Broken Bits - CNC Update

The CNC router work is really coming together now. As always, learning involves making mistakes so I've busted a good few router bits figuring out the limits!

The first picture is an engraved name-plate badge (to wear on my labcoat for live shows - yes, tongue-in-cheek) using sheet aluminium. This is a good test for making front panels - I've been using Abacom's FrontDesigner software (good value!) which exports .plt files which are then imported into Lazycam which comes with the Mach3 routing software. Initial tests had had the scaling all wrong, but I've now figured how to set things up in Lazycam and its all working good.

The 2nd image shows PCB isolation routing - automated circuit board manufacturing or at least semi-automated. Using Eagle and PCB-GCode (available from Cadsoft) you generate two files - one with routing info to route out the tracks and then a 2nd with drill info - change over the bit and set it to run drilling all the holes. Having used Press'n'Peel, ferric chloride and a mini-drill for pcb making for the last few years, there's great joy in seeing the CNC machine working its ways with the copper clad board!

1st pics of my DIY CNC Router

-----computer controlled cutting machine!

The last month or so I've been gradually putting together my own CNC (Computer Numeric Control) router machine and last night I finally got to do some testing / cutting (though things didn't quite work out straight away)

I've wanted to explore CNC for a while, but even going the DIY route its not cheap to get into. I purchased a router kit from CNC Kits & Bits (wooden kit with a large travel area) and then got the driver boards and stepper motors from Routout CNC. Both of these companies are UK based - I'm sure there are options for people elsewhere in the world.

So, after building the machine, adjusting the bearings, fixing on the stepper motors and wiring them all up..... time to try to figure the Mach3 routing software (a pretty complex program) and how to get my circuit designs from Eagle into the required GCode for Mach3. The first attempts got things working a bit (along with also things going a bit out of control - I broke a router bit by rushing ahead without thinking -- moral -> go slow!). A program called PCB-Gcode, run from within Eagle is used to generate routing data (and also will provide drilling data -- auto drilling of all the pcb holes! No more hunching over the dremel drill).

Well, as you can see, I got the settings a bit wrong - routes were cut but I certainly need to tweak the PCB G-code settings some more. Once I'd returned home from the workshop I looked more at the software -- the router needs to do several passes over the board, routing out a little more each time it goes over and running at a very fine resolution. I could see where I'd gone wrong when I started figuring out the path viewer in Mach3. Hopefully I get to try the process out again today...