Help with pcb router purhcase

[hacklordsniper]

Generally the biggest problem in my everdays various prototyping are PCB boards. Its harder every day to incorporate very complex projects on simple universal vero board. Sometimes i used PCBexpress but its very expensive since i do not need more than 1-2 boards at time. Local PCB manufacturers charge almost even more expensive. The etching methods are not for me...

This is when i came to idea to buy a small PCB router. Looking trough various China dealers its cheaper than 2-3 time boards cost from PCBexpress. So generally it would pay itself very fast, i can have the boards same day, not wait a month for overseas shipping.. etc...

Does anybody have experience with some specific company? I would not like to invest in something to find out its a lemon 

[mikeselectricstuff]

I really wouldn't bother with a router for in-house PCBs unless you can afford the  LPKF ones (start aroung US$6K I think). It takes expensive mechanics to get sufficient accuracy and resolution. Things like cheap engravers will not be adequate.
You will get much better results, often quicker, for a lot less money with traditional photo-etching. 

[hacklordsniper]

Generally i have set my eyes on this engraver:

http://spanish.alibaba.com/product-gs/cnc-router-gv2518-blue-colour-226215023.html

There are some other specific solutions like this:

http://www.colinbus.com/en/pcbbox.html

Which is too much over the budget. Since i rarely work with SMD, mostly bigger stuff i didnot think an engraver would not have adequate accuracy and resolution?

[FreeThinker]

This may be worth a look

Wouldn't bother with cheap chinese units et al, accuracy is the key and comes at a price.

[hacklordsniper]

Thats exactly the same unit on second link, just the link takes directly to manufacturers site. Since i streched the budget now for a infiniivision i cant afford it. Its priced at 3500 EUR + delivery

[FreeThinker]

Sorry I missed the second link.would recommend that you hold off buying until you can afford something of this quality, any thing less and you are going to make too many compromises.

[Simon]

there used to be sable units on ebay for under £ 1000 lots of people said they were great

[hacklordsniper]

Generally it seems that Elektor cnc is a lemon, atleast the company making them.

Anyway just trough a friend i have found out that he knows a company thats gone out of buisness and has a new, packed Roland mdx-20 with 3D scanner and all aditional gear for 1/3 price. I have found recomendations for this devices, the mechanical specs speak for themself.

Would this be a good cnc for PCB-s?

[Psi]

We had a cnc router bought for doing pcbs at uni,
It was very hard to get any sort of decent results out of it.

Personally I find the toner transfer method using press-n-peal blue works perfectly fine for anything i throw at it.

[RobK]

These demo's always conveniently leave out the part where you have to make the plated thruholes.

This may be worth a look

Wouldn't bother with cheap chinese units et al, accuracy is the key and comes at a price.

[mikeselectricstuff]

The probem with doing PCBs on any type of  router not designed for the purpose is that PCB material is often slightly warped so you need a router that auto-adjusts to the surface height. bear in mind that you are trying to reliably cut through 35 micron foil without going too far into the substrate, so that needs very good precision and rigidity.
Chemical etching is just a way cheaper, better and often faster method.

[Simon]

the machine in the video was using a rather thick PCB, this was probably to avoid warping. To be honest: tool wear on fibreglass boards, setup cost, board warping will all prevent this becoming main stream. You can hardly mill a panel as the warping will be horrendous and you will have to look after the board very carefully (I left some in the cold and it seriously warped)

I got kitted up for chemical etching for under £100 (granted it is still only ok for small scale production and prototyping)

[hacklordsniper]

Im sory for rising this topic from ashes.

Aynway soon is my birthday and since i know i will get a bunch of sweaters i ordered myself a Colinbus PCB BOX (expect a review and tear down soon since i will pick it up in Belgium next week).

Sometime ago somebody posted a board with alot of details demonstrating the capabilities of itead studio board but i cant seem to find it anymore. I would like to test the mill with something like that as soon it arrives to check for any obvious problems immediately. All my past designs were  in ExpressPCB so i need to redraw them and don't have the time to draw something this week in eagle. 

[photovore]

That's an awesome birthday present!  I would be really interested in a review/teardown.