CAD CAM EDM DRO - Yahoo Group Archive

Help: PCB Trace Milling Software

Posted by Mike
on 2000-10-12 10:43:15 UTC
Thanks for everyone's help on CNC Software. Here's more of a niche
question for the group... Does anyone know of available software that will
convert standard Gerber (RS-274X) photo plot files you get out of printed
circuit board CAD software into G-Code for mechanical PCB trace milling?

It's a complex issue as the Gerber file (I believe) specifies an aperture,
start and end location for the piece of copper you want. The apertures
were originally selected from a wheel and light was directed onto a
photosensitive material to "plot" the trace. For a milled PCB, however,
you want to remove copper alongside the desired trace to isolate it from
the other traces. So in effect, the G-Code needs to cut away the copper
you don't want, leaving the traces you do as "islands".

There are some very expensive turn-key systems out there doing this stuff,
but I'm not aware of anyone who has it working at the hobbyist
level. Those who are making PCB's on a CNC mill or engraver, just draw the
entire PCB with isolation tracks by hand in regular CAD software. For a
very simple board, that's reasonable, but for anything more complex, it's a
nightmare in comparison to using a PCB CAD package that works directly from
the electrical schematic and does automatic trace routing.

Any help or even possible suggestions would really be appreciated!

Mike

Discussion Thread

Tony Jeffree 2000-10-11 10:01:17 UTC CNC Pro? Carey L. Culpepper 2000-10-11 10:44:22 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CNC Pro? cnc002@a... 2000-10-11 11:36:50 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CNC Pro? Hugh Mahlendorf 2000-10-11 17:52:55 UTC Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-11 18:19:16 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors Doug Fortune 2000-10-11 18:42:43 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors ballendo@y... 2000-10-12 00:06:12 UTC re:Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors ballendo@y... 2000-10-12 00:18:04 UTC Re: Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors cnc4me@u... 2000-10-12 00:25:04 UTC Re: re:Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors ballendo@y... 2000-10-12 01:46:07 UTC Re: re:Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors Mariss Freimanis 2000-10-12 10:13:13 UTC Re: re:Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors Mike 2000-10-12 10:43:15 UTC Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-12 13:09:47 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software ballendo@y... 2000-10-12 14:29:14 UTC Re: re:Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors Jon Elson 2000-10-12 14:56:41 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software ballendo@y... 2000-10-12 15:13:12 UTC Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Mariss Freimanis 2000-10-12 15:16:38 UTC Re: re:Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-12 15:34:55 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-12 15:42:17 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Tom Caudle 2000-10-12 16:00:07 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Tim Goldstein 2000-10-12 16:04:29 UTC RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Mike 2000-10-12 16:23:17 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software ballendo@y... 2000-10-12 16:30:29 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Anne Ogborn 2000-10-12 16:31:21 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-12 17:39:45 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Edward Rupp 2000-10-12 17:54:52 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Tom Caudle 2000-10-12 19:27:33 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software cnc4me@u... 2000-10-12 19:27:52 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Dan Mauch 2000-10-12 19:42:46 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Tom Caudle 2000-10-12 19:55:28 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software ballendo@y... 2000-10-12 19:59:32 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Dan Mauch 2000-10-12 20:02:26 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Ron Hanson 2000-10-12 21:33:00 UTC RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-12 22:37:03 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Hugh Mahlendorf 2000-10-12 23:31:51 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] re:Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors Tony Jeffree 2000-10-12 23:43:46 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Ian Wright 2000-10-13 01:17:56 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software bfp 2000-10-13 03:04:50 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software cnc4me@u... 2000-10-13 08:36:52 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-13 09:19:54 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Ron Hanson 2000-10-13 09:37:50 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Tim Goldstein 2000-10-13 09:41:15 UTC RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Tony Jeffree 2000-10-13 10:52:15 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Hugh Prescott 2000-10-13 11:14:23 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-13 11:45:09 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software ballendo@y... 2000-10-13 12:20:13 UTC Re: re:Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors cnc4me@u... 2000-10-13 12:23:24 UTC Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Henrik Olsson 2000-10-13 12:46:47 UTC RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Jon Elson 2000-10-13 15:19:38 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Jon Elson 2000-10-13 15:47:36 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Edward Rupp 2000-10-13 16:51:23 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Hugh Mahlendorf 2000-10-13 19:19:21 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: re:Sanyo "Step-Syn" Stepper Motors Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-13 22:19:16 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Jon Elson 2000-10-13 23:27:26 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Jon Elson 2000-10-16 09:20:06 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Dennis Bohlke 2000-10-16 10:37:04 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-16 12:34:46 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software Alan Marconett KM6VV 2000-10-16 13:04:53 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software John Mesh 2007-01-08 23:44:13 UTC CNC Pro? Bob Muse 2007-01-09 03:14:39 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CNC Pro? Amine BELHOUT 2007-01-09 10:50:17 UTC RE : Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CNC Pro? Seiman H 2007-01-09 11:20:23 UTC Re: RE : Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CNC Pro? Mike Phillips 2007-01-10 14:22:54 UTC Re: CNC Pro? Vince Endter 2007-01-10 16:03:36 UTC Re: CNC Pro? Stephen Wille Padnos 2007-01-10 16:47:48 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CNC Pro? John Dammeyer 2007-01-10 17:53:40 UTC ELS and the Omikron Jon Elson 2007-01-10 19:36:45 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CNC Pro? Ron Kline 2007-01-10 19:52:36 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CNC Pro? Mike Phillips 2007-01-10 22:19:15 UTC Re: CNC Pro? Lester Caine 2007-01-11 00:42:54 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CNC Pro? Mike Phillips 2007-01-11 05:44:31 UTC Re: CNC Pro? Lester Caine 2007-01-11 07:07:39 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CNC Pro? Mike Phillips 2007-01-11 11:01:32 UTC Re: CNC Pro? Marv Frankel 2007-01-12 03:39:22 UTC Re: CNC Pro? Mike Phillips 2007-01-12 23:50:02 UTC Re: CNC Pro? Mike Phillips 2007-01-12 23:52:23 UTC Re: CNC Pro? art 2007-01-16 07:09:34 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CNC Pro? Mike Phillips 2007-01-16 22:14:02 UTC Re: CNC Pro?