Homebrew PCBs

On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Art Eckstein <
art.eckstein@wirelesshometown.com> wrote:

> **
>
>
> Joe,
> Yep, you have run into a couple of problems with
> boards being level. It has been found the boards
> will "bow" up in the middle when clamped on the
> edges and FR$ has (I think) a 10% tolerance for
> board thickness. The best way to hold down the board is by vacuum.
>
> As for the "paper" board, you want CEM type as
> opposed to the FR4. I get mine from a seller on
> Ebay
> (<http://stores.ebay.com/PCB-Laminates-Copper-Clad?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
> >).
> There are a few "autoleveling" packages that
> probe the board height before doing the isolation
> milling and these seem to work quite well. I use
> Eagle and a ULP called pcb-gcode.ulp with autoleveling to make my boards.
> For fine work, I use a 30° V bit, and for general
> non critical stuff, a 60° one from <http://www.drewtronics.net/>.
>
> HTH
> Art
> Country Bubba
>
Hello Art,

I use this tool path (gEDA/pcb -> gerber and excellon -> pcb2gcode ->
G-code -> EMC2/Axis -> tabletop CNC as detailed at
http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Milling#gEDA.2Fpcb_-.3E_gerber_and_excellon_-.3E_pcb2gcode_-.3E_G-code_-.3E_EMC2.2FAxis_-.3E_tabletop_CNC)
and am trying to figure out if there is an "autoleveling" package with
linuxcnc (emc^2).

I read up on the autolevelling package at
http://phk.freebsd.dk/CncPcb/index.html and it appears to be exactly what I
need.

I believe it makes a crude 3-D map of the Cu surface and adjusts the z in
the gcode accordingly.

Thanks
Joe


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