PCB Milling

Early prototype...

[marcuswolschon.blogspot.com]

Expect results, design-files, technical drawings and instructional
video in 1-2 weeks.
I plan to have PCB milling working (including the software for
optimized routing)
on GPN at the latest.

Software will be VIsolate (optimized Voronoi-routing for milling).
I already adapted it to PCB milling on the Repman quite a while
ago and it should be easy to get it to work on the Thing-O-Matic
and others too.

You may subscribe to
[www.youtube.com]
to get the HOWTO-video, when it's done.

Marcus



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2011 02:58AM by MarcusWolschon.

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Sounds interesting, but the link to your blog gives an "404 not found" ...

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

done.
Thanks for the info.

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Marcus,

I tried with a flex shaft as well, but the mill bit can be moved in and out of the shaft by almost a millimeter, along the shaft axis. Is your flex shaft better in this regard or did you find a way to deal with this play?

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Traumflug Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Marcus,
>
> I tried with a flex shaft as well, but the mill
> bit can be moved in and out of the shaft by almost
> a millimeter, along the shaft axis. Is your flex
> shaft better in this regard or did you find a way
> to deal with this play?


I did not notice such an issue when doing this on the Repman.
However I'll keep my eyes open.
Thanks for drawing my attention to this.

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Yes I bought a cheap Dremel clone and it had this problem, so I forked out for a real one and that was just as bad.

End play makes it useless for PCB milling because you need to go just deep enough to remove the copper, but no deeper as fibreglass is very abrasive and milling bits are expensive.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

... in past i've only used flex shafts as power transmitters - the milling head was a DIY-tool-holder fixed with 3 bearings and a coupling on the end for connecting the flex shaft.

This head milled really precise, but the flex shafts can't drive very fast for long time without overheating.

My actual (comercial, costs 55 or 190 Euros) millheads have 11000 to 25000 rpms and i use engravers and mill bits from 0.1mm to 6mm diameter ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

VDX, have a drawing of that milling head? I have brushless motors from the model plane builders lying around, which have the same play-on-axis issue. I think making the "flex shaft" part really short, like 10 mm, should give reasonable results.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Hi Markus,

i made a really stable milling head with 3 bearings, what's only applicable if you have a lathe ... applied a simplified sketch (without internal fixature)

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

VDX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Markus,
>
> i made a really stable milling head with 3
> bearings, what's only applicable if you have a
> lathe ... applied a simplified sketch (without
> internal fixature)
>


Interesting.
I'll stay with my Dremel flex shaft for the time being.
I simply don't have a lathe and no experience with metal-working at all.

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Thanks, Viktor. Looks like one can get away without a mechanism to adjust play.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

My Proxxon flexshaft doesn't have any play that I can see. It seems real solid.

It is done!
And even 2 weeks ahead of time for the GPN in Karlsruhe.

design files:
[www.thingiverse.com]

video:
[www.youtube.com]

I kind of rushed this, so I may upload an updated video next week or so.
More details on using vIsolate, mention the new leveling-feature on the
PCB-vice platform, maybe write some software to do the drilling too
(Have to find out how this drl file-format of Gerber works first), using
other software to generate g-codes from PCBs, compare different mills, ...

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