Electronics Production

File preparation - CopperCAM

• In order to fabricate my circuit I opened the CopperCAM software. I created a New circuit - File>Open>New circuit

• I imported the front layer - F_Cu.gbr file.

  

• I right-clicked on the intended contour - the outer edge and clicked Define as card contour, setting it to outside contour (inside for any intended negative spaces)

  

• In File > Dimensions I set the margin to 1mm and Z thickness to 1.6mm around 0.1-0.2 more than the measured stock thickness

  

• In File > Offset I set the Origin to X:0, Y:0 mm

• In File > Open I clicked Additional layer, as I had one more layer to add to the circuit - the drilling holes NPTH gerber file

• The layer didn't align as supposed - so I used the Reference pad option to align them

• In my design I had lines that were for a decorative purpose only - the cat whiskers. In order to have then engraved only with one pass of the tool, I selected them, right clicked and clicked Engrave tracks as centerlines

• I proceeded to set up the tool necessary for the job - Parameters>Selected tools and filled as follows

  

• I selected the >Calculate contours option to create the toolpaths and chose 4 passes

  

• In order to save the files, I clicked the Mill option and filled the pop up window as follows. This way I got 4 .gbr files

  

VCarve and the board milling

• I cleaned the workspace and the inside of the machine with a vacuum cleaner in order to avoid any dust that could interfere with my milling later on

  

• I carefully measured the thickness of my stock material

  

• In order to make soldering easier, I removed the top layer covering the copper - by scratching it with metal wire

  

  

• I put double-sided tape on the back side of the stock. It should be perfectly flat, no bubble like below, no overlapping, no dust

  

• I placed the stock on the board attacched to the machine bed, again trying to make it as flat as possible

  

• I checked if the bits I intended to use were not broken

  

• I placed the engraving 0.35 bit in the spindle (as far as possible) and temporary secured it with srewing it with the designated tool

  

• I opened the VPanel software and using the arrow buttons, I moved the spindle to the intended XY origin position (botttom left / south-west) over the stock. I clicked Set origin point > User coordinate system > XY

  

  

• Low above the stock surface, I released the screw holding the tool tip for it to move down with gravity and touch the copper surface. I then tightened it again and clcked Set origin point > User coordinate system > Z

  

• In Vpanel I clicked Cut and opened the first tool toolpath - engraving .egx file. I clicked Output to start the milling process

  

• To perform the second operation - the drilling and then cutting - I had to change the bit to the 0.8mm one. I repeated the same process to set the new Z origin. Important - set the new origin pointONLYfor Z position leaving the original XY, otherwise the drilling and cutting would not be aligned

• I got my board milled. I cleand all the dust with the vaccum cleaner and removed the tape

  

Fail gallery

It took a lot of tries to actually get the board milled properly

Soldering

Testing the board

I tested the board out with the updated code I prepared as the Embedded Programming assignment. Pictured below is the board working in the Networking assignment

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