PCB milling

[Psytron]

Hello I was wondering if anyone was capable and keen for some pcb milling.
Just a single sheet....

thx

[Eclipze]

Done plenty of that before ;-)

Are you looking for someone to do it for you?
Complicated design?
Single or double sided?
Looking at a small sheet 150x150mm or larger?

[Eclipze]

BTW... if you were interested in a proper manufactured board, I'm need to get a large panel ordered in a 1 or 2. I always fill them with boards, but if you wanted to pay the prorata on the area needed it might be another option for you.

[Psytron]

Made up of a large number of smaller boards 20x(40mmx55mm) and about half a dozen about100mmx50mm. this is just a rough estimate atm.

boards are simple dil and through hole mounted nothing too small or fiddly

Thx for the reply...

[Eclipze]

That lot would take most of a 16.4x10.4" panel. Large panels are quite difficult, as the surface has to be very level... it only takes 0.1mm difference in height to effect the bit cutting well. It's one thing to have a level table, but other to have level stock... particularly large panels.

I only CNC panels 150x150mm panels to avoid problems. You could fit 2 (maybe 3) of the large boards to one of these, and 6 of the smaller board per panel. So 9 panels... lot of CNC'ing. Excluding the cost of the v-tip for track isolation, drill bits and routing bits, there is $50 in material. Including setup, probably take a day to do. Not interested myself, as it could be a lot of drilling cycles to put the CNC through.

You could get that made commercially for under $200 tinned. Add a solder mask for $30 more. I'd highly recommend this option - will make life a lot easier

[CrazyIvan]

Originally Posted by Eclipze You could get that made commercially for under $200 tinned. Add a solder mask for $30 more. I'd highly recommend this option - will make life a lot easier

Eclipze, where would you (commercially) source a few prototype boards?

[Eclipze]

One PCB place does not suit all jobs and budgets. But an economical place to look "in general" for small quantities is www.becman.com That's where I approximated the pricing, 10.4x16.4" single sided panel with 10 working day leadtime ;-)

[HexkeyCNC]

I use BEC for prototypes PCBs.

They were real nice last time I visited them.
Gave me a 5kg box of old/used/broken carbide bits
Still plenty sharp enough for drilling plastic, wood etc.

Quality is not the highest but most of my problems are my prototypes are not perfect anyway.

BEC don't charge if you panelise the board yourself, cost me about $400 for total 24 PCBs of 4 designs on a 10x16" panel.

Perhaps someone could offer a panelising service, chip together enough PCBs for a run.


To CNC mill a complete panel could take ages and will not be as good.
Z axis control is the tricky bit, a spring loaded engraver seems to be the preferred method for warped boards. Of anyone knows how let me know.

Two of the prototype designs are 4 axis stepper motor drivers so I can make my own PCB mill but that is only so I can make a few small PCBs, no way would I do a panels worth.

Gavin
www.hexkeycnc.com

[Psytron]

Thanks for the info's guys I have found this very informative

Perhaps i will go for proto on cnc then move on for the numbers. just out of interest how much for a 150x150 ??