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Week 4 - Electronics Production

Group Assignment:

  • characterize the design rules for your in-house PCB production process
    • feeds
    • speeds
    • plunge rate
    • depth of cut (traces and outline)
    • tooling
  • extra credit: send a PCB out to a board house

Characterization of PCB production mini-mill at Fablab Taipei.

Roland Modela MDX-20
This is our mini mill at Fablab Taipei.

So, what we did in the process are the following

  • Arrange the board on worktable
  • Find proper spindle and end mill and screwed them on
  • Find traces.png and modify parameters to mill
  • Trial and error, adjust parameters
    • (Some broken end mills & experiences)
  • Change end mill to cut through (interior.png)

Arrange the board on worktable

make sure the surface is flat and tight.

Find proper spindle and end mill and screwed them on

need some tops to change it, and let it touch the surface proper (without breaking it :)

Find traces.png and modify parameters to mill

mods is really powerful (but hard to comprehand)

Trial and error, adjust parameters

usually not deep enough, need to adjust.

(Some broken end mills & experiences)

cheap end mills just not worth.

Change end mill to cut through (interior.png)

Need to chang to another strong end mill.

results

the results shows:

  • Between two lines, at least .016 width is needed.
  • Line width should at least more than .006, To make sure it exist with eye better more than .01.
Last update: February 23, 2022