Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] PCB routing with CNC milling machine....

On 26 Oct 2003 11:04:15 -0700, you wrote:

>I'm sick of wiring circuits by hand !
>
>I've got a circuit board layout package that will generate a Gerber or
>PostScript file. How does one get the Gerber file into GCode ?

I'd go with eagle cad, IIRC, there are scripts available that produce
gcode from the available outputs.

>
>Has anyone produced one off PCB boards on a CNC mill ?

Nope, there is a yahoo group on making pc boards. Consensus is that
the cutters do a very good job, spindle speed has to be rather high
(30K is recommended), and cutter life is somewhere between 400 and 600
inches. That's lots less than you might think.

>How satisfied
>were you with the result ? I'm not talking about surface mount stuff
>here, just DIPs, T0220s, TO3s, etc. I'm just sick of point to point
>wiring !

Eagle Cad will do 3 by 4 inch boards, the freeware version is just
that, free... Has tons of parts, is a schematic capture program that
automatically generates the parts for the board layout, checks for
consistency, and has autorouting capability.

I'd go directly to photoetch (it's neater, gives you better
resolution, and requires only an inkjet printer, and dense ink, and an
inkjet transparency film.... I know, laser printers are recommended...
not any that I've used produce good results).

The setup I use is produced by MG chemicals (iirc) in Canada.

I'd use the cnc to drill the holes.

Harvey

>
>Thanks in advance.