I have heard of people using a regular CNC mill or mini mill like a sherline. The real trick is to have a very fast spindle speed ~50,000 RPMS. I have a PCB mill that I built, but I still have to finish my stepper motor drivers. The hardest part is the file conversion for driving the milling. I use gcode files to drive EMC (linux cnc software for controlling a machine). I have been working on a program to convert generic gerber files to gcode files that most CNC software understands. However, it is not quite ready for production use yet. I am still working on the logic for converting all the shapes that touch into the largest outside path. If you want more information about converting gerbers to gcode take a look at source forge or send me an email and I will point you to what I know. Matthew
On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 6:56 AM, spuzzdawg <[1][email protected]> wrote: I've been thinking for a while about CNC milling as a means of board fabrication over chemical etching. The limiting factor for the idea is cost. Every premade PCB mill I have found has been well over $3000UAU. One LPKF mill I found, which was advertised as their 'budget' model started at $20,000AU. Does anyone know of any 'cheaper' PCB mill manufacturers and if so do the play nicely with PCB gerber files. It seems like most mills I've found require their own proprietary, windows only, software or a conversion from gerber to g-code. References 1. mailto:[email protected]
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