PC board milling?

[Terry Fox]

Thanks sandy and Alex.  I think technology has moved forward since then.  I heard the same comments about 3D printers, but my experience is that the comments that I heard here about them were based on older units.  I like my 3D printer, except that the vendor is constantly moving forward with newer designs.  However, I can get most parts from Amazon or eBay, so no worries.

There are a lot of cnc mill designs out there, but many don't have the accuracy for pc milling.  I'm pretty comfortable with steppers and electronics for them now.  I'm not as comfortable with "MDF" wood for some of the frames.

Alex, is there a place of look on the Internet for used machines?  A proper mechanical cnc that I could upgrade would save time.  I already have a few nema23 steppers, controllers, and 24V supply from other projects around here - mostly a magnetic loop antenna controller project.  I'm not in any rush, as my interest is moving faster than my budget allows!!

But, the primary usage will be pc board work, so I need pretty tight tolerances.  I'm familiar with rods and linear bearings, and acme rods to some degree now!
Thanks & 73, Terry, N4TLF


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> On Dec 31, 2015, at 12:43 AM, Nan and Sandy Sanders <radiodog77 at pobox.com> wrote:
> 
> Terry, I think we had an AMRAD meeting with a talk on PCB milling with the conclusion being it works but not well. When we looked at getting one for work it seemed like the biggest use was for RF prototyping.
>   Sandy
>  WB5MMB
> 
> 
> At 10:53 PM 12/30/2015, Terry Fox wrote:
>> Hey guys, I am considering building or maybe buying an inexpensive CNC milling machine that can make circuit boards, as a 2016 project.  I often design stuff, and then hand build a prototype using point-to-point soldering.  It's getting old, and doing grounds is not simple - even though I have a few techniques for that. I've seen the prices of PC milling machines coming down, but I thought that I would try my hand at building one instead.  With my exposure to 3D printers, and reading up on a few homebrew CNC machines and plans, I believe that I can build one that can do through-hole and simple SMT devices, down to about 10 mil or so traces/isolation runs.  For smaller parts, I would put the parts on small commercial chip carriers, and add those to the layout.  I don't need a huge 4x8ft mill, a smaller desktop unit would be fine. Has anyone built a CNC milling machine that can SUCCESSFULLY do PC boards? If so, what and how much?  Can it do double-sided (lining up both sides)?  I plan to add many through-holes for vias between layers. 73, & Happy New Year!! Terry, N4TLF _______________________________________________ Tacos mailing list Tacos at amrad.org https://lists.amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos </x-flowed>
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