Milling/Routing on cheap chinese boards - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: PeterFW
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2015, 04:48:00 pm
content: Hello!Since i could not find the information chances are im either to stupid to find it or they do not do it.Do Itead, Elecrow and the other do routing on the boards?My design fits nicely on one of the 10x10cm boards, just once.But i got a non-rectangular outline, it would look something like this on a 10x10 board:I could put drill holes all around, snap the board out and go around it once with sandpaper if they do not mill "internal cutouts".Does annyone of you have experience with that?Greetings,Peter

author: Christopher
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2015, 05:36:20 pm
content: Just put the outside dimension on your board outline layer, and they cut to this.Inner cuts (creepage slots etc): Draw a routing path similar to the following:/\| || || || |\/

author: PeterFW
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2015, 02:09:13 pm
content: Thanks for your replys!

author: Skashkash
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2015, 03:55:25 pm
content: Itead did this board for me a year ago. So they can certainly handle the routing.I think they usually use a 1mm router bit.Just be sure to put your board outline on the right gerber layer and name the layer files with extensions in the .zip archive appropriately.

author: PeterFW
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2015, 02:03:11 am
content: Quote from: Skashkash on April 14, 2015, 03:55:25 pmGreat, thank you!Itead allready dit send me a reply that it is no problem and no additional fees will be charged.You board looks nearly identical to mine, anny chance that is for a Hammond 1553B enclosure?

author: Quark-elec
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2015, 12:55:11 pm
content: non-rectangle shape should be no problem at all. Any any slot beyond 0.8mm should be OK for manufacture!

author: matseng
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2015, 01:13:29 pm
content: Yea, the cheap board houses usually does any weird shape without complaining. If I measure the radius of sharp corner cuts it seems like they randomly use 0.8, 1 and 1.2 mm router bits for the routing.Here are some of my weirder shapes I did a year ago.

author: Skashkash
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2015, 04:20:16 pm
content: Quote from: PeterFW on April 15, 2015, 02:03:11 amYup, my board was for a hammond enclosure. I had guessed from your post that you were also targeting the same enclosure. It prompted me to scan in my pcb. The enclosure worked great for my particular application.Complex external pcb routing from almost all these providers does not seem to be an issue (as has been wonderfully illustrated by matesng). Internal slots can sometimes be a little bit trickier to get right.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 11, 2015, 06:57:09 am
content: You need the parts that you want to milling in the keep-out layer or mechanical 1 layer, then you will get the result that you want. I have do several boards with these kinds, and they are just what I want.