{"id":538,"date":"2017-08-29T01:24:20","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T04:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/va1der.ca\/?p=538"},"modified":"2017-09-14T22:22:26","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T01:22:26","slug":"automating-pcb-construction-part-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/va1der.ca\/index.php\/2017\/08\/29\/automating-pcb-construction-part-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Automating PCB Construction – Part 0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chinese mass-produced versions of maker projects are already valuable members of my workbench team.<\/p><\/div>\n

(Author’s Note: This is the “zero’th” part of what will be a three part series on printed circuit board milling.\u00a0 This article is where I decide on what milling machine to get and the reasoning behind it, so there is no actual PCB milling here.\u00a0 The point then?\u00a0 Document the purchase decision making process as it’s made, then look at the final results later and see where it went right or wrong.)<\/p>\n

I never thought I’d say it, but Chinese “knock-offs” have really found their niche.\u00a0 I’m not being facetious – in all honesty there is actually something really wonderful that they are accomplishing.\u00a0 It all starts with someone on a maker’s web site like Instructables<\/a> or mikrocontroller.net<\/a> where someone comes up with a great little project.\u00a0 Like, say, for a multi-component “transistor” checker<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Designers\u00a0create these “open source” projects which are intended for everyone to enjoy,\u00a0and they document everything and just release all the specs and design documents <\/a>so that not only can anyone build it, but also anyone can improve on it.\u00a0 Sometimes, for the better projects, a whole community builds up around the project.\u00a0 Once that happens along comes some Chinese manufacturing company and they take those detailed instructions and mass produce a kit for it.\u00a0 Now, suddenly, not only are the specs available but now anyone can put it together for $15<\/a>.\u00a0 Win\/win\/win.\u00a0 A win for the author, who finds that once anyone can build the project he designed the community really begins to thrive.\u00a0 A win for the consumer and the project community who get fantastic equipment at a fraction the traditional cost, and a win for the manufacturer who\u00a0was incentivized to do all this by the low R&D cost and who makes some money selling the kits.\u00a0 This is just fantastic.\u00a0 Hardware manufacturers doing for maker projects what Red Hat and Ubuntu did for Linux.<\/p>\n

I’ve taken advantage of this process a few times recently.\u00a0 What I’ve just<\/em> discovered is that this phenomena has reached the wonderful world of the desktop CNC milling machine<\/a>!\u00a0 I was aware of the many Chinese clones of 3D printer project kits, and had even played with the idea of getting one, but I hadn’t been aware until now that you could get a desktop sized budget CNC mill.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Background<\/h3>\n

My SB-230 project has required me to do some PCB etching recently.\u00a0 While I’m no stranger to PCB etching – I’ve done quite a few etched boards, but almost all\u00a0my work has been hand done and I want a better (faster and more professional) solution.\u00a0 I’ve only tried something fancier twice.\u00a0 Once with photo-resist and other with direct-to-PCB inkjet printing.\u00a0 Both worked, but one was ruinously costly (factoring in the failed attempts) and the other was perhaps more time consuming and fussy than doing it by hand.\u00a0 It was while researching a printer I could use as a dedicated (and more reliable) PCB resist printer that I just yesterday discovered the Chinese CNC mill.<\/p>\n

Here is the video that really got my attention.\u00a0 If you want your attention got too, advance to 6:00 and watch from there.<\/p>\n