuff? I generally think of EDM in terms of stuff<BR>where
the tolerances are 0.005" or so (an artifact of me looking at<BR>cheapie EDM
machines I think), which is fine for a whole lot of stuff.<BR>But when
dealing with a 0.4 mm pitch QFP (i.e. leads on 0.015"<BR>centers) you might
wish for better. I believe the limits of the<BR>*technology* are much
better than that, but how much money do you have<BR>to spend to get
there? You still have to position it.<BR><BR>In other words, I solicit
your expertise on the limits of the<BR>mechanical stuff and what it's
practical to do on a homemade/hobbyist<BR>basis :-)<BR><SPAN
class=HOEnZb><FONT color=#888888><BR>-r<BR></FONT></SPAN><BR>PS: Anyone ever
done plated-through holes on homemade PCBs? That's<BR>always been the
trump card in my arguments for sending stuff out to a<BR>service bureau.<BR>
<DIV class=HOEnZb>
<DIV class=h5><BR><BR>William Danielson <<A
href="mailto:anviljenkins@gmail.com"><A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated
href="mailto:anviljenkins@gmail.com">anviljenkins@gmail.com</A></A>>
writes:<BR><BR>> The EDM process might work. Those that knew all about it
said the<BR>> discharge coaxed molecules to leave the base material and
head towards<BR>> the electrode.....it works quite well, not sure if
anybody ever EDM<BR>> PCB or not ??<BR>><BR>> Bill<BR>><BR>>
On 12/31/2015 02:37 PM, Terry N4TLF wrote:<BR>>> Hey
Alberto,<BR>>> From what I read, it would take a decent amount of
power in the<BR>>> laser to cut through metal. I haven't seen
any (affordable) solid<BR>>> state lasers that are okay to cut
metal. Of course, cutting the<BR>>> thinner layer of copper on a
circuit board is simpler than cutting<BR>>> other metal, so I guess
that it's possible. That would be much<BR>>> better than using a
heavy router & mechanical parts at tight<BR>>>
tolerances.<BR>>><BR>>> There is also a concern about fumes from
melting the metal and<BR>>> potentially the fiberglass. I plan
to do this in my garage in any<BR>>> event (with plenty of airflow),
not in the house.<BR>>><BR>>> However, the consensus here seems
to be that it's a bad idea. I may<BR>>> wait a little while to
see how things progress in 2016.<BR>>><BR>>> BTW, I was able to
move partitions around with the program that you<BR>>> suggested, and
this machine is now also on Windows 10. Thanks again!<BR>>> 73,
Terry, N4TLF<BR>>><BR>>><BR>>> -----Original Message-----
From: Alberto di Bene<BR>>> Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 2:00
PM<BR>>> To: <A
href="mailto:tacos@amrad.org">tacos@amrad.org</A><BR>>> Subject: Re:
PC board milling?<BR>>><BR>>> What about putting a well focused
laser diode of a few W in place of<BR>>> the pen on a paper plotter
?<BR>>> The pen-up and pen-down should be translated into OFF/ON
command for<BR>>> the diode, but apart<BR>>> from this, I don't
see any other major changes... of course the<BR>>> laser
diode will just engrave the<BR>>> isolation lines between the tracks,
it would be impractical to<BR>>> vaporize big areas of copper
.<BR>>><BR>>> Did anybody try this ?<BR>>><BR>>>
73 Alberto I2PHD<BR>>><BR>>><BR>>>
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</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR></FONT><PRE class=moz-signature cols="72">--
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No electrons were harmed in the creation of this message
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~~~******************* Alex Fraser *******************~~~
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[[[[[[~~^^^#___=>>>```/\/\**O**/\/\```<<<=___#^^^~~]]]]]]
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