Noob

[puppiesonacid]

Hey, Im new here and new to the concept of DIY PCB milling. I would love to get a machine or build one myself for the purpose of making pcb for guitar electronics work rather than chemical etching. I know nothing about cad or code or anything about these kinds of systems. I have a couple friends who are cnc guys but i would like to educate myself on the ins and outs of diy cnc pcb's myself. I've seen the video's and love the idea of it but dont want to get in over my head. any tutorials that are idiot proof out there? pre built kits? etc...


thanks in advance,

Tony

[mark c]

Don't want to hijack this, but I noticed your name. Are you by any chance a Dream Theater fan?

[Jay C]

I too am just getting into PCB milling. I found www.millpcbs.com to get a nice starting point with some of the basics laid out. As far as tutorials, I haven't found any. Right now I'm upgrading my mill with a high speed spindle. I have a CNC converted X2 mini mill, but if all you need/want to do is mill PCBs or engrave/etch then a gantry router with a high speed spindle should work.

For the software, you can use Eagle Cad. This will allow you to draw and layout your circuits. Then you can export to gcode with pcb-gcode for Eagle. On the other hand, if you are using pictures of circuits (like from magazines) then you may want something like VCarve to be able to vectorize and create your G-code.

I'll share as I learn more.

FWIW,
Jay