Homebrew PCBs

Chris,

I need to explain that I'm here on this board for reasons other than
PCBs and electronics; I work in the scale model manufacturing field,
creating casting masters with photo-etched parts and also parts cut on
a tabletop CNC mill and lathe.

I say this because I understand very little about what PCBs are and
what it is you all do with them. It's your processes and techniques
that I'm after ;-) But, if I can help with CNC information, please
ask. I'm pretty new at it, but I have a 100 hours-plus or so on the
CNC mill.

(At the moment, because I moved recently, the shop is not in working
order, so I can't immediately go cut a PCB-type pattern to show you.)

Using CAD/CAM software and CNC driver software, I have done lots of
cutting with .005" end mills and also with drill bits as small as a
#97 (.0059" iirc). Some of the file operations have required a couple
of hours and thousands of individual cuts. For my use, the accuracy of
this system has been outstanding (once I discovered how to compensate
for backlash in the software).

I'll try to explain further, if you have questions (and they're not
too tough for me).

-Brian

Brian Chapman
Evansdale, Iowa


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