PC board milling?

[Terry N4TLF]

CNC machine builds like those shown are why I was considering building one.  I think technology has moved forward, just like 3D printers.
73, terry, n4tlf


From: Alex Fraser 
Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2016 1:38 PM
To: Tacos 
Subject: Re: PC board milling?

We live in amazing times!  You can assemble a CNC machine for light duty cutting like a tinker toy!
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.

Martin wrote on 1/1/2016 2:45 PM: 
  I've never heard of DIY plated-through holes.

  Of possible interest - http://hackaday.com/2015/12/30/sourcing-your-cnc-tools-in-2016-buy-them/ 

  Martin W6MRR

  On Fri, Jan 1, 2016 at 6:44 AM, Rob Seastrom <rs at seastrom.com> wrote:


    EDM sounds awfully interesting.  That might be just because I
    generally find the DIY EDM machines to be pretty fascinating.  I don't
    know how fine a scale they work well at though - will they cut pads
    for the smaller SMT stuff?  I generally think of EDM in terms of stuff
    where the tolerances are 0.005" or so (an artifact of me looking at
    cheapie EDM machines I think), which is fine for a whole lot of stuff.
    But when dealing with a 0.4 mm pitch QFP (i.e. leads on 0.015"
    centers) you might wish for better.  I believe the limits of the
    *technology* are much better than that, but how much money do you have
    to spend to get there?  You still have to position it.

    In other words, I solicit your expertise on the limits of the
    mechanical stuff and what it's practical to do on a homemade/hobbyist
    basis :-)

    -r

    PS: Anyone ever done plated-through holes on homemade PCBs?  That's
    always been the trump card in my arguments for sending stuff out to a
    service bureau.



    William Danielson <anviljenkins at gmail.com> writes:

    > The EDM process might work. Those that knew all about it said the
    > discharge coaxed molecules to leave the base material and head towards
    > the electrode.....it works quite well, not sure if anybody ever EDM
    > PCB or not ??
    >
    > Bill
    >
    > On 12/31/2015 02:37 PM, Terry N4TLF wrote:
    >> Hey Alberto,
    >> From what I read, it would take a decent amount of power in the
    >> laser to cut through metal.  I haven't seen any (affordable) solid
    >> state lasers that are okay to cut metal.  Of course, cutting the
    >> thinner layer of copper on a circuit board is simpler than cutting
    >> other metal, so I guess that it's possible.  That would be much
    >> better than using a heavy router & mechanical parts at tight
    >> tolerances.
    >>
    >> There is also a concern about fumes from melting the metal and
    >> potentially the fiberglass.  I plan to do this in my garage in any
    >> event (with plenty of airflow), not in the house.
    >>
    >> However, the consensus here seems to be that it's a bad idea.  I may
    >> wait a little while to see how things progress in 2016.
    >>
    >> BTW, I was able to move partitions around with the program that you
    >> suggested, and this machine is now also on Windows 10.  Thanks again!
    >> 73, Terry, N4TLF
    >>
    >>
    >> -----Original Message----- From: Alberto di Bene
    >> Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 2:00 PM
    >> To: tacos at amrad.org
    >> Subject: Re: PC board milling?
    >>
    >> What about putting a well focused laser diode of a few W in place of
    >> the pen on a paper plotter ?
    >> The pen-up and pen-down should be translated into OFF/ON command for
    >> the diode, but apart
    >> from this, I don't see any other major changes...   of course the
    >> laser diode will just engrave the
    >> isolation lines between the tracks, it would be impractical to
    >> vaporize big areas of copper  .
    >>
    >> Did anybody try this ?
    >>
    >> 73  Alberto  I2PHD
    >>
    >>
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