Hi Alan,
The Tit4Tat can run relays, stepping motors etc. It has
lots of outputs and several inputs. These type boards are used by
budding programers. Rather than just do a simple PCB layout I went
for making ARTWORK. In the old days the PCB traces were called
ARTWORK. When ICs came out the boards got ugly!
If you pull my DXF up in a Cad program using a .0125 Grid you
will see how I draw the traces and pads. I use a Mechanical Etching
bit from Think and Tinker. I put a picture of it in the KLEINBAUER
folder. I got the Piker 4x4 working but I am bogging down on the
rework. I am taking out extra cuts. Selling boards has become a real
mistake! There are so many people doing it. Like a fool I listened to
someone. Now I see there is a nice 3 axis controller board for only
$40 (Bare) L297/L289. My strength is in designing cheap CNC machines.
I was told to listen to my customers, bad idea.
John
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...> wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> I sent a copy to Dave, and I've been to his site per a previous
> reference you made to him (His Mill Clone).
>
> I have ran the Gcode script with Eagle, "isolation" or "outlines" I
> think it's called. Yes, that provides a drop-in solution. My
intent
> was my own edification, and also to be able to take a Gerber file
from
> any PCB package (I had a friend with similar requirements say they
tried
> it, and ended up buying another product). The DXF output would
also be
> a place to start. I wasn't able to get Vector CAD/CAM to do
offsets to
> ALL my traces and pads automatically (from a DXF I imported to
Vector),
> so didn't go that way.
>
> I played with TCi last night, WOW! What fun! I laid down 6 pads
and a
> few traces, stored the Gerber file, and ran it through my code.
Instant
> success! So there is a possible "quick and dirty" way to generate
> simple board part programs. While this is too simple a board (not
> representative), it does demonstrate (prove) the concept.
>
> The "body" of the Gerber file generated was 6 blocks for my 6 pads
> (D03), and 24 blocks for my 12 traces (D02). I generated a 54 line
> Gcode program (using Vector CAD/CAM), which included 14 blocks for
the
> "rapids" needed. The program also included 8 blocks were arc's.
32 of
> the blocks were G01 cuts. Again, this is too simple a design to
> determine much, but it's not bad!
>
> TSP? Too simple to tell, but I think Vector CAD/CAM helped on
that. I
> do COMPLETE isolations of each net (pads and traces connected
together),
> and don't attempt to minimize cuts by "sharing" between adjacent
> traces. That's an interesting idea, however, and I have gathered
from
> your tit-for-tat board that adjacent traces an pads SHOULD share the
> same isolation (although I'll continue to cut them twice).
>
> Speaking of your posted board, what's on it? I see a DB25, a pair
of
> 14-pin packages (open collector buffers, I suspect), pads for
output,
> and pads which I'd assume are for pull-up resistors and bypass
caps. I
> didn't find the board on your web site, do you still offer it? I'd
be
> curious to see the corresponding schematic. I doubt if I'll be
building
> it, but it would be a nice small test. I'm thinking of "laying it
out"
> with TCi, and maybe Eagle also, to see how it plots out!
>
> Your isolation cuts for small pad's measure .1" I believe, and the
> larger ones are .15". What dia's are you calling out for them?
Also
> the trace cuts are .05", what is their width? What tool dia do you
use?
>
> How are you optimizing your rapids (TSP)? I suppose I could add
code to
> my controller software to report the total length of rapids and cuts
> (arc's?), and that would give me an idea. Also, I believe Vector
> CAD/CAM can report the "time" for a part file. That might result in
> some useful data.
>
> Are you doing a drill file, like Epsilon? What format? I'd like to
> take a look at it.
>
> Alan KM6VV
>
>
> crankorgan wrote:
> >
> > Alan,
> > Two things! Run this past Dave Kush at:
> >
> > http://www.calweb.com/users/d/dnjinca/
> >
> > Also, have you played with the SCRIPTS that are in
> > Eagle. There is one there to turn a PCB drawing into a DXF. In
> > the Cad_Cam conference there used to be a script that made
> > a PCB drawing into GCode. I only played with the DXF one. I
> > abandoned Eagle because of the Traveling Salseman Syndrome.
> > Someone showed me how to use ACE to fix my drawing. I think
> > you use Vector.
> >
> > John
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...>
wrote:
> > > Hi to the Lists,
> > >
> > > I generated this demo RS-274X (Gerber) file header from Tci, a
> > French
> > > PCB program (pardon my french). I've had some of the parms
> > explained
> > > before, and I have the Gerber spec, so I have some Idea of their
> > use.
> > > What's not obvious to me is how they expect one to go about
parsing
> > it.
> > > I know it's in MM. The '∗' are always end-of-block, which is
> > fine. I
> > > see '%' characters bracketing SOME of the blocks, but some at
start
> > and
> > > some at end (suggests several blocks are "together"?). And This
> > header
> > > seems to use G04 (delay) as a comment?
> > >
> > > I have a parser for Gcode, but this header stuff doesn't fit too
> > good
> > > (parser wise)!
> > >
> > > It looks like "ADD 10 C 0.318" (spaces added) sets aperture #10
to a
> > > circular pad, and "ADD 11 C 1.588 X 0.2" is for the traces. I
can
> > work
> > > through it from the CAD PCB layout to get the numbers right, But
> > this
> > > all seems rather haphazard, IMO.
> > >
> > > Any comments?
> > >
> > > G04 format : xxx.xxx unité : millimètre ∗
> > > %FSLAX33Y33∗
> > > MOMM∗
> > > OFA0B0∗
> > > SFA1B1∗
> > > IPPOS∗%
> > > G04 définition des ouvertures pour les pistes ∗
> > > %ADD10C,0.318∗%
> > > G04 définition des ouvertures pour les pastilles rondes ∗
> > > %ADD11C,1.588X0.2∗%
> > > G04 tracé du CI ∗
> > >
> > > Alan KM6VV