Hi Alan,
Yes using a spinning scribe would make a wider path. I
have an animation on my webpage. Let it load and you will see
a pic of each side of the machine. One guy built a clone of the
Morph by just looking at the pics.
John
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...> wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> What about a small rotating burnishing tool, so the "scratches"
would
> have some width? I can see that this would be very similar to
milling
> the isolation traces.
>
> Alan KM6VV
> P.S. Heard you've got a new mill/plotter working? pix?
>
> crankorgan wrote:
> >
> > Hi Alan,
> > Layout blue is made to be just scratched. It has been
around
> > for 75 years. The trick is to have your traces drawn with an
overlap.
> > During the scratching process you can be sure the trace is
isolated
> > cleanly. The only drawback is all the traces are surrounded by a
> > ground plane. This is the same result as milling them. I use the
> > ground plane for my ground connections. Most digital circuits work
> > just fine with the extra copper. High end receivers use ground
> > planes. There is no simple way to make a PCBoard. Even sending
them
> > out can have headaches.
> >
> > Cranky
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...>
wrote:
> > > Hi Brian, John,
> > >
> > > What about using a diamond engraver tip? I bought one
(mistakenly)
> > > thinking it was for machining (it was for the Dremel engraver).
> > But I'm
> > > thinking one could drag it around as well. I can "read" Gerber
> > files
> > > with my controller program, and I generate "outline" tool paths.
> > from
> > > that.
> > >
> > > Alan KM6VV
> > >
> > > Brian Schmalz wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Crankorgan,
> > > > Putting bluing on the whole board, then scratching it
off
> > with a
> > > > carbide metal scratch tip is the method I'm currently using
to do
> > boards. I
> > > > tape the copper down on a piece of paper, then run it through
my
> > HP plotter
> > > > (7550A). I get very clean lines and can get down to 10mil
space
> > 10mil line
> > > > with a bit of practice, double sided. I've written custom
> > software to take a
> > > > Eagle board file and create HPGL which I then output to the
> > plotter. This
> > > > method really works well since you can use a standard plotter
(I
> > just built
> > > > a special 'pen' with the carbide scratch tip) plus some
software.
> > Anyway,
> > > > the bluing/scratching method is alive and well . . .
> > > >
> > > > ∗Brian
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: crankorgan [mailto:john@k...]
> > > > Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2002 6:41 AM
> > > > To: Homebrew_PCBs@y...
> > > > Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Inkjet printing PC boards
> > > >
> > > > Larry,
> > > > I sell plans for a PCBmill (Brute) and I just finished a
> > > > machine that will mill or draw simple boards. (Morph)
> > > > Months ago I brought up the idea of Scratch and Etch.
This
> > > > idea is not dead. First I developed a super simple CNC
plotter.
> > Now
> > > > I have a machine strong enough to drag a scribe through the
> > blueing.
> > > > Several people tried Scratch and Etch With good results.
Coating
> > the
> > > > whole board and then scribing and isolation between pads for
> > etching
> > > > seems easier.