CNC for routing PCBs - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Alfgan
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2019, 02:42:46 pm
content: Hello everyone,It is my last year in studying Electronics engineering bachelor and I have a lot of thoughts what to choose for a bachelor work. Recently I have thought about a CNC machine designed of routing PCB traces and drilling vias. I have red a bit about CNC and that they are capable of tracing PCB. Also I would like to have an CNC at home so I could create my own one sided PCB more easily.At this point I am trying to choose mechanical and electronic parts that I will need for CNC machine. Maybe you have some advice for parts or components or someone had already built a CNC machine for custom PCB tracing by himself and have some tips. Also I would like if the cost would be under 250$. Also what micro-controller and drivers would you recommend.Thank you very muchAlso sorry for my bad English, It's not my native language.

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2019, 03:12:57 pm
content: CNC boards sound like a great idea, but except for the better drilling ability of a CNC, etching probably makes better boards and is way cheaper.The thing is either way, you will put a lot of time into perfecting a method, and then as soon as you use a PCB service like JLCPCB, you will stop making your own boards. Even if you can make your CNC for $250 (you can probably do a 3018 Pro CNC for that), you will probably end up spending more on drill bits, router bits, collets for the ER11 chuck, offline control panel.The PCB services give you very low cost single, double, 4 layer etc board. You get solder masks, silkscreen layer. Many of these services provide you with 5 or 10 boards for an amazingly low amount of money. You can use very fine geometries and you need that for some modern SMD parts. The solder masks mean you can solder SMD parts without solder bridging. The copper is plated and you can get gold plating if you need it. You will end up with professional looking prototypes rather then oxidising copper tracks on a rough PCB.I would only think about the expense of a CNC solution if you had a particular reason to need to build simple PCBs on a very short timescale. If you have to order components, you probably can get the boards back from the PCB services before all the components arrive.Richard

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2019, 03:47:47 pm
content: He is not doing it to make PCBs, he is doing it to get college credit.@Alfgan, I do not think this is a good choice for your project, because it is mostly mechanical. The electronics involved is too simple. Look for a project with more electronics content.

author: Alfgan
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2019, 06:58:47 pm
content: Thank you for your answers.Firstly, I want to make CNC for myself, because I lake the Idea that I can make PCB at home. Now I am using JLCPCB service and I really like them and I will use their service for more complex PCBs. Also at this moment when I need a single basic device I am using universal boards However I thought it would be nice to have a CNC to make custom PCBs.@Edavid you are right CNC is mostly mechanical and electronics involved is pretty simple, but at this moment I do not have many ideas for my Bachelor workI want to make something that I could use :/However if you have some alternative Ideas I would be happy to hear them ^^

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2019, 12:40:25 am
content: Google is your friend! Try a search for 'arduino cnc grbl'There will be kits and such that are pretty much ready to go. The firmware (called 'grbl') runs on an Arduino and controls the motion. It interprets the G codes sent from a PC.Research 'grbl' and 'G codes'. You will need a CAD program to generate the layout and a CAM program to convert the drawing into G-codes. The motion component is grbl rather than something like Mach3 which is more common on CNC mills and lathes. Although, you could certainly use a complete package running on a PC (CAD, CamBam, Mach3) talking to a motor driver like SmoothStepper or the Arduino with grbl.https://www.cnc4pc.com/ethernet-smooth-stepper-board.htmlI use the Ethernet version of Smooth-Stepper, there is also a USB version.You will have to research how to create the CAD drawing because you aren't cutting the trace, you are cutting away the outsides and I don't know how to do that with CAD. It has been done so it is certainly possible.Apparently, you can do it in Eagle:

author: FirstTry
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 29, 2019, 01:02:10 am
content: Hi, I currently use a mini desktop CNC to make prototype PCBs under $200. For prototyping, it's not bad. I also have all the parts and the software used to make that circuit in the description of the video. It's a kit you have to put together.The machine I use is a 1610 CNC Router:https://www.amazon.com/MYSWEETY-Engraving-16x10x4-5cm-110V-240V-Extension/dp/B0778KCLS7/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=cnc+1610&qid=1569718678&s=gateway&sr=8-2It is not bad for the price and I got great results. I attached some pictures down below of the result using this machine.

author: Alfgan
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2019, 01:15:14 pm
content: Wow thank you very much@FirstTry your CNC looks amazing and I really like how custom PCBs looks like. I will definitely try to make something similar. I want to make small desktop CNC machine for small PCBs. Now I need to talk with my undergraduate supervisor and ask if this project would be good for my Bachelor.@rstofer Thank you, I will definitely research grbl and G codes. At this point I am using Altium at work and EasyEDA at home and I think these platforms have a CNC support also I will try to use FlatCAM for CNC PCB routing.