Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

I just received my Sillhoute Cameo and have a few first impressions.
Mike, if you could chime in here I'd appreciate it because I can't
seem to achieve your results.

1 - I cannot get a pcb to track through the machine accurately. The
cutter seems to hang the board up so that it feeds irregularly,
skewing sideways back and forth as it goes in and out of the machine.
This seems to be true whatever speed I select.

2 - Most of the tracks I get are not completely through the copper. I
am using the highest setting on the cutter.

I am using Gerbv to convert gerber files to svg, then importing the
svg files using the "Designer Edition" of the Sillhoute software. It
seems to work well, but the feed problems make it hard to tell if
everything is accurate. I ordered a pen holder for the machine, so I
should be able to use it as a plotter to see exactly what is happening.

The machine looks like it would be very easy to modify to feed copper
clad reliably. All it should take is putting a few o rings on the
shaft for friction and removing the plastic rollers. Hopefully I'll
have time to take it apart over the weekend.

Mark