Week 4 : Electronic Production
Design Rules Characterization
To characterize the design limitations of our CNC, we carried out a test. This test is performed by engraving the following image.
Getting a G-code from the PNG image
To obtain a G-code from the PNG image above, we used mods. It includes a workflow that allows to obtain the G-code and to use it for the milling process by connecting different nodes as shown in the image below. The different nodes are easy to understand and guide you step by step to the G-code.
To obtain the gcode:
- Opening mods -> programs -> open program -> select “G-code mill 2D PCB”
- Enter your png file in the “read png” node. It will detect the resolution automatically.
- There are multiple steps/nodes to follow to obtain a good vectorization of the image.
- There are nodes to choose the milling tool that you are planning to use for the milling. Here we used a V-bit tool of 0.1mm.
- The other nodes allow to choose other parameters like the cutting speed that depends on the tool that you are selecting.
- The last step is to download the G-code and it’s ready to be read by the milling machine.
Results
The result, shown below, demonstrates that our machine can easily engrave lines to a hundredth of a millimeter. However, at this thickness, the copper surface may become brittle. That’s why it’s best to take a certain safety margin.
Sending a PCB Out to a Board House
There are many options when it comes to professionally manufacturing a PCB, in this section we will talk about jlcpcb, a Chinese company that is one of the most famous options on the internet.
What is the next step?
The first step is to send the Gerber file of the design (in zip format). From this point we have a large number of options to configure the manufacturing according to our needs, PCB rigidity, thickness, solder mask color, etc…
Finally, after declaring the size of the PCB (the only parameter that is defined automatically), we proceed to make the payment (which is very economical), set our address, delivery method and so on…
