Comments on: PCB CNC mill is rocking out boards http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2010/06/pcb-cnc-mill-rocking-out-board/ Home of Kwartzlab Makerspace in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario Fri, 24 May 2013 15:33:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Anonymous http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2010/06/pcb-cnc-mill-rocking-out-board/comment-page-1/#comment-215 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-215 Nice :-) [hopefully you have a milled board at the lab for us to check out :-) ]

(So where to now? Just enjoy the machine for a while? Fine tune or build the next version? Automated placement/soldering?)

]]> By: DW http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2010/06/pcb-cnc-mill-rocking-out-board/comment-page-1/#comment-216 DW Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-216 Features:

* home switches
* new motor drivers that don’t involve solderless breadboards
* spindle light
* vacuum attachment
* some bellows to keep dust and swarf off the axes
* spindle camera (for demos)
* contact microphones on the motors because they’ll sound even better amplified

Projects:

* milling acrylic for a case for my uber bike light
* milling acrylic for LED-edge-lit pieces (where can I get cast, versus extruded, acrylic locally?)
* milling boards for animeyes (yeah, that’s still on the bench)

A lot of stuff to be worked out in the 2.5D and 3D non-PCB milling on the software toolchain side.

DW

]]> By: karlw http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2010/06/pcb-cnc-mill-rocking-out-board/comment-page-1/#comment-217 karlw Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-217 Hey Darin,

Awesome job on the PCB mill! The boards you’re creating are totally professional. Another leap forward for Kwartzlab rapid prototyping capabilities.

Take care, Karl

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2010/06/pcb-cnc-mill-rocking-out-board/comment-page-1/#comment-218 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-218 DW

Check out this guys page ( ED Nisley from Circuit Cellar) at http://softsolder.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/sherline-cnc-mill-adding-home-switches/ for a good article on adding Homeswitches to his modified Sherline mill.

JohnW

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2010/06/pcb-cnc-mill-rocking-out-board/comment-page-1/#comment-219 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-219 Very cool, congrats!

What layout file format do you need?

Re backlash, there are anti-backlash gears. Don’t know if your design would be amenable to them. Or have you dealt with it satisfactorily in SW?

How about double-sided!?!? :-)

Michael

]]> By: DW http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2010/06/pcb-cnc-mill-rocking-out-board/comment-page-1/#comment-220 DW Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-220 I’m using the free [Eagle CAD](http://www.cadsoft.de/) to do my schematics and board layout. Then I use the fabulous and free [pcb-gcode](http://www.pcbgcode.org/), which is a ULP created by John Johnson. Running that script creates the tool path in the form of g-code.

There are anti-backlash nuts that can be employed on the axis drive screw, often spring-loading the nut to push it against one side of the threads. I’ve got a simpler setup, using a 2″ section of 5/8″ brass square stock (go go [Metal Supermarket](http://www.metalsupermarkets.com/)) that is drilled, tapped for 1/4″-20 all-thread, and mounted to the bottom of each axis. I consider the brass parts consumables and just compensate in software, the also fabulous [TurboCNC](http://www.dakeng.com/turbo.html). Advantage: simplicity and cost. Disadvantage: slower job speeds, especially with lots of curves.

And double-sided boards are certainly in the cards. I’ll be switching from a foam bed to a plastic table bed, and I plan to mount pins to the table to allow flipping the board over, which is also accomodated in pcb-gcode.

DW

]]> By: DW http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2010/06/pcb-cnc-mill-rocking-out-board/comment-page-1/#comment-221 DW Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-221 Love the JB weld for the switches ;-)

DW

]]> By: jeff-o http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2010/06/pcb-cnc-mill-rocking-out-board/comment-page-1/#comment-223 jeff-o Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-223 Fantastic!

I really need to come by and see this in person. The results look great!

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