Hi George,
I draw my pads and trace paths in TurboCad. The pads have
eight sides. This keeps the code shorter than a circular pads. The
problem with milling boards are: Bits are $8 each, They do break!
The boards are harder to solder- you need good eyesight because every
trace is surrounded with copper. Tiny burrs can cause shorts. One big
myth I found out!!! If you spin the bit faster, it will last longer.
Don't push the bit faster than the formula. You can mill .0004" to
.0006" for every revolution of your tool. This means you can only
mill 6" per minute with a Taig or Sherline going 10,000 rpms.
After talking with several people who own a real PCB mill, I
got a few shocks. The bits are rated for hundreds of inches!!! One
long cut a hundred inches long. Don't do any plunges to start
new traces. Every start plunge into the PCB shortens the life of the
cutter. I put lub on the board. This keeps the dust down, life of the
cutter is still the same. I have milled hundreds of boards and sold
them. Milling boards is perfect for fast prototyping. Forget using
this method for production runs.
John
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., "george_barr" <george_barr@y...> wrote:
> There is a soon to be released PCB Isolator called DeskPCB by
> www.deskam.com. I emailed them asking for a PCB Isolator and they
> emailed me the demo of DeskPCB. I found that the round circular
pads
> that the program outlined is not entirely circular but similar to a
> 10 or so sided circle with sides. This might affect the actual PCB
> circuit board results. I am still new to this so cannot give
anyone
> more info. You or anyone else should check it out and possibly
> provide some input. Try emailing them for a free demo copy. I am
> considering using ISOPro since it is what the real expensive PCB
> mills use.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., "crankorgan" <john@k...> wrote:
> > George,
> > Check this out
> >
> > http://mynock.dhs.org/pcbmilling/index.shtml
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., George Barrinuevo <george_barr@y...>
> wrote:
> > > I found the Engraver program from this link that does
> > > PCB isolation using CNC. Are there any other programs
> > > that can do PCB isolation paths to mill a PCB circuit
> > > board?
> > >
> > > --- crankorgan <john@k...> wrote:
> > > > Hi,
> > > > Check out this list of PCBoard programs.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > http://www.olimex.com/pcb/dtools.html
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Check out the engraving program at the
> > > > bottom.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > John
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> > > George Barrinuevo
> > > george_barr@y...
> > >
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________
> > > Do You Yahoo!?
> > > HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs
> > > http://www.hotjobs.com