View Single Post
  #2  
Old 11-02-2007, 10:26 AM
Rhodan Rhodan is offline
Gold Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Canada
Posts: 158
Rhodan is on a distinguished road

Well, I wouldn't recommend a router at all. Runout on routers, while great for wood, is HUGE when doing circuits.

For example, my PC892 router (which is excellent) has a smallest collet size of 1/4 inch and PCB sized bits are 1/8th. I bought a DA300 collet to fit 1/8th bits (needed for circuit cutting) which fits into a 1/2" collet and the combined runout is +-0.01. That means that the smallest cut I can make will be at least 0.02" wide + the width of the cutter. Using a 45 degree V bit and cutting 0.004" deep that means the minimum cut width is 0.024".

DIP legs are 0.01" apart and pads are typically 0.06" in diameter, that leaves you 0.04" of copper between the legs. Its kind of hard to get even a single trace between those legs when you need 0.048" of space for the two isolating cuts!

I also tried some 1/8th adapters from Lee Vally in my 1/4" collet and they work a lot better (which is odd since they are just single split bushings really). Runout is 0.005". Still not great but you can do some fairly simply circuits with them.

If you are OK with swapping spindles for different jobs then I'd recommend getting a Wolfgang Engineering spindle specifically for PCBs. It runs at 24K RPM and has a max runout of 0.0004" (typical 0.0001"). The one I bought has no detectable runout at all with a 0.001" graduated dial micrometer.

Here's a video of me checking my runout

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzSjIV9tr3E

The achievable results are fantastic and I have a short video of PCB cutting with it as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUDW5pQbxAY

I'm working on a PCB routing primer video to help folks get started (not an expert's video since I'm no expert - but at least it shows an achievable way to get going). Dunno when it'll be ready as I work full time etc.

The Wolfgang Engineering products are available from

http://stores.ebay.ca/Wolfgang-Engineering

I have the TB-440 which I don't see for sale now. Its the TB-350 with an AC motor & mounts and it cost around $200 - $250 (can't remember exactly)

Just remember these are not built for high-torque but for high speed and exceptionally high accuracy. I can route 1/16th FR4 at 10IPM with a 0.063" diamond shaped carbide rasp all day with it but a 1/8th drill bit is a pretty much the limit with my setup. If course, a larger motor and better drive system (just using an "O" ring) would be more capable but I really don't see the need. I drill up to 0.06" holes and route out anything larger with the diamond shaped rasp. Those are usually mounting holes so there aren't many of them. Besides, the bits are tiny and you really can't put much more force on them without snapping the things.

Oh, here's some photos of what I've cut recently. The first and third ones are an experiment in surface mount chips. The traces are 0.01" and 0.005" cut 0.002" deep. I goofed on my Z adjustment and I think they're closer to 0.003" deep. The 0.01" traces came out great but the 0.005" got wiped out.

The second image is 0.014" traces on a board I have since soldered up and have working (a 4-20ma transmitter for testing actuators).
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_0099.JPG‎
Views:	156
Size:	113.2 KB
ID:	46204   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_0098.JPG‎
Views:	221
Size:	109.0 KB
ID:	46205   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_0100.JPG‎
Views:	172
Size:	105.4 KB
ID:	46206  
Reply With Quote

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361