FYI: Kickstarter PCB Mill project - MezzoMill

[kaz911]

There is a new KickStarter PCB Mill project online.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/977338529/mezzomill-carves-circuits-from-cad

The PCB sizes are quite small (2x3 inch) and price is quite high for a "homebuilt" ($2000 start price)

And in general I think there are a lot of information missing to make a qualified decision - But it deserves a mention :-) I think.

[Mr J]

nice.....we pay about $5,000 for a T-Tech 5000 (refurbish) that can do 10x13, does the kick start one include software to isolate the traces? Love the T-Tech we have three of them in our shop, so simple high school kids operate them.

[m0jo]

That project is super expensive for the quality of the product. I have built myself a CNC router capable of producing PCB, cutting wood and acrylic for about 1900$ with a bigger cutting area (12"x18"x3"). I bought a Fireball V90, added some powerful stepper, a Bosch Colt router and a few others things and the price is still cheaper than that kickstarter project.

This project is also using 1/64" endmill, so the minimum clearance excluding backslash and runout is about 16mil. Those endmill are quite easy to break and quite expensive, he is probably using these because these work fine if the PCB is not perfectly level.  A V-shaped tool is a lot cheaper and can produce 10mil clearance without problems if the depth is probed/measure before cutting. My CNC probe the PCB at regular interval and adjust the depth when the program is running so a cheap 2$ v-bit is able to etch the PCB at the right depth across the PCB surface.

From what I can see in the video, he is using pcb-gcode, a free plugin for eagle, to produce the Gcode used to control the machine.

/end rant but I could easily continue...

[Mr J]

drill bits I've found pretty cheap around ($1ea) at drill bit city dot com, they got everything except the T1 isolation bit we use.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Too expensive, too small.
You could buy a LOT of photo-etch PCB and chemicals for $2K, and get better resolution. OK you need to drill manually but with  SMD there are far fewer of them to deal with. And if you have tons of vias, homemade PCBs are too much hassle regardless of the method

[Jimmy]

Capasitive homeing ok I will put that on my cnc build list thanks op.  O and the price should be about $500 delivered because I have seen http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/UPDATED-NEW-CNC-3020T-ROUTER-ENGRAVER-ENGRAVING-DRILLING-AND-MILLING-MACHINE-o9-/250915813057?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item3a6bbf76c1

make very usable boards

[8086]

They've got it all wrong, it's tiny and overpriced. Their goal is pretty high and they only have a month to achieve it. I wonder if they will...

[hisense999]

"wooden CNC machine" google know more about this kind of design this guy even not modify it too much and already ask for 30k USD for discovering... nothing.

450$ is enought for few books about mechatronics and CAD design after it he can ask for more.

Just now it is not worth more than to put software (if exist any special which he maked) as OpenSource the main frame of his downloaded CNC machine is already on the net.

"know how" "know what" and "know where" which with CNC is the most important to know what need to be used where to source it. So 4 pieces of puzzle to solve - stable frame without vibrations, tool design, manufacturing nightmare, nice outlook.

Software if exist any is just an addon to good hardware.

Regards

[hacklordsniper]

They've got it all wrong, it's tiny and overpriced. Their goal is pretty high and they only have a month to achieve it. I wonder if they will...

If that will achieve their goal im going to smack my head on the table, that is just stupid. That even does not look like a CNC mill, you could buy Chinese plug&play CNC mills for half of that money

[metalphreak]

If the printrbot guys can do a plastic extrusion thingy for $500, something similar to route small PCBs surely cannot cost $2000+


I'm actually considering buying a 60x40cm router with a VFD 3phase spindle for about $1700. If it ends up being able to do half decent PCBs as well I'll be happy but that's not why I want it.

[hisense999]

Maybe someone know is kickstarter is really only for US citizens, as I found in they rules seems to be true or I'm wrong, just in case I want to know if in future I also can put my "dreams" inside

[8086]

Maybe someone know is kickstarter is really only for US citizens, as I found in they rules seems to be true or I'm wrong, just in case I want to know if in future I also can put my "dreams" inside

It requires you to have everything you need for an amazon payment account, which is things like US address, etc. So it is US only unless you have a mate willing to do it for you.

I was looking myself for something like kickstarter but for UK, and I found http://www.indiegogo.com

It seems to not care where you are.

[IanB]

The PCB sizes are quite small (2x3 inch) and price is quite high for a "homebuilt" ($2000 start price)

Where do you get $2000 from? I don't see a reason for it to cost anything like that much. There are three axis motors that look like they might be the kind found in ink jet printers, the mill itself, some electronics, and the frame.

In commercial production I see such a device costing less than $150 in parts. The main cost is going to be design and tooling for a plastic case rather than the wooden prototype. Maybe a retail price of about $300-$400? But yes, that is still too expensive to be appealing.

This is the kind of design that would work better as a set of plans for a home build. Make the frame out of plywood as shown, source your own stepper motors and mill, assemble your own circuit board and put it all together. The main restriction would be lack of shop tools in the home workshop to construct it. Matthias Wandel would find it easy, the average person not so much.

[kaz911]

The PCB sizes are quite small (2x3 inch) and price is quite high for a "homebuilt" ($2000 start price)

Where do you get $2000 from? I don't see a reason for it to cost anything like that much. There are three axis motors that look like they might be the kind found in ink jet printers, the mill itself, some electronics, and the frame.

It is not my project :-) just provided a reference. Prices on kickstarter is in the righthand column.

[IanB]

It is not my project :-) just provided a reference. Prices on kickstarter is in the righthand column.

Those are not prices, those are donations :-)

[kaz911]

It is not my project :-) just provided a reference. Prices on kickstarter is in the righthand column.

Those are not prices, those are donations :-)

You can call it what ever you want. But it is the amount of currency he wants in exchange for delivering a product. He sells other products as well. That kickstarter calls them donations are just...