Hi Rod,
Software and steppers should not hold you back. I used some surplus
steppers that I had bought surplus for ~$5 each. And there is software
out there (for Linux, for example) that is freely available. That's
just not the route I decided to take.
I happened to have an XY table, steppers, stepper drivers (Allegro, now
obsolete), PICs, development tools (programmer, C compiler. etc.), lathe
and milling machine, etc. Cobbled together, it add up to a PCB driller.
It does NOT add up to a CNC machine. No arcs, no tool compensation,
only interpolates X and Y, etc. It does have feed rate, different
coordinate systems, relative moves and anything else I thought might be
needed for drilling. It only has 1 acceleration curve. Drilling is
done by a Z down and a Z up, no 'peck' drilling command.
Since nobody else can cobble together exactly what I have, I don't think
it makes sense to present it like a project. If someone wants to cobble
their own, I can share some design experience, software routines, etc.
Kerry
Rodney Jackson wrote:
> Hello Kerry,
>
> I am wondering if you might put your talents in a section for know nothings
> like myself.?
>
> As long as you are not in the business of actually manufacturing and selling
> these types of things, there should not be a problem that I am able to see.
>
> Of course, I fail to see a lot at the best of times.. J
>
> I personally would love a CNC machine. There are cheap ones on sale
> (hardware only) that I might afford. Then there is the addition of software
> and
>
> stepper motors Etc.. This completely blows my budget out of the water.
>
> Thanks Kerry,
>
>
>
> Rod
>
>
>
> From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Kerry Wentworth
> Sent: Tuesday, 3 April 2012 10:40 PM
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] DIY CNC pcb drilling
>
>
>
>
>
> Very nice! Mine is a bit different (cruder). I used an industrial XY
> stage, 6"x6" with stepper motors, mounted on the end of my Sherline
> mill. A homebrew Z stage drives a Dremel tool up and down. I have not
> yet optimized for speed, as I have a limited number of bits on hand. I
> use a PIC16F876 to accept (a subset of) CNC commands and drive the
> steppers. A DOS laptop reads the Excellon files and generates CNC
> commands. It also has a jog mode that allows finding the corners of the
> board and rotates the coordinates to compensate for misalignment of the
> transferred artwork relative to the axes.
>
> I did all of the hardware and software myself.
>
> Kerry
>
> DJ Delorie wrote:
>
>> Been working on this project for a long time, finally got some results...
>>
>> DIY CNC 409 0.0145" holes in 12 minutes
>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1y6Eq19EU
>>
>> The CNC machine uses three brushless DC motors instead of steppers, I
>> had to make my own controller boards, write the firmware, build the
>> table... many steps.
>>
>> controller page: www.delorie.com/electronics/bldc/
>> photos: www.delorie.com/photos/cnc/ (including close-ups of the drilled
>>
> board)
>
>> I have an excellon-to-gcode script for drills if anyone's interested,
>> although there's some new features I still want to try, and I want to
>> see how fast I can get the drilling cycle to go without breaking any
>> bits :-)
>>
>>
>
>