:: any 1 uses MODIFIED 3dprinter to mill a PCB? :: - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: 3roomlab
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 09:46:22 pm
content: alo out there,just wanna find out if there are ppl out there doing the above ....looking for what you peep are using.and by any chance, does any one have good success at porting kicad stuff over to eagle?cheers*edited heading

author: kxenos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 12:43:34 am
content: How can you mill a pcb by printing plastic? Do you mean by printing copper? I guess that there should be inkjet printers with conductive ink that print on plastic. Or do you mean printing the substrate of a board with the tracks risen so that in a later step copper can be laid on the tracks by a roll or an other process. But plastic would melt while soldering. Sounds interesting. Please explain

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 01:01:53 am
content: Maybe he means replacing the head with a drill and use the 3D printer as a mill. Perhaps it can be done but I think the vibrations from the drill may be a problem.

author: kxenos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 01:05:48 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on March 25, 2013, 01:01:53 amMaybe. But he wrote "uses 3dprinting to mill" not "3dprinter to mill" and that's why I assumed what I wrote

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 02:04:04 am
content: You can buy PCB mills which are basically a XYZ platform with dremel style tool to route groves in the copper and make tracks based on gerbers.They do work, but toner transfer or UV exposure is more reliable.The only advantage they have is being able to drill holes faster and in exactly the right place.If you meant using a 3D printer to print one layer of plastic on the copper as a mask for the etching, that's an interesting idea.I have no idea how well that world work.

author: MacAttak
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 05:03:20 am
content: Even if it did work (using an extrusion printer to lay down an etch mask), it seems like it would be about the most expensive and slow mechanism possible for doing it. You would need to operate at the highest level of resolution, which means running it very slowly, and even then I don't think it could compete with other DIY techniques.For actual milling, a typical 3D printer won't be able to do it. Extrusion printers are designed for rapid print head movement, with minimal mass in the head (and other moving parts). They aren't designed for applying any significant force - certainly not the lateral forces needed to perform CNC milling. If you tried it, you would almost certainly severely damage the extruder carriage assembly.You could maybe use a 3D printer as a basis for a pick & place system. Pick & Place is similar to extrusion printing in that the carriage speed and accuracy are more important than lateral force. I imagine one of the Delta designs would work really well for it.Other than that, you really would need a machine designed to do CNC milling as well as 3D printing. I know of only one such machine (perhaps there are some in the > $10,000 range)... the R.P.M. from QU-BD (http://www.qu-bd.com/). And that one isn't actually shipping yet. The first units are going out to early adopters in a few weeks.

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 07:54:56 am
content: On the other hand lateral forces are rather minimal when milling at high rpm (30k and above) in relatively soft material (copper) with a small tool (like the engraving bits that people use most of the time).I'm not a big fan of milling, but using a converted 3d printer for drilling holes would be awesome (and it doesn't introduce lateral forces, only vertical ones)

author: Radio Tech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2013, 09:39:23 pm
content: I have been pondering the idea you over a year now to build a small milling machine to etch out power supply boards. Boards are roughly 6 inch by 8 inch so was thinking of making the table to cover 24 by 24 inch area. I do it the old way now of transfer and chemical etches. But if I built the CNC I could mill and drill several boards at one setting. Most of my boards have at minimum 10 mm creepage due to the fact that they use 2k to 3k volts on the positive side of the caps.I have checked Ebay and can get the stepper motors and controller/power supply for under 300 bucks.

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2013, 07:54:31 am
content: The most vital thing when milling traces is to get things absolutely flat. Engraving bits which are used for that are conical/triangular in shape, which means that if you have inconsistent positioning in Z-axis, which will be reflected on the width of area milled away. And there went you 10mil trace. Getting machine absolutely flawless in terms of pozitioning is possible, but kinda hard. Other thing is to get the machine absolutely square. Another thing is that raw laminate is not exactly that flat and you need to have a vacuum table to "suck it in"