Hello,

New to the forum. I have dabbled a tiny amount in electronics in the past and something I am keen to learn more about. I am an engineer that has done everything cad/cam so I know a fair bit about 3d modelling and machining. I have my own cnc mill in my garage. More of a hobby machine but I have seen people reaching out for pcb's to be machined for their projects I am hoping that this could potentially be something I can offer and also learn a bit at the same time.

Anyways its nice to introduce myself.
Nodge

 

Welcome.
I cannot afford to make PCB boards anymore. The costs are so low.
I pay $10 setup fee + amount/square meter + shipping.
I often get 30 slightly different little boards. To save the setup fee(s) I cut my boards apart with a mill.
I have seen people mill off the coper from boards, but I do not. Tried it once.
Welcome gain.
RonSimpson

 

Welcome to AAC!

I bought a SainSmart CNC 3018 on impulse just to play with it. I quickly discovered that there is not much you can do with it except engraving on soft material. This provided me with the incentive to build a much sturdier CNC machine. I ended up building a 600x1000mm CNC and the build gave me tremendous learning experience in the world of CNC.

I still use the SainSmart CNC 3018 for creating one-of simple PCB. I created a circuit board for my tube guitar amp.
So yes, a simple CNC can be used to mill a PCB. However, considering the current low cost of PCB manufacturing, you can get professionally looking PCBs with solder mask and overlay made in single or multiple quantities at low cost and quick delivery. I would only do my own PCB milling if it makes sense.

 

Ican run a manual mill fairly well, but CNC programming is an art indeed. I have seen circuit boards that are produced by milling instead of etching. That is also another art of some variety. THAT would be the application for that lightweight milling machine.. Producing circuit boards with no chemicals.

 

Ican run a manual mill fairly well, but CNC programming is an art indeed. I have seen circuit boards that are produced by milling instead of etching. That is also another art of some variety. THAT would be the application for that lightweight milling machine.. Producing circuit boards with no chemicals.

Eagle and pcb-gcode will produce gcode for a cnc mill.
I do this with a CNC3020T mill.

 

One can mill PCBs with a CNC, but you have to watch for certain things. First of all, drill holes first. If one drills a small pad after milling, there is a chance the pad may rip off due to stress focused on just that little pad.
Second, only use software that can handle "probing" of the surface of the board. All boards are not perfectly flat once put down, and one needs to probe the zero point (surface) at various points to allow the CNC software to adjust the depth of the milling bit as it writes the tracks at different places on the board. This gives consistent track widths.

 

Candle CNC software does z-axis mapping.