PCB prototype milling in a budget

[techie]

Most of the PCB prototyping machines are very expensive ($10k). But then they produce exceptional prototypes with small tracks and thin clearances. I could not find a simpler and cheaper machine so I have decided to do the job on a cheap desktop CNC mill.

Question 1: Which software should I use to convert PCB gerber file to isolatin mill file. There was a thread in this forum and I read it so please dont refer to it. All the softwares described were expensive. What if I convert the gerber file to a TIF image file and then use C0reltrace or similar program to generate the outline of all the traces & pads and then use this outline to feed to the mill. Is this possible. Comments required.

Question 2: The avaialable mill has 5000rpm spindle speed. Someone told me that to mill the PCB, it is not enough. Cant I just reduce the tavel speed to compensate for this slow speed. Also I will be mostly using the softer resin PCB matterial (the brown color bakellite). Would that make the job easier. The intended prototypes are not very fine. They are single sided and have minumum 25mil clearance between any 2 coppers and the minimum trace width is also 25 mil. So theoratically I should be able to use a 25mil tool for this purpose.

 

[sygenics]

you should be alright with that precision, although faster would be better. you can try www.t-tech.com, isopro software to convert gerber ready to mill. you can find this on Bone hub.

regards

 

[cancel]

hi .. for convencional drwaing of pcb with plotter see this:
http://www.simandl.cz/stranky/elektro/spoje/pcb.htm

not so fast as milling but maybe not so expensive due to tools ;0) you can buy those plotters for cca 20 eur

regards

cancel