Mini Router for PCB

[pntbllrsprky]

Ok I am thinking of building a nice small mini router to make and drill PCBs. I have a Dremel XPR I can use as a spindle.

I was thinking of using something like 1/4-20 rod as the leadscrews. It would be a solid gantry and made out of plastic, probably HDPE and maybe SOME aluminum.

What is a good table size? In my head I keep thinking 1ft by 1ft, but that would start getting into a larger frame I don't have room for. I want this to be something small that I can store away when not needed.

Does anyone have any good plans for doing something like this? I would draw something up but I don't have any CAD programs on this computer anymore.

Thanks.

[rustamd]

whats your budget?

[pntbllrsprky]

I am trying to do it fairly cheap.

[rustamd]

cheap as in $5k instead of $50k or $500 instead of $2k?

[pntbllrsprky]

cheap as in pretty much as cheap as I can get it.

I keep going over ideas in my head.

If I make it out of HDPE, its going to cost me around 100 bucks for the plastic, a rough estimate for around the size I think of. This wouldn't be so hard if I wasn't drawing it in pen on a notepad.

[pminmo]

Smaller is better for accuracy. The finer trace pitch you want, the tighter the machine has to be.

[emtffkev]

Just a heads up, HDPE can be reasonable if you only need .5" thickness. I got mine at sams club in the cutting boards. Be carefull with them depending on the brand they have at the time you can get one right on at .5" or as big of a difference as .1" smaller.

[pminmo]

I can't speak to a whole machine from HDPE, but if money is a significant issue, MDF is really a great low cost material. Wood has outstanding strength properties. When you laminate thin layers of wood and take wood grain orientation into consideration, it gets super strong. If I were to sit down with the strict objective of designing an inexpensive PCB machine, I'd use MDF in a heartbeat. Either I would use MDF in conjunction with Baltic Birch plywood, or layers of MDF depending one where on the machine. There would be mass though, not just one piece of 1/2" MDF.

[pntbllrsprky]

I think I will go with a mix of HDPE, MDF, and plywood. I have most of this around around anyways.