Vivan Gupta Fab Academy

.ELECTRONICS PRODUCTION

After the previous week of designing our boards we come back to manufacturing our boards, bringing our designs to life

This week started slow with fixing some errors in the file

.Group assignment.

What is a pcb?

A Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is a flat board made of insulating material (like fiberglass) with conductive copper tracks that connect different electronic components. Instead of using traditional wiring, a PCB provides a structured layout for electrical connections, making circuits more compact, reliable, and easier to manufactu

Vital pcb parts

  • Substrate (Base Material): Usually made of FR4 (fiberglass-reinforced epoxy resin) for strength and durability.
  • Copper Layer: Thin layers of copper act as electrical pathways connecting components
  • Solder Mask: A protective layer that prevents short circuits and oxidation of copper traces.
  • Silkscreen: Printed labels on the PCB surface that indicate component placement and reference designators.

    • Types of pcb -

  • Single-layer PCB: Has a single copper layer, used in simple circuits.
  • Double-layer PCB: Copper traces on both sides, allowing more complex designs.
  • Multilayer PCB: Multiple stacked layers, used in advanced applications like computers and communication devices.

    • Understanding the machine

    Our riidl fabLab has th Roland SRM-20 machine

    This is an enclosed milling machine with a bed size of 15 cm by 20 cm

    SRM-20 SOP sheet
    Download File

    If you want to mill larger PCB's we also have the Protomat E44

    The machine supports single- and double-sided PCBs and is ideal for small-scale production, research labs, and educational purposes.

    Understanding cutting bits

    Our srm-20 can be used to mill and etch copper pcb's one layer at a time and also industrial wax blocks

    DIfferent bits are used for different operations of making finished PCB's and wax mother molds

    These are the bits used for etching and drilling PCB

    The on on the left is v taper 0.2 mm etching bit, and the one on the right is a drill bit for via's and mount holes

    Similarly these are the drill bits for creating wax moulds

    The on on the right is a flat endmill, for larger step operations, once done, The one on the left, a ball nose end mill is used to smoothen out rough contour curves

    Softwares

    The tech stack you will need to make PCB's is as such-

  • EasyEDA/eagle/KiKad - For designing schematic and PCB, and then exporting a Gerber file
  • V-panel(in our case) - To set origin and operarting the SRM-20 through desktop
  • CopperCam - To create operation G-code type file to mill out the required from the Machine

    • Context

    So I had a very specific design which i needed to execute for this week and electronics design week

    its one of my older design projects that features a BENT body

    Now you know why my pcb looks weird xD

    .Testin

    Add double side tape on your clad

    This is a used piece for test file

    Stick it firmly

    Z axis levelling

    First we take our bit and insert it all the way in.

    Tighten the screw

    Bring z axis down such that theplate does not touch

    Then loosen the bit and let the drill bit drop on the plate

    Retighten the bit while putting slight pressure on the plate while holdind the bit

    You are good to go.
    To create the file, open easy eda and make a new pcb and upload the test SVG
    Comb test SVG
    parametric fusion file for comb test
    Download File

    Export this as gerber without any other changes

    For our machine, this is the controller, called V-PANEL
    open your file on coppercam.

    It will most likely be a GTL file named TOP layer

    Set contours to 1 and extra contours to 1 or 2 more than the contour
    A contour preview should appear
    Some are red but thats expected as the test file will fail in some regions, tweak contours till most regions pass
    Click the mill option.
    add sections and select the engraving layer
    Set origin according to v-panel placement

    Click okay

    Ordering a PCB from JLCPCB

    comb test 19 mm ply wood
    parametric fusion file for comb test
    Download File
    aTorus grasshopper file
    Full .gh file for creating aTorus
    Download File
    NC file aTorus
    Full Fusion file for nc program aTorus
    Download File