Cyclone PCB Milling Machine

[Robert Longbottom]

Hi,

(I'm sure there was a previous thread on this topic, but I can't find it so starting a new one)

I've created a page on the wiki detailing the steps from start to finish to create a cut a PCB with the Cyclone PCB Milling Machine.  I think this process is "right", though that will have to be proven next week when I try to cut a real PCB layout rather than just a square!  I suspect it will require some refinement.  Page is here:

https://github.com/snhack/snhack.github.io/wiki/Cyclone-PCB-Start-To-Finish-Step-By-Step-Guide

Obviously this is just one set of software that I've found to work.  I have looked at a few other pieces of software, but without success.  I think everything I've used is cross-platform, though I've only used them on Windows so ymmv on other platforms.

Let me know if anything isn't clear or could be better, or feel free to improve it!  Happy to sit down and try to do a run through one night if people are interested, though my Fritzing skills are pretty bad at the minute :-)

Rob.

[Damian Axford]

nice one... instructions make sense, although - I'm growing to hate Fritzing, so will be using something else for pcb design (that doesn't crash every few minutes!)

what are you planning to make for your first pcb? :)

[Jamie Osborne]

Sounds awesome - would love an overview of what you've achieved.

(Obligatory insult against windows here)

I'd also be interested in what Damian uses* instead of Fritzing.

* knowing him it'll be a custom-homegrown circuit layout and manufacturing system build on html 5 and node.js.

Jamie

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[Robert Longbottom]

The circuit I have ready to go is an esp8266 harness for voltage regulator and necessary pullups plus led on the Gpio and pins for serial out.  The kind of thing you need to put one in Logobot or Scob.

Odd that Fritzing is crashy, must just be the Mac version, it doesn't crash for me (though it did used to crash every time I saved, which was extremely tedious!). I think I either waited for a version upgrade or switched from 64 to 32 bit to fix that. Maybe just wait and try the next version for the Mac, might be better.

If you find anything else decent let us know.  Eagle looked good, but it was a very steep learning curve and not very intuitive.  That 123d circuits seemed okay, but I think I had some issues with the Gerber export so that was a non starter.

On 20 September 2015 5:33:58 pm Damian Axford <dam...@axford.me.uk> wrote:

nice one... instructions make sense, although - I'm growing to hate Fritzing, so will be using something else for pcb design (that doesn't crash every few minutes!)

what are you planning to make for your first pcb? :)

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[Jamie Osborne]

The only crashy app I've had recently was FreeCAD (and that was a while ago) - I managed to use Fritzing to do a few layouts just fine without crashes (though not without issue perhaps), it is the best I've looked at so far (at least that is "free" and cross platform anyway)

Jamie

[Robert Longbottom]

Well, at last some promising looking results from the PCB milling machine.  I managed to cut the same circuit twice and it came out the same twice.  Only one track wasn't isolated, but that was easily cleaned up with a flat headed screw driver.

After a bit of cleanup with some fine sand paper and some drilling, it looks like this:

I started soldering components but realised that the main connector is a mirror image of what it should be.  Not sure whether thats a design issue or a cutting issue.  Something to fix for next time and see if it still cut reliably or whether it was a one off freak bit of good luck! :-)

[Robert Longbottom]

I've added a few more bits to the step-by-step wiki page: https://github.com/snhack/snhack.github.io/wiki/Cyclone-PCB-Start-To-Finish-Step-By-Step-Guide

Need to work out why I'm having to manually bodge the gcode.  There is an option in FlatCam to insert some arbitrary pre-roll and post-roll gcode, but there only seems to be a way in the options to default the post roll.  Also pre-roll gets inserted right at the very beginning and I'm not sure that would work.  Anyway, all just there as a reminder for me for now, or anyone else who wants to try.

I think the answer to the "reversed connector" problem is to simply mirror in X (or Y) in CNCGcodeController before cutting.  There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the circuit design (or any sensible way to fix it at that stage).  The problem seems to be that the exported gerber is "as viewed from above" and when you cut you are cutting "as viewed from below", so it needs mirroring in one direction or the other.  Will attempt another cut next week and see what happens.

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[Robert Longbottom]

More progress with the pcb milling machine last night.  Mirroring the board before cutting seems to have worked nicely to fix the "design" issue I had.  Also increasing the size of some of the pads in Fritzing has made the hole drilling look a bit neater because there is a bit more space to get the drill through.  All the tracks were isolated after cutting and a quick clean up with some sand paper, which was good.

Jamie pointed out that it probably needs some kind of protective coating to stop the copper corroding, so I'm going to try and get some enamel spray paint so spray the board with and see how that looks.  (Search the b&q website to see what I'm thinking of). Any other suggestions for this would be appreciated!

Will add a few more notes to the process page later.

Next step is to design a different circuit from scratch and cut that....

(Plus maybe a few machine improvements such as dedicated power supply, maybe try the hoover attachment, etc)

Rob.

[Robert Longbottom]

And finally a soldered, chopped, working board.  It's an esp8266-01 breakout board to be used in either a logobot or Scob.

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[Damian Axford]

awesome - a genuine working pcb that does something useful!  :)   might have to make a few myself, got a few ESPs that need a carrier board!  

[Gyrobot]

Well done Rob, I'm sure it was worth all the noise.

[Robert Longbottom]

Yes, I've already designed board revision 2 after realising I need a few more connector points to steal 3.3v for powering a level converter.  Will have a go at cutting that next week.

I think I'm getting slightly better at Fritzing too.  It seems to have a few "features" that are useful to be aware of.

As for the noise, I'm always aware its a bit loud!  Think I'll have to find somewhere out by the lathe to cut from now on.

On 23 October 2015 8:16:55 pm Damian Axford <dam...@axford.me.uk> wrote:

awesome - a genuine working pcb that does something useful!  :)   might have to make a few myself, got a few ESPs that need a carrier board!  

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