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any news, guys ?
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Look for Stepcraft (at Iserlohn Germany).
They only lack an automatic tool changer.
There is even a kit to assemble yours as well. -
any direct experience about this machine ?
also, which king of PCB Engraving Router-Tools do you suggest ?
just to give an example, something like these ?
(feel free to suggest a better place and tool to buy) -
any direct experience about this machine ?
also, which king of PCB Engraving Router-Tools do you suggest ?
just to give an example, something like these ?
(feel free to suggest a better place and tool to buy)
If you ask to me, my sole experience is that for one day I failed to reach his place and buy it.
He was involved in providing a kit, for quite long time, to modify a Proxxon 70 which included tool changer. (Google Usovo.de)
What always worried me about all this is the uncertain necessity of maintaining / adhering to parallel ports and the like.
Peter seems to have all that solved as well. Even software. -
who has Proxxon MF70 + kit, and used it as PCB engraved ?
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i have bought & modified this Proxxon CNC machine, it's cheap and good for my purposes
That's my Instructable. I'm glad you found it useful.
I've used that little Proxxon for PCB milling (and loads of other stuff) but now moved over to UV exposure. I found that the deeper contours of milled PCBs made dry film solder mask application more difficult.
I'm tempted to move to a larger machine as the main downside to the MF70 is that it's tiny. It's surprisingly capable but has a very small work area, even after some extending it a bit. -
what do you think, guys, about ?
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do you think is really possible to do TQFP with a CNC ?
which are the problems with an engraver ?
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do you think is really possible to do TQFP with a CNC ?
which are the problems with an engraver ?
Yes, I've done LLGA28L, which is 0.6mm pitch.
The issue with small stuff is not the width of the copper but the width of the gaps. The limit there is a combination of factors: the depth of the tool, angle of the tip, width of the tip, and runout. But these factors are, in turn, affected by other factors: the depth of the cut, for instance, is affected by squareness of the mill bed and flatness of the PCB.
So whilst it is possible to do fine footprints, you can't expect to whip a new mill out of the box and run off that kind of job within half an hour. It can take quite a while to 'bed in' not just the mill and tool, but yourself, and you'll go through a phase where nothing happens as it should and you wonder why you are bothering with this rubbish. But ultimately you should end up with a good idea of the practical limits for your setup and, the important part, being able to consistently run off jobs within that limit.
Note that all these videos show how this stuff works for the people making the videos, but your solution could well be different. For instance, just the matter of holding the PCB down has many solutions, and the one that works every time for me is carpet tape. However, the videos you post show a different method which plainly works for them. There is no right or wrong way, just what works for you, and it is the finding out what works for you that takes some time.
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understood, thank you
which CNC& tools did you use for LLGA28L ? -
I picked up a set of LPKF mills cheaply on Ebay. They are like normal mills (except very small and stubby), 60 degree and 4mil to 8mil, and I run 'em at a depth of 0.09mm.
Due to runout the gap is actually wider than it should be, but it leaves enough copper for the pads to work and, since these would be prototypes, that's good enough for my purposes.
However, I know someone who apparently uses the single edge pointed type of engraving cutter to achieve the same sort of thing. I have no idea how because that just doesn't work for me, but I've seen his impressive results. One thing we have in common is that we spread 3-in-1 across the PCB as a lubricant when doing the isolation milling. Before I did that my results were very variable and tools lasted hardly any time.
