Homebrew PCBs

Joe,
Just a question, why not use Eagle>pcbgcode>board?
A gentleman just posted how he got Eagle 6.3? and 
pcbgcode.ulp to work on Unbuntu.
And it has auto leveling capability.

Art
Country bubba




At 05:32 PM 12/13/2012, you wrote:
>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