The kind of PCB I want to make is simple. Many complex parts can be bought on ebay as "breakout boards". I want to use these breakout boards as if they were ICs In other words I want to replace my collection of flying Dupont wires and mini-size solderless breadboards with 1970 vintage PCBs Just like the guy in the video.
Thanks for the lead on pcb2gcode. From another list I found out about "flatCAM". It is open source linux/mac/windows and convert berbers and excellent files to g-code. see http://flatcam.org I have only looked at it for about 20 minutes. I will look at pcb2gcode too. thanks I've known about eagle and cicada for a long time. What happened is KiCAD picked up funding from CERN and with a paid staff progress was fast. I've decided to move from Eagle too even if I am a big user of Fusion 360. What tools are used? I mean the cutting tools. Can I use "normal" milling machine spindle RPMs or is a 20,000 RPM router needed? The end mill in the video looks microscopic. On Sat, Apr 7, 2018 at 11:00 PM, Lawrence Glaister <ve...@shaw.ca> wrote: > Hi Chris, > > For the PCB milling, I used to use eagle and the pcbgcode plugin for the > longest time. Eagle got kind of funky after autocad bought them and is now > mostly a subscription service. > > I now use kicad for the schematic and pcb design and an open source > program called pcb2gcode to convert gerbers to gcode files for linuxcnc. I > just completed a board I sent off to https://www.seeedstudio.com/fu > sion.html for production. Smooth as silk and unbeatable prices. (10 > boards 3.8x2.5" for $4.41(March Sale) + shipping). > > I then designed and milled a small board for a calibration jig and used > the pcb2gcode to convert the bottom copper gerber to linuxcnc gcode files. > Again, pretty smooth once one gets the isolation and offset parameters > figured out. > > I think kicad is a much superior package to eagle and has no restrictions > on boards size or schematic size. As with learning a new cad system, it > took a couple of youtube videos and a couple of days of practice, but it > really only took a few days to go from nothing to ordering pcbs. Well worth > the investment in time. The current kicad V4 release worked the best for > me.... I tried V5 from git, but it wasnt quite workable yet. The advantage > of V5 is that it will be able to import eagle project schematic and PCB > files. > > I have done quite a few PCBs by milling, and there are a few tricks like > using wider traces and trying to keep most surface mount parts and traces > on the bottom layer and use the top layer for jumpers and through hole > parts to avoid 2 sided milling. One sided pcbs are much less critical to > mill as they are milled, drilled and cutout without changing the mounting. > This avoids a lot of headaches of trying to get top and bottom layers > aligned. > > cheers > Lawrence Glaister VE7IT > Nanoose Bay BC, Canada > > On 2018-04-07 10:05 PM, Chris Albertson wrote: > >> Is anyone using a CNC mill to make PCBs? The video linked below shows >> someone doing this on a small mill with Mach 3. The PCB is certainly not >> high tech. The parts are all through hole with 0.1 inch lead pitch and it >> is one side only. Right out of the 1970's but it is exactly what I want >> to >> make. More complex PCBs can go to oshpark >> >> Is there a Linux based tool chain? The part I don't see is how to >> convert >> Gerber files to g-code files. >> >> Then what tools work best? I think three are needed tiny end mill to >> route >> copper, Tiny spiral mill for cutting the PCB all the way through and a few >> micro side drill bits for the through holes. >> >> BTW it seems like the guy in the video could have saved a lot of time by >> using a (fake) ground plane that flooded all the empty space. No need to >> mill all that copper away. >> >> https://youtu.be/xM8sTEw3OLQ?t=5m41s >> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------ > ------------------ > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > -- Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
