Homebrew PCBs

John, 
All of my boards have been 2-sided so far. I haven't tried a single 
sided board yet. So, you can imagine the work that I had to do in 
TurboCad getting the layers to line up correctly. What a nightmare. 
That is what spawned the work on a tool path generator. So far, I 
only have one of my axis running on a 2sided board that my mill 
etched and drilled. There are many issues getting the layers to line 
up, so I've only been successful once.

I'll put up a pic so you can check it out.

Dave













--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., "crankorgan" <john@k...> wrote:
> Hi,
>    So you did a two sided board? Or one side of
> the board got messed up?
> 
>                              John
> 
> 
> 
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., "ph4appl" <ph4appl@y...> wrote:
> > John, I now know how you feel.
> > I spent hours and hours drawing a board in TurboCAD only to find 
> out 
> > that when I milled the board, I had inverted one of the layers. 
So, 
> > all of the holes and traces on the other side were off. So, it is 
a 
> > pain. I agree. Hopefully this code we are working on will ease 
the 
> > pain until one of the comercial packages can save in GCode.
> > 
> > Dave
> > 
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., "crankorgan" <john@k...> wrote:
> > > Hi Dave,
> > >         I ment the guys who make Eagle or Target. Make a drawing
> > > program that saves the pad outlines as Gcode or PLT. Running a 
> post
> > > processor is after the fact. You have to put up with all kinds 
of
> > > garbage. I do beleive a program is comming! Lots of people 
talking
> > > about milling circuit boards at the hobby level. I would even
> > > go for a Gcode save in Turbocad at this point. I left out two
> > > holes on my last circuit board. Now I have two or more hours
> > > of work to fix it. Adding the holes is easy. Then I have to 
rotate
> > > the drawing. Convert it to Gcode. Take out some junk. Add some
> > > other stuff. Then center the Gcode, then offset it for the 
machine
> > > I mill it on. All because I left two hole out. Now if I could 
draw
> > > in GCode. We are talking minutes.  
> > > 
> > >                                         John 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., "ph4appl" <ph4appl@y...> wrote:
> > > > Not easy by any stretch of the imagination. If anyone doesn't 
> > > believe 
> > > > me, take a look at 
> > > > 
> > > > http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/studentwork/CESCG99/SKrivograd/
> > > > 
> > > > This page describes some of the math involved with generating 
> an 
> > > > outline or tool path.
> > > > 
> > > > On a side note, I got ToolPathPro to compile this afternoon. 
I 
> > ran 
> > > a 
> > > > sample DXF file through it and generated some rather 
> interesting 
> > > > GCodes. I'll have some pics on my website shortly. The good 
> news 
> > is 
> > > > that Alan has inspired me to keep on working on this thing. 
It 
> > can 
> > > > currently handle direct DXF export from TraxMakerPro and 
> convert 
> > to 
> > > > GCode. I still need to work on the optimization algorithm, 
and 
> > > forsee 
> > > > several weeks of coding, but it is in the works.
> > > > 
> > > > Dave
> > > > 
> > > > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...> 
> > wrote:
> > > > > Hi John,
> > > > > 
> > > > > Well, I wouldn't say it's a "very simple program to write", 
> > right 
> > > > Dave? 
> > > > > I've seen the three Gerber files from TCi.  Silk, 
component, 
> and
> > > > > solder.  Both component (green) and solder (red) have 
traces 
> > and 
> > > > pads. 
> > > > > The silk (yellow) is component outline. 
> > > > > I only saw a few random blue and red lines when I loaded a 
> TCi 
> > > > gerber
> > > > > file into KCam.  I suspect I have an old version.  As long 
as 
> I 
> > > can
> > > > > convert the files, I'll just run them through my 
> own "process".
> > > > >  
> > > > > Hay!  If the cost is high, maybe I can sell an inexpensive 
> > > converter
> > > > > program!
> > > > > 
> > > > > Alan  KM6VV
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > crankorgan wrote:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Hi Alan,
> > > > > >         TCI makes three Gerber files. One of them has the
> > > > > > pads and traces. When I plot the Gerber I get lots of
> > > > > > BLUE lines. Red is cut and blue is travel. When I see
> > > > > > more BLUE than Red I quit. I like my machine to spend
> > > > > > it's time cutting not traveling all over. Most program
> > > > > > that do outlines of traces are bogus. There are several
> > > > > > new ones coming out. Big money! A very simple program to 
> > write. 
> > > I
> > > > > > think the cost is high because there are so few PCBMills 
in
> > > > > > use. They are very expensive to buy. I got laughed at last
> > > > > > year when I came out with my plans. Now there are several
> > > > > > people with homemade PCBMills. Here is your chance to get
> > > > > > in on the fun!
> > > > > > 
> > > > > >                                                  John
> > > > > >