Week

three

electronics

production

PCB Milling/Cutting 🔌

highlights

How does a $200 DIY desktop CNC do in milling PCB?
it is very loud...and it could bite, but it works!

How to produce a programmer board with a ATtiny45
still don't understand why can't the computer be the programmer

How to vinyle cut a 3d circuit
very very very fragile, don't leave the transfer film on when soldering





  • "home brew" pcb mill







  • How far can a $200 DIY PCB mill go?



"home-brew" pcb mill

    It works, but besides accuracy you also trade in your health, safety and time. Here is how the test mill came out after a few hours of fine tuning. It works. Few things worth point out, here are the reasons for why one should spend more money on a Roland: 1. no cover, no noise/dust protection. Very bad for both yourself and your neighbors. (never start it 2 am) I don't understand why they have to build the machine with aluminum at a price $200. A machine at this size, I think it should come as plug and play with plastic cover and plastic structure. Why there aren't someone doing it. 2.Mill platform and x,y moving plane is not perfectly paralled. That comes from hand measured hinge positions on the 80/20. Very poor design. 3. No feedback, the motor is x, y, z motor is blind controlled by the Grblcontrol software without knowing it's physical boundry.





    • program







    • a programmer



    Program a programmer with ATtiny45

    Make sure to scratch the coppersurface with sanding sponge It came out working straight okay. A few tips I learned alone the way: 1. clean, wash, and scratch the board before soldering, life is much easier without the oxide layer on the copper. 2. make sure you get the usb head's width(11.8mm), length(12.9mm) and thickness(2mm) correct, especially when customizing your own board.The above specs works for my case.3.CAD/fab with windows, programming with MAC.





    • Circuit







    • not just on boards.



    vinylecutting circuits

    Tips for cutting and get the circuit out intact from the copper foil tape The key is to thoroughly use the transfer tape, not only the tape, but also the back paper film. The backfilm of copper foil is often too smooth, which result the small cutted copper swimming on it when cutting and cause failure. If one peels the foil and stick it to other format like paper, it will be too sticky for transfer it later. However, through several attempt. The best medium to put the sticky copper foil for cutting is the backfilm of the transfer tape, which is not too sticky or too smooth.

    Any place that will bear strength like usb ports or ISP will be extremely hard to work with Solder joints can easily tear the thin foil circuit apart when pulling. I tried multiple method like using glue or leaving the transfer tape on. However, they will make soldering miserable. I am still trying to come up with solutions. This way of making circuit is surely elegant, but we have to admit that it's not robust at all.