PICStep experience

[MrBean]

Originally Posted by smarbaga what would the machine movement resolution distance be on your finest pass ? is this a home made machine ? do u drill at 25k rpm's as well? a sugestion, if i may, if you drilled first there may not be as much traring. the board looks great, and you can have one anytime, in your own home. thanks for sharing , MrBean.

Hmmmm. Resoultion? All 3 of my axii (sp?) have different resolutions.
I guess the answer would also depend on if you count microstepping in the calculation? Resolution doesn't always = accuracy or repeatability.
Ha Ha. look.... I'm starting to waffle on now......
This subject has been discussed in depth elsewhere on "The Zone".

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "movement resolution distance"

But here's some numbers anyway....

The smallest move my X axis can make is 0.0004 Inches
The smallest move my Y axis can make is 0.000027 Inches
The smallest move my Z axis can make is 0.000019 Inches

Yes the machine is homemade. It's just made from stuff I could lay my hands on at the time. I have a second machine about 80% built, and a third machine that I have parts for, but have not started building yet.

Spindle speed when drilling was not so fast. Around 15K rpm.


Regards Terry.

[fyffe555]

Terry,

How did you produce the G-code? How long did it take to produce the board? As the others have said, nice board.

Andrew

[MrBean]

Originally Posted by fyffe555 Terry, How did you produce the G-code? Andrew

Ah...... Good question.

I didn't......
The computer did it.
Sorry. Just kidding...

The board layout was done in Eagle. I'm sure you all know Eagle is free for boards up to 80mm * 100mm.

The clever bit, (G-code generation) is a script for Eagle, written and given away for free by a guy called John Johnson. The script itself is pretty easy to use. In fact, once it's setup, you would hardly know it's there. It even has a graphical front end for configuring set-up files etc. It intergrates itself with Eagle as a ULP. It's a pretty damn impressive piece of scripting.

Probably the worst part is getting all the settings just right and working well together. The design rule checker, net classes, and the settings for the gcode generation script, all have to be pretty good to get good results.

I've only just started using Eagle and the ULP script over the last few days. So really, anyone should be able to achieve these results in that time, or less. Providing you have a CNC that can cope with it.

As for the time it took to produce the board. I'll assume you mean the actual CNC milling of the board.

I didn't time it, but would estimate it to have been around an hour. That did include a lot of unnecessary copper removal though. The minimum track isolation was done in around 7 mins. I just liked the look of the board with more copper removed between the traces.
Of course, you could bring the time down from there. It depends on how fast you dare cut with those tiny cutters.

I hope that answers your questions.

Reagrds Terry.

[fyffe555]

Terry, thanks.. I'm familiar with the ULP... or I thought I was! Is the Eagle Cadsoft ULP version John Johnsons's? I was wondering how did you got it to clear quite so much copper. You prompted me to find JJ's PCB-GCODE yahoo group and the ULP has step feature now. nice, the version I tried a while back didn't. Instead I've been using the old ULP to drill and cut to shape first, then using the holes to align toner transfer and etch on both sides at once. Tedious. Your results are so good I think I'll have to try milling once again. Thanks for the lead..

Andrew

[MrBean]

Andrew. Yeh... If you found the Yahoo group "PCB-Gcode", then you're in the right place.
The step feature is really handy, although the cuts could be optimized for better speed... It seems a bit random, the way it orders the cuts. (Lots of Z and rapid moves). Anyhow, I'm not complaining. The results a way better than I was expecting.

The script can also generate a seperate 'copper removal' gcode file, but this is "Raster" fashion. It tracks accross the board incrementing the other axis each pass. Much like the built in JPG > gcode in Mach3. Using stepover is much better.

If you give the new ULP a go, can you post your results here if possible? It would be good to see how it goes.

Regards Terry...

[tfmacz]

I am trying to V2 working. It is running but the only mode available is the 1/16 step the mode jumpers seem to have no effect????

Originally Posted by MrBean I've been using Alan's PICStep drivers for around 18 months now, and not had any major issues with them. In fact, they've been really good. ---------SNIP----------- I tried to switch back to 1/8 mode for my Z axis, but found that the jumpers on the interface board no longer seem to alter the step mode?? ----------SNIP---------- The 1/16 mode does generally seem to make my machine run smoother. Cheers Alan.... Regards MrBean.

[santiniuk]

Weird.....

I am using V2 (Autoshutdown code version) and can confirm that jumpers do work, and change modes.

For the 1/16 step mode All jumpers are on. (On the version I'm using).

Strange thing is that Mr Bean reported problems with the jumpers also ???

Good luck !

[MrBean]

Ooops. I forgot about this thread.

I'm using the NON autoshutdown version. My step mode jumpers don't appear to be working.


tfmacz: Are you running the Auto shutdown version or not??

Regards.
Terry.

[tfmacz]

Thanks for the reply. I was trying the "Non Auto Shutdown" version. After your post I give the "Auto Shutdown" version a try and it works correctly. So looks like only the "Non Auto Shutdown" version is broken.

On another machine with ball screws we had a problem with an axis going to sleep while the machine was working (timeout was to short) and the other axis' would push the sleeping axis out of position. This machine has acme lead screws so that sould not be a problem for me, and 5 1/2 minutes is a ling time for one axis to not move while the others are working. axcept maybe the "A"(rotory) axiz.

Ted

Originally Posted by santiniuk Weird..... I am using V2 (Autoshutdown code version) and can confirm that jumpers do work, and change modes. For the 1/16 step mode All jumpers are on. (On the version I'm using). Strange thing is that Mr Bean reported problems with the jumpers also ??? Good luck !

[tfmacz]

Using pcb-gcode and the free Eagle pcb program here and I love it.

Originally Posted by MrBean Andrew. Yeh... If you found the Yahoo group "PCB-Gcode", then you're in the right place. The step feature is really handy, although the cuts could be optimized for better speed... It seems a bit random, the way it orders the cuts. (Lots of Z and rapid moves). Anyhow, I'm not complaining. The results a way better than I was expecting. The script can also generate a seperate 'copper removal' gcode file, but this is "Raster" fashion. It tracks accross the board incrementing the other axis each pass. Much like the built in JPG > gcode in Mach3. Using stepover is much better. If you give the new ULP a go, can you post your results here if possible? It would be good to see how it goes. Regards Terry...

[randyf1965]

I am using the Auto power off and the jumpers don't do anything... I am using the non-opto pictep breakout board and the V3.1 of the PicStep boards