Week 5

Feb 13. Electronics Production



Group Assignment

Characterize the design rules for your PCB production process. Our equipment is a Roland MIll MDX-20.

Roland Mill MDX-20

Our PCB making equipment is a Roland Mill MDX-20.

PNG for Group Test

The PNG for the test engraving is sused to create the final model in FabModules.

Line Interpretation from FabModules

Line interpretation from FabModules of group test.

Engraving

The Roland Mill engraved perfectly.

Review Engraving

We reviewed how it engraved and sanded it before attempting a cut.

Final Group Piece

Final group piece. Our equipment has a problem to cut all the way through, so we cutted it by hand. It's being repaired now hopefully it will be fully usable by the time the next electronics practice comes around.

Instructions

  1. Download images for inner (engrave) and outer lines (cut)
  2. Put a sacrifice bed on the Roland Mill
  3. Attach with double sided tape your material
  4. Open Fab Modules
  5. Start configuring to engrave the test
  6. Input format: PNG
  7. Output format: Roland Mill
  8. Process: PCB traces 1/64
  9. Define the dpi and size for the image
  10. Define the correct coordinates for the material to be engraved, in this case every time it was 0,0,0 because the coordinates were given by the Roland Mills Software.
  11. Define the zjog (space neede to change points within engraving):2 mm
  12. Define number of offsets, we decided to go with 4 as a standard for all engravings
  13. Define the tool diamater used: 4 mm
  14. Define Offset Overlap: 50%
  15. Define cut depth for engraving: 1 mm
  16. Calculate to obtain the final image in lines showing each offset
  17. Save as an .rml file to be used in the Roalnd Mill Software
  18. Open the SimpleFAB-20-RolandMDX software
  19. Define the coordenates within the yellow canvas in the Software
  20. Upload the .rml file
  21. Press Start
  22. Enjoy the engraving process
  23. The correct steps after engraving are: change the engraving tool for the cutting tool, configure in Fab Modules the outer lines for cutting, this is achieved by changing the cut depth to go all the way through the material (6mm), calculate and than process it on the software for the ROlan Miller. All of this was done several times, wihtout and than with the local isntructor to understand why it wasn't cutting, after five tries and several different problem solving approaching the ranged from debugging to yelling to the Roland (we are not proud and it obviously did not work). After the instructor did several different tests the disgnose was it's not going to cut in the near future we need to give it service.
  24. So we wouldn't get behind on assignments we decide to cut by hand.
  25. After cutting it you need to sand it so it will take away the excess material at the edges.


Individual Assignment

Description

PCB Lines

Brian's PCB creation.

FabModules Calculation of Lines

Fab Module's interpretation of Brian's PNG

Engraving

Video of Roland Mill engraving my PCB.

Final Engraving

Final product of engraving.

Changing Tip

After engraving the tip must be changed to cut.

Finishing touches

Sand excess material with a dremel.

Most Pieces

Most pieces required next to the engraved PCB.

Soldering Material

Soldering material used through the process.

Soldering

A difficult first experience soldering electronic components.

Final

All the components soldered into the PCB.

Cables into my PCB

Test to see if it works, I found out later I soldered two green LEDs.

Hook Up GUide between PCBs

Hook Up Guide to program the PCB.

Origin for Cables

Cables connected to original tinyUSB PCB.

Cables into my PCB

Cables connected to my PCB.

Connection between PCBs

Final connection between computer, original PCB and mine.

Burn PCB

Include the basic driver for the PCB to be programmed.

Program PCB

Program the PCB to be recognizable by a computer.

Proof

PCB being recognized by computer.

Instructions

  1. All of us at Fab Lab Puebla decided to make Brian's PCB
  2. Download images for inner (engrave) and outer lines (cut)
  3. Put a sacrifice bed on the Roland Mill
  4. Attach with double sided tape your material
  5. Open Fab Modules
  6. Start configuring to engrave the test
  7. Input format: PNG
  8. Output format: Roland Mill
  9. Process: PCB traces 1/64
  10. Define the dpi and size for the image
  11. Define the correct coordinates for the material to be engraved, in this case every time it was 0,0,0 because the coordinates were given by the Roland Mills Software.
  12. Define the zjog (space neede to change points within engraving):2 mm
  13. Define number of offsets, we decided to go with 4 as a standard for all engravings
  14. Define the tool diamater used: 4 mm
  15. Define Offset Overlap: 50%
  16. Define cut depth for engraving: 1 mm
  17. Calculate to obtain the final image in lines showing each offset
  18. Save as an .rml file to be used in the Roalnd Mill Software
  19. Open the SimpleFAB-20-RolandMDX software
  20. Define the coordenates within the yellow canvas in the Software
  21. Upload the .rml file
  22. Press Start
  23. Enjoy the engraving process
  24. The correct steps after engraving are: change the engraving tool for the cutting tool, configure in Fab Modules the outer lines for cutting, this is achieved by changing the cut depth to go all the way through the material (6mm), calculate and than process it on the software for the Roland Miller. All of this was done several times, wihtout and than with the local isntructor to understand why it wasn't cutting, after five tries and several different problem solving approaching the ranged from debugging to yelling to the Roland (we are not proud and it obviously did not work). After the instructor did several different tests the disgnose was it's not going to cut in the near future we need to give it service.
  25. So we wouldn't get behind on assignments we decide to cut by hand.
  26. After cutting it you need to sand it so it will take away the excess material at the edges.
  27. Add finishing touches with a dremel.
  28. Solder each component to the PCB.
  29. Test if the first LED in a computer lights.
  30. Try to install everything on my computer, since I don't have adminsitration permits I had to go around it.
  31. Connect my PCB to the tinyUDB PCB provided so I could program mine.
  32. Couldn't use the given file and had to program by hand directly on the command line.
  33. Burn and program the PCB.
  34. When the program is communciating the LEDs start blinking.
  35. Use your PCB in a USB port and check that the computer recognizes it.