Isolation Milling Of PCB's

Hello All

After lurking on this forum for some time I now have something to contribute which may be of interest to the RepRap community.

The Line Grinder software takes the Gerber.files output by most PCB design software and can create PCB isolation milling GCode from it. Line Grinder runs on Windows boxes and is both free and open source. Written in C# v2008.

http://www.OfItselfSo.com/LineGrinder/LineGrinder.php

Help files are included with the software. I know many here use Eagle, there is a specific help file which discusses how to output Eagle plots which you might find to be useful.

The current version is a pretty stable beta. I would be happy to hear feedback, bug reports and suggestions for improvements.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2010 02:00PM by Cynic.

That looks realy good, will have a go with it, thanks.

Edit, I have installed and ran it, took me a while to figure out the file manager bit, but it really looks good, ran
the gcode through Mach3 and all seems well with no edits needed, I will keep playing and cut a board when time permits.

Thanks again for posting this.


P.S Designspark looks good, its by RS componants, not open source, I wonder if its free long term?.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2010 04:58PM by johnrpm.

---

Random Precision

Just a note to say Version 01.00 of Line Grinder is now out. Major changes

- Added support for more Gerber code types
- The user is now prompted to create a File Manager if one does not exist.
- The requirement for defined reference pin pads on the PCB is now optional. If you were getting "No reference pins could be found on the PCB" messages with the last version you now have the option to open the Gerber File anyways.

If your Gerber File will not open - please let me know. There are lots of Gerber "standards" and I would like to support as much as I can.

http://www.ofitselfso.com/LineGrinder/LineGrinder.php

Kind regards
Cynic

Hi Johnrpm

Sorry, did not reply to your message because I only just now noticed the original post had been edited with a reply. I was looking a the new posts count and did not re-open the thread.

>P.S Designspark looks good, its by RS componants, not open source, I wonder if its free long term?.

I must say I really like the DesignSpark user interface - very easy to use, however as you say, as it is not open source its continuous availablity is open to question.

However, I think what they (RS Components) are doing is trying to compete with Farnell who have bought Eagle. My understanding is that they are both intending to add their part numbers to the libraries. Thus, when you design your circuit, you will be able to press a button and get a list of part numbers to purchase from Farnell or RS Components. The idea being that if you can present your users with a pre-prepared list of links to parts then more people will just hit the button and place the order so as to save the hassle of digging around on various vendor sites. If this is the case, then DesignSpark will be available for some time as they are attempting to match Farnells moves in this area. BTW, DesignSpark is just a re-badged EasyPC PCB design software so there is an actual development house behind it.

Yes I think you are spot on, they would like us to get the componants from them, we must buy them somewhere so thats not a problem, also the ability to create your own componants means I could make my own library of the stuff I have or tend to stick to, I have played with it a few times and I do like designspark.

I have not had time to do much with your isolation milling software, I normally use the iron on method but would like to go
to your software to save having etching fluid, I am doing a interface board for the mega for printheads so will hopefully do it with linegrinder.

Thanks again for doing it and shareing.

---

Random Precision

There are a lot of softwares which can mill PCBs, all listed ones run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X: [reprap.org]

---

Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY