How to mill a PCB at Home!

Frank Herrmann

Hey Friends,

i'm proud to present my small VideoSessions (2) to describe the complete process to mill a PCB with chilipeppr. I hope you like it? Comments are welcome!

This Playlist describe the process (Eagle + Chilipeppr + Prepare CNC + Mill on CNC) on my CNC (eShapeoko) to made a PCB with Chilipeppr and GRBL.

https://youtu.be/pfTT7T0mfBE

https://youtu.be/KeY3bZJbtm0

scalz

thx for share. very nice vids :smiley:

NotYetRated

@Frank-Herrmann said:

eShapeoko

Awesome vid! Now I need to look in to that eShapeoko!

Yveaux

@Frank-Herrmann said:

my CNC (eShapeoko)

That seems like a very affordable CNC! Didn't know it existed until you wrote about it.
Did you order it as a kit?

Frank Herrmann

Yes i got this (nice) machine last year from this shop. It's a kind of shapeoko2. The guy work hard, but he has to much orders. I guess a small xcarve are also ok. But i have to warn you, it's not a cheap hobby :)

Here some machines they could mill PCB's:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/CNC-3040T-DQ-Graviermaschine-Gravurmaschine-Graviergeraet-Engraver-Engraving-MILL-/271920866786 (IMHO the best for PCB milling)

https://www.inventables.com/technologies/x-carve

Lars65

I did build my own CNC mill. It's build of MDF and I use ballscrews from Ebay, also tracks from Ebay, motors and so on. I am not even close to the price of what that will costs. I can mill on a surface as big as 1100x800mm. I mill in wood, plastic and even PCB boards. To mill PCB and some plastic have I build a vacuum board driven by a standard vacuum cleaner.
It's really fun project. Now mine is finished , but I do upgrades time to time.
:)

Frank Herrmann

@Lars65 said:

It's really fun project. Now mine is finished , but I do upgrades time to time.
:)

Same by me, now i can mill my PCB's and i want to make a solder dispenser/pick and place header. my Dream, build a Header he can:

mill a double side PCB
put the solder paste drops to PCB
put the (smd) components on PCB

I'll add this features to chilipeppr :)

lars, can we see some photos from your machine and maybe a foto from a milled PCB?

Lars65

Here is my CNC mill, when i mill PCB boards do I use a plastic sheet, and have an opening just for the PCB board. I also use a 60 degree engraving bit, and mill to a depth of 0,145mm. The vacuum table do mill of about 1 tenth of a mm, time to time so I know that it's 100% flat. No need to probe more than to find the top of the PCB
The spindle is 1kw aircold, so I can't run it below 6000rpm Max speed is 24 000 rpm.
Router 2.jpg Router 1.jpg

Lars65

More info about milling. I use a software "designsparks" to draw the PCB. From Designspark do I export the file as an gerber file *.gbr. Next do I open the *.gbr in an another software "CamBam", this is the software to create the *.nc file for the mill. In this do I set up what tools I will use in the mill, also what cutting speed, and spindle speed.
Anyone interested of building a mill, you have a load of websites on the internet. Ebay is also a good source of buying things, but you need to have study what things you buy. Stepper motors for the X,Y and Z movements there is standards like NEMA 17, NEMA 24 etc. But some suppliers sell not so good motors, so reading forums and study is a really good thing to do.