FILE GENERATING
Our milling machine in FABLab Beijing is Roland MDX-40, which receives .rml files. At first, I redesigned the trace file and put my name on it. Then I tried to generate .rml file on Mods as shown in the video below. Here are some notes on Mods:
- Remember to choose mill traces / mill outline
- Check the cut depth and make sure the settings fit your drill
- Add a save file module and re-calculate, the file will be automatically downloaded
![Responsive image](img/wk05_05.png)
But after first try on our milling machine, we found that the output was much smaller than expected. We thought that may be caused by the differences between MDX-20 and MDX-40. While Mods only supports Roland MDX-20 milling machine for PCB, we regenerate the files on Fab Modules, where has MDX-40 supported.
![Responsive image](img/wk05_06.jpeg)
MILLING & SOLDERING
We then re-tried on our milling machine with the new files and succeeded. We used 1/64 drill and operation details can be explicited as following steps:
- Fix the board onto the machine platform with double-sided tape
- Select and install the drill
- Open the milling machine and connect it to a computer with its software
- Set xy origin using the software
- Set z origin with the help of the sensor
- Add files to the software and start cutting (trace file first)
Next, I started to solder all the components onto the board, where the inside-out rule Bas mentioned on the lecture helped a lot.
![Responsive image](img/wk05_07.jpeg)
TESTING
TBD