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

actually, I think that this could be done with what is emerging as a
some what standard CNC PCB machine (3 axis basis plus "special"
axises (axees?)) with a wrap gun attachment. I see two problems that
need solution:

a) routing the wires. probably done by hand but you need to handle
the issue of binding and wire build up.

b) ww socket tails (i.e. the wire posts you wrap on) are not terribly
accurate in their position. I've used em and its inevitible that
they get bent a little. Finding the post to slide the wire spinner
onto would be tricky. maybe just have a funnel on the wrap tool to
guide the sleeve to the post.

Of course, this is kind of a moot point as WW appears to be
dissapearing. Guess those pesky SMDs dont wrap very well...

But this does bring up a kind of wild idea I've thought about during
episodes of low blood sugar. Why not just have a direct wire
machine? Stuff the components (TH, of course) into a predrilled
board. Invert the board (securing the components somehow) and then a
machine strips a wire, solders it to a lead, moves (er, routes the
wire) to the next lead, cuts the wire (if terminal run), solders it
to the lead and moves to the next lead. There was a company in the
70s (could still be around) called multiwire or some such that did
this for fast turn prototypes. It was quite expensive but it produced
some very complex boards fast. If I remember correctly, the first
intel 386 logic simulator (made out of random logic gates) was built
with this technology. I think fast turn PCB houses pretty much
killed their business.